Help _Had autosave on. Computer crashed and the back-up file contents reverted back to two days earlier!

[ALope12]

CAEDMON ALL PLANS-Backup-20230511013856.vwxCAEDMON ALL PLANS-Backup-20230511013856.vwx

 

Hi anyone with insight or help

 

I was working on this drawing all day 10-12 hours and the computer crashed and shut-down.  The backup had a weird time then corrected.  Once I opened the file the entire days contents were deleted.

 

I do not understand-I had autobackup on saving every 15 min.

[Pat Stanford]

I haven't looked at your files, but a few recommendations.

 

1. Set it to Autosave by operations instead of time. That way you know you won't be in the middle of an operation when the Autosave kicks in.

2. Don't overwrite the original file, but rather Autosave a backup copy. Then you truly have a second file to go to if there is a problem.

3. Set a high number of backups to save.  I assume that my 15 operations will be about 5 minutes. Based on looking at todays backups, it seems to range from about 4 minutes to 8 minutes.  My 12 backups range from 4:44PM to 6:01PM on one of the two files I was working on this afternoon.  I think I need to up that number.

4. I save all my backups to the same place. That way I know where to look for them and they don't clog up the project files.

5. And as an extra step, I usually make a daily archive copy before I start work for the day. I typically keep these for the duration of the project or prune them and keep all from the current week and the Friday file from earlier weeks on a long term project.

 

[ALope12]

thank-you. luckily I happened to save a copy in the wrong place so only 3hours lost.  I will follow your recommendations going forward

[E|FA]

I have autosave set to every 30 actions, and maximum number of undos also set to 30.  That way I'm covered either by the backup or by undoing.  For me 30 actions seems like a good balance between frequency of disk access and memory load caused by storing undos.

 

I have it set for 1000 backups to a dedicated external drive.  If needed, I can go back and clean up ancient files.

Edited May 12, 2023 by E|FA

[Pat Stanford]

E|FA How many backup copies do you save?

[E|FA]

I have 24GB saved on a 1TB drive. The oldest files are from January.  At this rate, I don't think I need to delete any backups for the next 10 years.  I'm sure I'll upgrade from HD to SSD much sooner than that for reliability and to speed things up.

[Pat Stanford]

That is good information, but I was actually thinking of the number of copies.  I had mine set to 12 and realized that when I am working on a drawing that is only about 2 hours.  I just upped it to 30 copies.  That should get me about a day as I don't think I will every be able to work on a single drawing for an entire day.

[E|FA]

I have it set to 1000.  As I mentioned, disk space is not an issue.  This is in addition to cloud and Time Machine backups.

 

A side benefit of maintaining a history of activity is that if I missed putting my hours in my timesheet, I can reverse engineer what I was working on.

Edited May 12, 2023 by E|FA

[niagara designer]

This just happened to me too - for the first time.

Does anyone have ideas as to why/how this could happen?

 

The ONLY thing different is that I've recently moved to a rural area; internet speed says 144.4Mbps which is apparently good, but there's something strange going on as it takes up to 20seconds to open some websites (that previously took fractions of a second) and it has been taking much longer to simply add pdfs to emails, for example.

 

the download and upload speeds are terrible - I suspect it has to do with this - but I had no warning of it.

I leave my computer in sleep mode, and just carry on the next day.

Therefore, the 2 files I was working on were open, backup copies are saved every 5 minutes, 3 total,  and I manually save the original files regularly, all in Dropbox only.

(**I didn't even think to check that it was actually saving - other files DID save properly since my move so it's not because of the move/new internet server).

 

And yes, I have to change that (DB only)- but it's been working for a long time and not bogging down my computer.

 

What happened next is VW crashed, and I had to restart it - that's the only reason I discovered this. It's a bummer but could have been much worse.

 

I lost 1.5 days worth of work, and was hoping there would be some secret backup hidden somewhere.

Sadly there is not.

