AUTOSAVE command?

[CAD Library]

hello all!

 

how can I autosave file in autocad... and set it to every 20 mins??

is it possible?

please show me how...

 

thank you!

[Dana W]

Tools > Options > Open and Save > check the Automatic Save box, then enter the time interval, then click 'Apply'.

[JD Mather]

Most professionals I know turn off Autosave and take the responsibility themselves on when to save.

[Cat]

Autosave is like insurance. It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. It's saved more than one person's bacon when the lights flickered.

[lpseifert]

Autosave saves a file with the extension .sv$. The file is deleted when acad shuts down normally. In other words, Autosave is only good for abnormal shutdowns (crashes, power outages etc.). Autosave should not be used in lieu of periodic manual saves.

[JD Mather]

It's saved more than one person's bacon ...

 

I would wager that mis-guided reliance on autosave has burnt more bacon than it has ever saved. Just read the forums over the years - nearly everytime someone asks a question about autosave it is just after they lost hours of work.

 

I turn off autosave and teach that it is the responsibilty of the professional to save when needed - as needed.

 

There are other reasons to not use autosave, but if one hasn't the disciplin to....

[Cat]

I never implied that autosave was meant to be used in lieu of saving your work on a regular basis. As I said, "when the lights flickered" meaning "unexpected power outage". Any computer literate person knows saving their work often is paramount.

[rkent]

JD, Why do you even bother teaching an outdated program like AutoCAD? Given all your answers involve someone moving to a modern program like Inventor I am surprised you waste your students time with ACAD.

[JD Mather]

JD, Why do you even bother teaching an outdated program like AutoCAD? Given all your answers involve someone moving to a modern program like Inventor I am surprised you waste your students time with ACAD.

 

I'm required to.

[BIGAL]

Do we have autosave on the simple answer is yes.

 

Can anyone out there hand on the bible no matter how good your saving practice tell me that autocad never crashes!

 

Running repair as I type this on a laptop since installing 2011 continuously crashes 2009 was ok.

[RobDraw]

I'm sorry Mr. Mather but I totally disagree with you about turning off "AUTOSAVE". There isn't one good reason not to have it on that I can think of.

 

Back when I first started learning AutoCAD and PCs were just barely good enough to run it, "AUTOSAVE" often meant it was time to pause working for a few seconds to a minute. Annoying enough to make you want to turn it off. Those days are gone. I never notice an "AUTOSAVE" unless I am looking at the command line. I have mine set to every 12 minutes. My saving practices are good enough that a crash hardly ever means losing more than a few minutes work. There are times when I'm busy and I get on a roll doing a bunch of minor mindless touch up type editting without saving for longer periods than usual. "AUTOSAVE" has saved me 15 minutes of tedious work on more than one occasion. I work in an office with about 80 people using AutoCAD on a daily basis and I'm willing to bet that any who knows how to turn it off, while they hardly ever have to look to that file for lost work, would not turn it off. While there is no good backup for good saving practices, "AUTOSAVE" does help people keep the bacon from getting burned.

[ReMark]

How many users even know where to find an autosave file?

 

For those of you who don't click on Options then the Files tab. Scroll down to the entry Automatic Save File Location. Click on the to expand the entry. The default path should look something like this:

 

C:\DOCUME~1\yourcomputernamehere\LOCALS~1\Temp

 

Now, doesn't that just roll right off your tongue? No? Well you're right.

 

I suggest that users create a new folder called MyAutoSaves in the root directory of their hard drive and change AutoCAD's default path to the new location C:\MyAutoSaves. By the way, I believe the default setting for AutoSave is 120 minutes. Reset this to 30 minutes. Also check off the box to Create backup copy with each save and finally, if your system is prone to errors (i.e. - corrupted drawings) also enable Full time CRC validation. Make sure to save all changes before exiting the Options dialog window.

 

Note: The suggested changes to AutoSave time, backup file creation and CRC validation are all made on the Open and Save tab of the Options dialog window.

[nukecad]

I would also make ISAVEPERCENT = 0

That way it should save a full copy of the drawing at each autosave that you can just rename from .sv$ to .dwg if you need to get it back.

 

Not yet noted here is that the autosave timer resets when you do a manual save.

So if your autosave is set at 30 mins and you do a manual save every 20 mins you will not have any autosaves.

Edited August 17, 2010 by nukecad
went from memory and didnt check my info before posting

[BIGAL]

Can't agree more the guys here dont know about autosave untill they crash big time definately have a seperate directory for the autosaves our is \acadtemp.

 

One guy here ran out of disk space cleaned up his document&setting temp and got back 5Gb

 

As we loaded 2011 recently everybody now has a simple temporary directory that they clean up every now and again.

[bobsy852]

I have my AutoSAVE set up for every 9mins! It's saved my back numerous times, as I know I have a full on tendancy to forget to save often enough!

It doesnt always help though, as it usually forces me to go back the 9mins Ive been busiest and have to re-do loads again!

 

Talking of which

 

 

_qsave!

[ReMark]

There is no reason to have AutoSave set for every 9 minutes. Learn to save your work as JDM suggested. AutoSave is meant for power interruptions and other unexplained and sudden crashes of AutoCAD. Is your system prone to these types of events? If so, you need to get your hardware checked out.

[bobsy852]

I know, but like i said, i know I'm often prone to forgetting to save! I should improve on it really!

 

Yea, inserting blocks, and setting up layouts are the most common cause of crashes! If it were up to me, I'd install AutoCAD 2010 here at the office (or even 2011) as I've found 2010 to be less troublesome on my home system, also with the 64bit software, seems to make things a lot more stable. I'd also upgrade the hardware on my office PC if i had the choice as this dual core and 2Gb RAM just can't keep up with things such as hatching and the better GUI of 2009+

[ReMark]

Inserting blocks and setting up layouts is causing your system to crash? Sounds like you need to run the REPAIR option. Do you get any error messages or is this just a case of OIE?

[bobsy852]

Sometimes it does! It quite common when setting up layouts (renaming them/creating new ones etc)

Not heard of this REPAIR command, just tried googling it, only to get results about repairing software?

Pardon my ignorance, but what's OIE?

After it crashes I get an AutoDesk error report to send (Which I do), it often tell me to then download an update, but not being a system admin I can't unstall these updates!

[ReMark]

REPAIR is for repairing the installation of AutoCAD. The option is available via Windows Add/Remove Software and would be listed under the version of AutoCAD you are using. It usually requires that you have the original installation disks handy.

 

OIE - Operator Induced Error.

 

Is your version of AutoCAD up to date with all service packs?

 

Tell whoever is responsible for installing updates or hot fixes to get off their lazy butt and do their job. When you're too busy worrying about crashes and recovering from same you are wasting your time and your company's money because you are not productive. That affects the bottom line (profit). Does this person what to take on the responsibility of explaining to the boss why this is an acceptable practice?