.bak files

[YZ]

2 Questions:

1. Does anyone find it helpful that AutoCAD saves a .bak for each .dwg in a folder? In all my time with AutoCAD I have never used one.

2. After all these years, our firm has HEAPS of .bak files littered through the server. It seems good to me to clear all these out, but as yet I can't find a search that can isolate them without going into each individual project folder. Is there such a way? Is there something I should know before I do something so drastic as to delete all my .bak files?

[Cad64]

Here's a perfect example of why you should always keep your .bak files: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23867. Drawings can become corrupted due to a system crash, power failure, etc. I have been bailed out several times over the years by my .bak files when a drawing went corrupt. Just because it's never happened to you, doesn't mean it won't. Do yourself a favor and keep your .bak files.

[YZ]

Fair call, I'm picking up what you're putting down. Thanks.

[Marco]

Definitely keep them - you never know when a drawing becomes corrupt.

[LCE]

I will go against the flow here and say toss them.
I have a policy of any .bak or autosave file more than 3months old is deleted.
At the end of the day, if a drawing becomes corrupt, yes it is a pain, but A. it usually happens when you are working with it, so within the 3 month cut-off, and B. I have not found a company yet that does not backup their server, at least on a weekly basis if not daily.

With the ammount of digital data required for projects, and the ammount of time this data is kept live, and the growing file size, I think any unnecessary files, such as .bak files are an inefficient use of resources, calling for larger storage (server space), purely for files that are not required.

Anyway, just my opinion.

[ReMark]

.BAK files should be kept... just not forever. I keep mine for one week. Just before I do my weekly backup to DVD I do a search for all .BAK files and delete them. As you know, Windows then sends these files off to the Recycle Bin where you can still retrieve them if necessary. However, I also clean out the Recycle Bin on a weekly basis. It is just good housekeeping practice to do so. Just because your backup files are stored on a network doesn't mean you can get sloppy about it.

And yes, my "bacon has been saved" twice by .BAK files over a period of several years. Treat these files as the cheap insurance against a calamity but don't treat them like gold. Clean them out on a timely basis. It's just makes good sense to do so.

[Dipali]

Ihave a similar plicy as mentioned by LCE

[Skeeps]

I'm pretty sure that you can change the location of where your .bak files are saved if that helps, I think I managed to do that at my old company. then they're not all over the place. I just can't remember where to change it. I checked out Tools/Options and opening saving. But couldn't find it.

[LCE]

You could run MOVEBAK (Express tool) in your your acad.lsp...

[CADTutor]

.BAK files have saved my bacon on more than one occasion over the years, so they should definitely be kept while a project is still live. My policy has always been to remove .BAK files when the project is completed, all other files being archived.

It may seem wasteful of space to duplicate everything but hard disk space is cheap and you just never know when you're going to need them. The clearing up of .BAK files at the end of any project is just good house-keeping.

[LCE]

Whilst I understand that .bak files can be useful for an immediate fix, ie. A drawing that I work on becomes corrupted or accidentally deleted, then I immediately have the bak file to just carry on working without any IT input. But surely everyone does a backup of their work frequently, so I can't understand the need to keep them long term. Like I said, I keep mine for 3 months, and I think even that is excessive, I am considering revising this to 1 week.

[Cad64]

I agree that .bak files can be deleted once a project is completed, and .bak files are never archived, but I never delete them while the project is still in process. Even though we run tape backup every night, why should I have to lose an entire days worth of work if something goes wrong. Just my policy, yours may differ.

[LCE]

why should I have to lose an entire days worth of work if something goes wrong.
Which is why I currently have it set to 3months, and soon maybe 1 week. Then you don't lose anything because you will always have access to the current .bak, and if it is an old drawing then it has been backed up anyway.

[ReMark]

How far back in time has anyone ever gone to retrieve a .BAK file on a project?

[YZ]

I have only ever needed a .BAK file that same day. But I have never seen a file become corrupt as many on this thread are suggesting.

All of those who clean them up periodically, how do you isolate them all? I cannot seem to get my Windows search to search and separate by file extension only.