 

I have to start using the VW cloud services and am looking at tutorials for that.

And will keep current files on my desktop from now on.

 

I like hearing how you all manage your files and backups etc.

I just need a really simple and easy system that I can rely on - it's just me, working on my own, trying to figure it out as I go.

 

thanks!

 

 

[Jeff Prince]

1 hour ago, niagara designer said:

This just happened to me too - for the first time.

Does anyone have ideas as to why/how this could happen?

 

The ONLY thing different is that I've recently moved to a rural area; internet speed says 144.4Mbps which is apparently good, but there's something strange going on as it takes up to 20seconds to open some websites (that previously took fractions of a second) and it has been taking much longer to simply add pdfs to emails, for example.

 

the download and upload speeds are terrible - I suspect it has to do with this - but I had no warning of it.

I leave my computer in sleep mode, and just carry on the next day.

Therefore, the 2 files I was working on were open, backup copies are saved every 5 minutes, 3 total,  and I manually save the original files regularly, all in Dropbox only.

(**I didn't even think to check that it was actually saving - other files DID save properly since my move so it's not because of the move/new internet server).

 

And yes, I have to change that (DB only)- but it's been working for a long time and not bogging down my computer.

 

What happened next is VW crashed, and I had to restart it - that's the only reason I discovered this. It's a bummer but could have been much worse.

 

I lost 1.5 days worth of work, and was hoping there would be some secret backup hidden somewhere.

Sadly there is not.

 

I have to start using the VW cloud services and am looking at tutorials for that.

And will keep current files on my desktop from now on.

 

I like hearing how you all manage your files and backups etc.

I just need a really simple and easy system that I can rely on - it's just me, working on my own, trying to figure it out as I go.

 

thanks!

 

 

For Backing Up….

set your backups to save by # of actions, not minutes.  Create a backup folder on your desktop and tell VWX to save the files there.  Don’t turn off the auto save reminder, you get used to dismissing it and it is a good reminder that things are working.

 

For Storing Working Files

Always save locally unless you have an iT department supporting you or understand your storage and networking solution.  Sync your local  files to online services for an offsite backup and sharing files with others.

 

if you have a Mac, iCloud is pretty good for small practices, Dropbox and similar are generally better though when you need more functionality or are on a PC.

 

 

[zoomer]

4 hours ago, niagara designer said:

The ONLY thing different is that I've recently moved to a rural area; internet speed says 144.4Mbps which is apparently good, but there's something strange going on as it takes up to 20seconds to open some websites (that previously took fractions of a second)

 

You can try playing with different "DNS" address settings in your router.

Search for their IP4 and IP6 addresses in the www.

Your internet provider usually sets their own DNS server as default.

These may be overcharged and slow or censored and such things.

There are also other public DNS servers ....

like from Google and such large firms or lokal DNS which may have

less lags or DNS servers from universities or privacy respecting

organizations and such.

 

 

But if your downloads are also very slow, it may be that your connection

is not really as fast a promised.

I have 50 Mbit here and it was ok for years. 4+ MB downloads for years.

(1 Byte = 8 bits, but realistically you can estimate a Mbit/10 or less to

estimate your expected MBytes/s speed)

But since a year or more I do only get max 3 MB. And not only at peak

times on weekend.

Maybe to many new high speed neighbors and students over the same cable.

So I am thinking about upgrading and switching provider.

Edited June 30, 2023 by zoomer

[niagara designer]

thanks very much, Jeff Prince and Zoomer.

 

I will change the auto save as you suggest Jeff.

I kept trying to find the saved file, couldn't give up, and just found the backups saved in a completely different location.

big eye roll.

sorry.

I realize I did a new "save as" but was in a different folder, didn't check (obvs)....

will not beat myself up, it's Friday afternoon after all... almost beer time...!

 

thanks again!

ps the internet here still sucks!  hopefully the LL gets the Starlink booster set up real soon 🙂