AutoCAD - DWG files are lost when saving

[Bruce Panting]

Jeremy has as he said a "workaround" that could allow the .dwg files to revision on the cloud by telling AutoCAD to avoid the file rename and copy that happens when a file is saved. The issue I have is this solution has to be done on each workstation and if one is missed you potentially could lose your redundancy of data. I've tried to contact Don David for quite a while to no avail.

[John Lagasse]

Fatal flaw with Jeremy's workaround is if anything happens to the file you no longer have a backup to go to.  

We just had two users working on the same file without knowing.  Last one to save wins.  AWESOME product!! Right!!

Egnyte is supposed to be a useful product and I cannot even reorganize my file structure due to every one now being on the PLC.

[Jeremy Chupp1]

One of the things that we discovered during the testing of the "workaround" we shared is that the Egnyte File Cloud maintains mutiple versions of the DWG file while the user is working on the drawing and as they save.  See the attached screen capture.  So despite autobackup being turned off in AutoCAD, we are still getting snapshots with the Egnyte File Cloud.  I suppose this could be affected by how often files are being synched using PLC.  We are using "Real-Time" sync with our ELC and OLC appliances.  Since we have implemented the change, we have had to restore files using these previous versions.  The process to restore files is relatively straightforward.  Download the last version of the file from the Egnyte File Cloud to a local PC desktop and then copy it back to ELC, OLC or PLC.  Egnyte picks that up as a file change and that file then becomes the "active" copy. 

We too were concerned about the same issue that John mentioned in his post when we were reviewing the product.  We assign drawing projects to individuals and manage this process very tightly.  That is not to say that we would not experience the same issue or that this is practical for other companies to manage their projects this way.  It would be nice if Egnyte could handle or signal Open or Locked files to minimize this from happening.

[Bruce Panting]

Going into this product and doing some initial testing we found that any of the file locks that are generated by AutoCAD and populated to a Personal or Office Cloud does not notify the user that the drawing is in use. As Jeremy has noted each user needs to be very cognizant of who in the group is working on a project. For us a simple email is sent out to the team to let them know what drawings are being accessed. To clarify, if a team is accessing these files directly from the NAS drive as they should the file lock system does continue to work. Now as I see it we currently have two options.

1. Use the system as is and for revisioning from the cloud go back to the history of BAK files and rename to the .dwg extension.
2. Use Jeremy’s system and use the revisioned .DWG files.

I believe there has been talk about Egnyte coming up with a file lock system for lack of a better word plain file but as we have noticed AutoCAD is not a plain file and I feel we will not see the benefits of a file lock system for quite some time. Not to start a debate but what’s going to happen when we all switch to Revit.

[Scott Page1]

Any feedback on the new OLC version 7.4.2?

[Bruce Panting]

Today is October 18th, 2012 and we are currently using Office Local Cloud version 7.4.2 (59244) on our Netgear ReadyNAS Pro4. Within my AutoCAD 2012 settings I have “Automatic save” checked and set to 15 minutes, “Create backup copy with each save” is also checked. Real-time synchronization is selected within Office Local Cloud. I know Don David from Egnyte has been following this thread so I would like to share the results of my latest test.

1. Created a new working drawing and saved it on the NAS drive. After synchronization the log shows the file as being skipped and no related files are seen on the cloud (no lock files).
2. Continue to work on the file and did a manual save generating a corresponding .BAK file. After synchronization the .BAK file does show on the cloud but still no original .DWG file or lock files.
3. Continuing to work on the file and again manually save the file. After synchronization the .BAK is revisioned to number (2) but still no original .DWG file is on the cloud. The log again shows the working .DWG file as skipped. To clarify the .DWG file is on the NAS drive along with the corresponding lock files and .BAK file.
4. This time I closed the file at which time AutoCAD asks if I would like to save the file which I said yes leaving only the .DWG file and corresponding .BAK file on the NAS drive. After synchronization the working .DWG file now shows on the cloud and the corresponding .BAK file is now revisioned to number (3).
5. Reopened the working .DWG causing the lock files to regenerate on the NAS drive. No changes were noticed on the cloud files, the working .DWG file still has no revisions and the corresponding .BAK file is still revisioned at number (3).
6. Continue to edit file and manually save the file. Oh! No!… The working .DWG file disappeared from the cloud and the .BAK file is now revisioned to number (4) after synchronization. I do not know it the latest .BAK on the cloud is the latest .DWG file. In the log it shows the .DWG file as a skipped file again.
7. Still have the working .DWG file open and again do a manual save. Still no .DWG working file on the cloud but the .BAK file is revisoned to number (5). The log file continues to show the .DWG file as skipped. Throughout this process the owner is shown as being correct.
8. Finally after modifying the file I closed the file being asked again to save the file. I confirm the save leaving only the .DWG and .BAK file on the NAS drive. As expected the .DWG reappears with no revisioning history and the .BAK file is now at revisioned number (6).

1. Okay I want to try something here. I reopened the .DWG working file causing the lock files to be regenerated. As in event 5 above there are no changes to the files on the cloud. The working .DWG is still un-revisioned and the .BAK is still at number (6).
2. I’m continuing to modify the file and manually saving the file. I’m trying to see if having the file open causes the working .DWG file to disappear from the cloud. “Success” the file disappears from the cloud and the .BAK is revisioned to number (7) duplicating event 6 above.
3. Now I want to close AutoCAD without saving the drawing removing the lock files from the NAS drive and not changing the .BAK file or .DWG file. What do we think will happen after the next synchronization? Good news the working .DWG file does reappear on the cloud.

Now if someone would like to test the following theory it would be greatly appreciated. This test involves multiple NAS drives in various locations connected using the Office Local Cloud. If you are working at location “A” and you are working on a file on the NAS drive you should be at event 6 with the .DWG file missing from the cloud. At location “B” after a synchronization this working file in theory should also disappear from the NAS drive. If you were to crash out of AutoCAD at location “A” you would be able to leave the .DWG and .BAK files unchanged and leave the lock files behind. The user at location “A” would still see their working file on the NAS drive but would effectively have deleted the file on the rest of the associated NAS drives.

Don if you have any questions you do have my contact information and feel free to contact me.

Bruce

[Michael Ferguso]

Thanks to Bruce for the thorough work.....I hope that someone from Egnyte can use it to offer a solution.  I can't afford to do work arounds to make up for a fatal flaw in my server.

And thanks to all....I had just started to deploy this across several offices, and this has potentially saved me a lot of pain.

Egnyte, please adivse if this is something that you can fix immediately....

[Trey Howard1]

An update for everyone who is following this thread:

We have a pending update to ELC and OLC that we believe will address this DWG issue. We are still testing but expect to release it in the coming weeks.

We acknowledge that this error is still a problem for those using PLC. We are working on a fix for it.

Thank you for your patience and business.

Trey

[Chris Golden]

I am fairly new new to egnyte and have this same issue occurring on my server that is running PLC.  Has there been any update or fix to prevent the ATMP files from being created?

[Trey Howard1]

Hi Chris,

We are aware of this issue with PLC, and are planning an upcoming release to fix it. We appreciate your patience and thank you for choosing Egnyte.

Trey