[Cad64]

When you use the Windows search function, type in *.bak as the search criteria. This will limit the search to files with the .bak extension only.

[LCE]

How far back in time has anyone ever gone to retrieve a .BAK file on a project?
Couple of hours. 1 day at the most.

[ReMark]

.BAK files are usually kept in the same folder(s) as the drawing(s) you work on. Our network drive has but one location for all CAD drawings. It is just a matter of searching the one restricted network drive to find them. How is it that your backup files are scattered about?

[YZ]

.BAK files are usually kept in the same folder(s) as the drawing(s) you work on. Our network drive has but one location for all CAD drawings. It is just a matter of searching the one restricted network drive to find them. How is it that your backup files are scattered about?

They are only scattered in that they are in each of their respective job folders as you say. And they are all contained on one drive. I'm ceratin I had tried a search for *.bak which hadn't worked. But after CAD64 mentioned it I tried it again. Of course it worked perfectly! Makes my question seem very amateur.

[YZ]

How far back in time has anyone ever gone to retrieve a .BAK file on a project?

I am all for deleting .bak files, hence why I am checking out the option here. I can see that a time period of, say, 3 months is a good precaution.

However, if a .dwg file did inadvertently become corrupt, and I am relying on the backup drive to replace it, (seeing as I wouldn't keep old .bak files) I could get into trouble if I do not find the corrupted file immediately.

Our entire server is backed up daily, but we only keep a max of 1 week at a time before saving over the backup drive again.

So, our backup is really just a snapshot of the server in that week. Presumably then the backup .dwg will be corrupt as well as the original? Would this be an argument to keep .dwg indefinitely?

[ReMark]

No, no, and no again. Do NOT keep .bak files indefinitely. It's a waste of space and of all those files how many will you actually ever have need for over the life of a project? Get real. How is it that your firm corrupts drawing files on such a regular basis that this has become your mindset? Better to make a daily or weekly backup of the .dwg files for each project to a DVD and keep those until the end of the project.

[richardkent]

I have not set AutoCAD to create a .bak for 10 years and have not regretted it once. The previous 10 years where I was required to use .bak, I can't think of one time where I needed them.

[dbroada]

I have not set AutoCAD to create a .bak for 10 years and have not regretted it once. The previous 10 years where I was required to use .bak, I can't think of one time where I needed them.at last - somebody who works like me! :)

[ReMark]

Call me a skeptic but you need once renamed a .bak file to go back in time even if the .dwg file wasn't corrupt. Come on now...be honest. Scout's honor and all.:lol:

[dbroada]

We have all our machines set up to not even create a .bak file. When somebody new starts we might turn it on but for the long term draughtees we don't. I cannot even think of a time I have needed to go back just one save. Often things get changed a lot but the .bak wouldn't be of use then as it would already be too new. Occassionaly we have "lost" files - usually through finger trouble and if they can't be found then we need to get the network backup - but in those cases the .bak has dissapeared with the .dwg anyway. So far recover or autosave has all that has been required. Even when we were using R14 with a somewhat flakey network I can't recall wishing I had a .bak file.

[ReMark]

Dave justs like the thought of being out there on the edge. It makes him feel more alive. Kudos to you man.

[dbroada]

thanks Mark - I am a bit radiacal at times. Today I'm wearing a tie but I have undone my top button.

[rkent]

Call me a skeptic but you need once renamed a .bak file to go back in time even if the .dwg file wasn't corrupt. Come on now...be honest. Scout's honor and all.:lol:

When I am doing "what if" work I will save the drawing with a unique identifier at the end of the file.

I use qsave so often that I would not be able to go back more than a few minutes even if I did use .bak.

On our network I can go to the folder and right click, properties, previous versions. There I will find a saved copy from 7AM and 12PM every day for 14 days.

It has been my observation that when a file is corrupt the .bak is also corrupt as it is just a copy of the file from one save ago.

[mikman]

.bak have saved me on plenty of jobs. We had a high turnover in CAD department for a few years before I started and so everyone set new standards and systems so projects tend to crash on a regular basis and .bak was the quickest and easiest way to restore them. I still delete them when a preject is finished or more than three months of sitting.