Coosbaylumber Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Lost a file today Went into office today and found that Boy Genius seems to have renamed a biggie file (which had lottsa hours in development time involved) and then erased it. Everything. It does not show up in DOS, in the recycle bin nor on the server. Anyplace. Not in any format either. How do I go about setting my files to be undeleted via DOS or some other mechanism. Used to be the command of UNDELETE, and I then got some old version of the file, but that too does not work anymore, and cannot obtain a thing now. I would like to install it and make it work as per past. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Try searching on "undelete utilities freeware". I'm sure you'll get more than a few hits. You might even come across some trialware but most of them will tell you that they found the file but you'll have to buy the program to actually retrieve the file. And guess what? They do not guarantee it will work. Norton Utilities had an Undelete feature many years back. Don't know if they still do. What OS is being run on Boy Genius' computer? Did he continue to work after the file was deleted? Did he turn the computer off after the file was deleted? Is this an AutoCAD drawing file we're talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukecad Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Try searching for a '.bak' and or '.sv$' file with the same name as the original .dwg - these are both types of backup file that can usually be renamed to be a .dwg again. (The .sv$ file will have some date and time numbers added to the original filename and will not always be a full drawing file, sometimes it is just a type of log file, see below). You get '.bak's if you have set up 'Create Backups' in the options, when you save a drawing it renames the laste saved version as .bak. These are saved in the same directory as the .dwg. You get '.sv$'s if you have set up 'Incremental Saves' (every *** mins). These are saved to the path specified in the 'Automatic Save File Path' in the TOOLS > OPTIONS > FILES. Usually this folder called Autocad_temp. NOTE- to be able to rename a .sv$ to a .dwg you must have had FULL not INCREMENTAL set in the Automatic Save options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coosbaylumber Posted April 21, 2010 Author Share Posted April 21, 2010 Actually Boy Genius may have done me a favor. For now I have something to talk about at Friday morning staff meeting. I only came in to P-U the past paycheck and found him sort of smiling in the corner. The automatic save feature is set for every 30 minutes. Thus zero *.$sv files were around, as it is running upon opening up a file name and turned off upon closing it. Am used to making alterations, getting into and out of the files in ten minutes, well before the automatic save could carry on. Seems there is a way to make a dead copy of the file, rename it so as not to ruin original effort, but save it to another Windows folder, or the server. That worked OK for him, but was supposed to do the reverse too and it never got remembered. The file originally was 176 Meg in size, I got it down to about 66 meg over a few weeks, then gave up for a while. As it was not needed today, or next week either. Now in the blink of an eye, just wasted a couple weeks worth of work and will need to start over again. Nothing in the recycle bin, for he and I immedialtely looked. But as of today, the drawing file is gone. I was told that Windows somehow forgot to enclose the old UNDELETE function, but if it was taken off of original DOS disks, it could be used once again. Need to find out how to do that then, I guess. For it saved us Mucho $$$ two years ago, when was on a single Hard drive. Now got two and is not functioning on either hard drive. We have a copy of some Norton product on the main server, but only used for Anti-virus purposes. Not present on any individual computers. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kencaz Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 I was told that Windows somehow forgot to enclose the old UNDELETE function, but if it was taken off of original DOS disks, it could be used once again. Need to find out how to do that then, I guess. For it saved us Mucho $$$ two years ago, when was on a single Hard drive. Now got two and is not functioning on either hard drive. Wm. I don't think your old copy of UNDELETE will work on your current OS. You'll get the "Incorrect DOS Version" message, plus that was pre NTFS and FAT-32 file systems so it would not be able to write to those systems anyway. You'll have to D/L file recovery software either freeware or purchase. If possible don't write any data to the system your file is stored on if possible because your chances of recovery go down every time something is written to that drive. If It's on a server (with no RAID Array, or other backup system), it's probably gone... Even if you did have those systems they are for hardware failure recovery not deleted files. KC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkmcswain Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 There is virtually no way UNDELETE (or any similar utility) is going to work, especially if there has been disk activity since the time the file was deleted. My question is... "where are your daily backups?" Do you not backup to tape or disk daily, at least with incremental backups? (Assuming the file was present during the last backup...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coosbaylumber Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 If possible don't write any data to the system your file is stored on if possible because your chances of recovery go down every time something is written to that drive. If It's on a server (with no RAID Array, or other backup system), it's probably gone... Even if you did have those systems they are for hardware failure recovery not deleted files. KC Glugg.... Was afraid of that. Will not be in office for next two days. The file will easily be over written in that timespan and no doubt same name used once again. