Auto Saving and Backup

AutoSaving and Backup

To minimize losses caused by software or hardware failures and any other consequences, nanoCAD has auto saving and backup functions.

AutoSaving

If Autosaving mode is switched on, the data is saved at the specified intervals.

The time and date of the auto saving is added in round brackets to a file name with *.autosave extension, for example: <file name>.dwg(20-29-44_15.08.2010).autosave

A default folder for auto saved files: C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Local\Temp.

To open and work with an auto saved file, change its extension to *.dwg (delete the additional information in round brackets and the *.autosave extension).

The auto saving parameters are specified in the AutoSave and Backup section of theOptions dialog box (Tools menu > Options):

Parameters:

The first launch of nanoCAD after a failure starts from the Recover documents dialog box, containing information about the original file (name, path and creation time) and last autosave time.

To recover document data, click on the file name and select one of the following in the context menu:

Backup

nanoCAD creates two backup copies of the file with the same name, but with different extensions.

Original Backup copy (file *.original) stores content of the opened or new (but saved!) as it was on first save command. The original backup copy is created only once – on the first editing session. In future sessions, this file will not be overwritten/saved if the path for the Backup folder (in AutoSave and Backup section in Options dialog) was not changed or the backup file was not deleted. Original backup copy (file with *.original extension) saves document data as it was when the file was opened for editing (original backup is created at the beginning of the session of file editing).

Backup copy (file with *.bak extension) is often updated during the document editing process (at every saving by the user). Different contingencies can occur with a document during the working process, for example, malfunctions of hardware, failure of the software or improper actions of a user. Backup copy allows the user to recover information and minimize losses of information by means of periodic savings (for example, every 15-20 minutes) of the file by the user.

Backup copies are saved in the folder where the document file is saved.

Backup parameters are specified in the AutoSave and Backup section of theOptions dialog box (Tools menu > Options):

Parameters:

To recover data from a backup copy, change the file extension to *.dwg.

Saving File History and Possibility to Return to Previous States

Usually, files created as a result of autosave can be useful only in case of abnormal end of the program session, since in this case these files remain on the disk. In case of normal end of work with a document, autosave files are automatically deleted.

Sometimes you may need to return to previous states of a document file, for example, if it wasn’t saved by mistake.

In this case you should enable and configure the save file history mode. It is based on the mechanism of autosaving files and is configured in the Options dialog box – Section Save documents – File history:

·         Save file history (FILEHISTORY variable) – whether maintain autosave history or not (0 – disabled or 1 – enabled);

·         Number of stored file versions (FILEHISTORYMAX variable) – maximum number of autosaved file versions;

·         File versions are stored for <> days (FILEHISTORYDURATION variable) – period of storing autosaved file versions in the storage (in days).

·         File history folder – folder for storing autosaved copies.

Files are deleted from the storage:

·         when trying to save a file version in the storage, which already contains a number of file versions equal to FILEHISTORYMAX (the earliest version is deleted);

·         when closing nanoCAD, the storage period for files in the storage is checked. If the file is in the storage longer than FILEHISTORYDURATION, then it is deleted.

The Open file history command (OPENHISTORY) is intended to open a file from the storage.

Incremental Saving

In the incremental saving mode, a file is not overwritten whole, - only changes made after the previous save are added in it. And only if the size of all accumulated changes exceeds half of the original document size, the file will be overwritten in whole.

This significantly accelerates the process of saving large drawings. The incremental save is especially effective when creating backup during autosave.

By default, the incremental saving mode is enabled only for autosave. Normal saving is performed in a standard way.

You can disable the incremental saving mode or enable it for saving operations in the Incremental saving mode section of the Options dialog: