ali888 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Hi, I have an issue with opening my old drawing files (.dwg). I usually make a backup copy of all the drawings I have done and save them according to the project numbers. The drawings I have difficulty opening were done ages ago and backed up on a CD. When I was trying to open the drawings from the CD, I received error messages saying "cannot find the specified drawing file. Please verify that the file exists". I also noticed that all of those drawing files are of size between 30Mb and 35Mb. So clearly, there is some data in them. I also tried to do copy and paste from the CD to my local machine but to no avail. It said the file may be corrupted or something. I do not know if this is to do with losing path or what. I wonder if there are any way of getting around this problem. I use AutoCAD LT 2007 on windows 7 machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Make sure the CD is clean and not scratched. If it's dirty, or has finger prints on it, sometimes they won't read. Try a different CD or 2 just to make sure the drive is working properly. If none of them will work, you may have a problem with the drive. If you have a different computer, you might try it there too, especially if it has an older operating system like XP. Even though they are supposed to be compatible, sometimes the older system will read the older files better than the new system. If other cd's done around the same time work in the drive, you may be out of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) A CD can be washed in dish-washing liquid and water and dried with a soft towel. If that doesn't do the trick then as Jack suggested try it in a different computer. I don't think it is ever a good idea to work with a file directly off of a CD, DVD, or flash drive. I believe the best practice is to always copy the file to one's hard drive. Why? In the event of a computer malfunction the file may become corrupt. Edited August 16, 2011 by ReMark changed a word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organic Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 A CD can be washed in dish-washing detergent Isn't dishwashing detergent highly basic and would damage it though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I've done it for years and have never had a problem. Do I need to recommend a product? OK. Try "Ivory" brand. I'm not talking about the product used in a dishwasher. Now I see what the problem is. I used the word "detergent" which is incorrect. It should have been "liquid". I'll change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I don't think it is ever a good idea to work with a file directly off of a CD, DVD, or flash drive. I believe the best practice is to always copy the file to one's hard drive. Why? In the event of a computer malfunction the file may become corrupt.although most older CDs are read only so while the original data won't get corrupted, you won't be able to save any changes on it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I remember trying to work off a floppy disk and after making extensive changes to the drawing I tried to save it back only to find out that AutoCAD had written a bunch of temp files to the floppy and there wasn't enough room left to save the drawing. Needless to say I lost all my work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyke Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Don't CDs have an expected life span of around 10 years? They can become damaged in many ways, we had a guy who left a CD on the window ledge and when he came to use it again it was unreadable, they are light sensitive. They are not as robust as many people think. We copied all our old data from CDs and floppies onto a NAS with RAID Level 1, so if one of the HDDs in the NAS fails we just need to pop a new one in and it mirrors all of the data back onto the new HDD. External storage is so cheap now its not worth taking the risk with CDs or even USBs (I've had a USB fail on me and I lost all the data on it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Re: Short life span of burned CDs. This article says it is 2-5 years! http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/107607/Storage_expert_warns_of_short_life_span_for_burned_CDs Interesting subject. Made me wonder about files I have stored on CDs going back to early 2004. So....... I popped a disk in my DVD drive dated March 5th, 2004 and got a list of the files. Good. Then I copied one of the files to my Desktop. Better. Then I double-clicked on the file and it opened right up. Best! Still works after 7 years and 5 months. I keep all my backup CDs and DVDs stored in a cool, dry, dark place. I think that may have helped. Oh, and I always bought high-quality media by Maxell or Sony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyke Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Re: Short life span of burned CDs. This article says it is 2-5 years! http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/107607/Storage_expert_warns_of_short_life_span_for_burned_CDs Interesting subject. Made me wonder about files I have stored on CDs going back to early 2004. So....... I popped a disk in my DVD drive dated March 5th, 2004 and got a list of the files. Good. Then I copied one of the files to my Desktop. Better. Then I double-clicked on the file and it opened right up. Best! Still works after 7 years and 5 months. I keep all my backup CDs and DVDs stored in a cool, dry, dark place. I think that may have helped. Oh, and I always bought high-quality media by Maxell or Sony. Floppies are supposed to have a shorter life span than CDs, but when we backed our old data on floppies to the NAS out of more than 150 floppies dating back to the mid-late nineties we only had three that were unreadable. And like ReMark they were all stored in a cool, dry, dark place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I've had old CD's go bad on me. More times than not, if the disk said it was unreadable, I was able to recover the data by copying the unreadable disk using a disk copy program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Jeez, I have some 3.5" floppies at home from 1992. As soon as I can find my USB floppy drive I'll have to see if I can pull a drawing off one of the disks. Whoa, wouldn't that be a hoot. 19 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organic Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 We've got older drawings here, althoguh they certainly aren't on a floppy disk anymore lol! I don't think I've even seen one of them in 7+ years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Here's the deal. Find your oldest floppy disk and see if you can 1) read the contents of the disk, 2) copy a file from it to your hard drive and 3) open the file in AutoCAD. Post the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I don't think I can find a 5.25" drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I don't think I can find a 5.25" drive. I've got one here at work. Swing by and pick it up! LOL Warning: it has a fair amount of dust on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 So do these disks. I was given them, "just in case", 10 years ago when I started working here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Was the guy who gave them to you wearing a long, grey beard going by the name of Moses? Maybe it was two tablets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 A CD can be washed in dish-washing liquid and water and dried with a soft towel. If that doesn't do the trick then as Jack suggested try it in a different computer. I don't think it is ever a good idea to work with a file directly off of a CD, DVD, or flash drive. I believe the best practice is to always copy the file to one's hard drive. Why? In the event of a computer malfunction the file may become corrupt. I read this the first time at about 5:30 this morning. Must not have been awake yet, because I would have sworn you said they could be washed in a dish-washer. I had to make a run to town so I didn't have time to respond. Good thing too. I had this mental image of CD's flying around inside...:lol:. Note to self: no posting before caffeine dosing! I usually use denatured alcohol and a soft cloth like the ones you buy for cleaning eyeglasses to clean them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I don't think I can find a 5.25" drive. I tossed one out a couple weeks ago during a decluttering binge. If I run across another (got another closet to attack that has gadgets in it) I'll send it to ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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