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 My question is... "where are your daily backups?" isn't it amazing how many people seem to think .bak & .sv$ will get them out out of trouble. I can't remember the last time I regreted not making .bak files and .sv$ only works in the event of an unexpected exit from AutoCAD. Off server backups are the only sensible way to protect your work. In this case it was finger trouble that has cost you, just think how much damage a malicious attack could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 When a file is deleted it is not wiped from the face of the hard drive platter. The OS simply marks the file space as being available for use. Thus the warning about continued disk activity (creating and saving files) as the system may decide to overwrite some or all of the sector where the original file was stored. Was any action taken against Boy Genius for his brilliant move? Don't tell me he managed to talk his way out of it by blaming the computer. They should can his sorry arse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coosbaylumber Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 isn't it amazing how many people seem to think .bak & .sv$ will get them out out of trouble. Dave.... I do not know exactly as to just when, but is standard routine to erase all .BAK and other saved files on everyone's computer, plus the server. When I dropped to DOS level, it was one of my initial thoughts, but zero was there. Guess I now have a reason to show up for work then next week. Create the deleted file again. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 There is nothing wrong with the standard routine as long as someone is 100% sure all dwg files have been backed up to the server before they willy-nilly start changing file names and then deleting files. I think the damage in this case has been self-inflicted. Will they learn anything from this painful and costly lesson remains to be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 the thing is, the .bak file is only the current drawing prior to the last save. In your case it would have been a massive help but those cases are very rare. People on here keep asking how to revert to yesterday's revision. If you opened the file today, QSAVEd after 30 minutes, did a bit more work then saved on exit yesterday's revision has now gone forever - unless you did a daily backup. I fail to understand how companies can neglect this step. Servers crash, files get deleted. All yesterday's work was done to a wrong markup. Being able to recover an old file must surley make good buisness sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 In most cases a bak file from yesterday or last week or last month is of little to no concern to CAD users unless they worked on the file today without saving even once. Then they'll sell their souls to get any backup file they can possibly get their hands on just to avoid starting from zero. I delete all my bak files on a weekly basis if I'm busy or every other week if things are slow. But before I do I back up the drawing file itself to at least two distinctly separate locations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coosbaylumber Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 I delete all my bak files on a weekly basis if I'm busy or every other week if things are slow. But before I do I back up the drawing file itself to at least two distinctly separate locations. I do not know exact time of day that Boy does the erasures, but he does it once per day (as it saves a good 30% on hard disk file sizes) and I think it is near to 4-5 PM. As I do not sit in front of an active computer monitor each day, I usually leave the works to him then. That is one part of his job. There may be written explainations left at my desk, for he usually erases all the same files from every computer at a desk, and then is lastly supposed to erase the same stuff off the main server. Using whatever routine he has set up. Every day, and to save disk space. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Are the files that large/plentiful that you're starving for disk space on your server? Hard disk space is cheap, cheap, cheap. Even a 500 or 750GB hard drive is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of reproducing the CAD drawing you lost from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coosbaylumber Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 Are the files that large/plentiful that you're starving for disk space on your server? Hard disk space is cheap, cheap, cheap. Even a 500 or 750GB hard drive is relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of reproducing the CAD drawing you lost from scratch. All of the files will easily fit on to the hard drive. Was getting the little warning last week that of no addidtional space. Run Defrag, and same filesa re now less than 50% of the whole. Thick we got a bug. Problem is you are talking of "someone else's" money. I think the firm is having a hard time keeping door open. In telephone conversation this morning, my topic may be dropped at staff meeeting, as the firm is thinking of "Down-sizing" and moving to another area. Leaving a few behind too. As noticed the secretary got invited, which seems odd. Wasn't too good of report via congress this AM over the radio this morning. But we do get to spend more money though. My unemplyment cheque will grow from about $126 per week to double that and benefits will last longer too. Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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