Jump to content

Retreiving a *.ac$ Autosaved drawing and convert it to *.dwg


Guest grzitln

Recommended Posts

We had a computer store upgrade our hardrive, and we seem to have lost a drawing. I have found a Autosave file (*.ac$) that might be the file I need.

 

HOW can I convert the autosave to a current *.DWG?????

 

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a computer store upgrade our hardrive, and we seem to have lost a drawing. I have found a Autosave file (*.ac$) that might be the file I need.

 

HOW can I convert the autosave to a current *.DWG?????

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Change the file name extension from .ac$ to .dwg. That's all there is to it. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a chance however that you may not have acompletely up to date drawing though from using an autosave file.Depends when it last autosaved.Just a thought,would be annoying to issue a incomplete drawing that you thought was complete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a chance however that you may not have acompletely up to date drawing though from using an autosave file.Depends when it last autosaved.Just a thought,would be annoying to issue a incomplete drawing that you thought was complete.

 

True, it might not be complete but better than starting over ;) One reason I have my autosave set for 15 minutes. I also set a custom folder so I know exactly where it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had a computer store upgrade our hardrive, and we seem to have lost a drawing. I have found a Autosave file (*.ac$) that might be the file I need.

 

HOW can I convert the autosave to a current *.DWG?????

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Change the file name extension from .ac$ to .dwg. That's all there is to it. :)

 

I have tried this thru Explorer, but it does not work.

 

This works for a *.BAK file, but not for a *.AC$ file.

 

:?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correction on my part :oops: the file extension .ac$ is a temporary file. I do not believe that you can open/rename this. I am testing this right now to see what my r2005 auto saves in.

 

Edit: Well I just tried it and it worked here. I opened up the folder where my autosaves are stored and renamed the file to a .dwg and it opened.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correction on my part :oops: the file extension .ac$ is a temporary file. I do not believe that you can open/rename this. I am testing this right now to see what my r2005 auto saves in.

 

I think it's alsodown to what the Incremental save is eg changes.

 

Nick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Pringals
We had a computer store upgrade our hardrive, and we seem to have lost a drawing. I have found a Autosave file (*.ac$) that might be the file I need.

 

HOW can I convert the autosave to a current *.DWG?????

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Change the file name extension from .ac$ to .dwg. That's all there is to it. :)

 

I have tried this thru Explorer, but it does not work.

 

This works for a *.BAK file, but not for a *.AC$ file.

 

:?

You may have your explorer set up preventing you from renaming an extension. Open IE, go to tools, folder options, view. Under Hidden files and folders, uncheck the box next to "Hide extensions for known file types". Now you should be able to rename a file and its extension.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...
You may have your explorer set up preventing you from renaming an extension. Open IE, go to tools, folder options, view. Under Hidden files and folders, uncheck the box next to "Hide extensions for known file types". Now you should be able to rename a file and its extension.

 

 

I have done this and still can change the extention but I can't open "drawing not valid" I even tried changing the name of the file and still won't open.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys, unless I'm much mistaken, an ac$ is an undo info file. The autosave files are .sv$

 

I don't think you can do anything with the ac$ file.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys' date=' unless I'm much mistaken, an ac$ is an undo info file. The autosave files are .sv$

 

I don't think you can do anything with the ac$ file.[/quote']

 

Correct. .ac$ files have nothing to do with autosave/incremental saves, it's temporary information about the drawing, but it's NOT the drawing.

 

 

Backup files: BAK, SV$, AC$

 

Issue

 

You want to know more about the BAK, SV$, and AC$ file types.

 

 

Solution

 

BAK files are backup files created each time that you manually save a DWG file. You can recover data contained in the drawing at the time of the last manual save by renaming the BAK file (by changing the .bak file extension to .dwg). BAK files are created only if the system variable ISAVEBACK is set to 1.

 

 

 

SV$ files are backup files created automatically by the Autosave feature. If AutoCAD crashes during a session, you can rename these files (by changing the .sv$ file extension to .dwg) to recover the data contained in the drawing at the time of the last Autosave. If AutoCAD closes without issue, these files are deleted.

 

 

AC$ files are temporary files that exist only during an AutoCAD session. AC$ files contain information that is used by various commands, such as UNDO and HIDDEN LINES. AC$ files do not contain any drawing data.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know I haven't gone completely senile! After the thing about the info center this morning I was beginning to wonder. If you find an AC$ file, its probably there because it was orphaned during a crash. Those disappear (or are supposed to) when the session closes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know I haven't gone completely senile!

 

That is still open for debate. 8)

 

I do not use .bak or autosave and have yet to lose a drawing upon crash. I normally work on a copy and I save constantly, also. No substitute for good save habits.

 

ROBK, you need to search for .bak and/or the .sv$ file on your drives or check the file paths in options and see where they are being saved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know I haven't gone completely senile!

 

That is still open for debate. 8)

 

What is? What were we talking about?

 

I do not use .bak or autosave and have yet to lose a drawing upon crash. I normally work on a copy and I save constantly' date=' also. No substitute for good save habits.

 

ROBK, you need to search for .bak and/or the .sv$ file on your drives or check the file paths in options and see where they are being saved.[/quote']

 

I use both religiously. They have saved by backside more than once. To each his own, I guess. I keep the baks till I do my weekly archive. I have two 1TB drives that I back my hard drive on to weekly. Once the files are safely tucked away on both of those, I delete all the baks from the main system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since nobody has mentioned it, the ._DrawingRecovery command/palette will (a) FIND your autosave and backup files, and (b) allow you to OPEN them without any renaming operations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since nobody has mentioned it, the ._DrawingRecovery command/palette will (a) FIND your autosave and backup files, and (b) allow you to OPEN them without any renaming operations.

 

Only *if* AutoCAD recognises that it's just crashed - which believe me is not guaranteed.

 

This is a useful automated way to do it, but IMHO it still pays to know the old fashioned way (in the past I've even used *.sv$ files to recover deleted linework - not that I'd recommend such a practise, but it can prove useful!)

 

dJE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only *if* AutoCAD recognises that it's just crashed

 

Not exactly true. You can run the ._DrawingRecovery command at any time.

It will list any autosave and autosave backup files found in the appropriate location - with the exception of autosave files created from unnamed drawings.

 

 

.... it still pays to know the old fashioned way

dJE

 

True. But for the vast majority of users, finding and renaming files in Windows is a crap shot because of the default hidden file extensions, hidden directories, etc. It's much easier to explain to a new user to run an AutoCAD command than to get into Windows settings and all of that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...