topic Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed in Modeling

Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed?

Jefferson — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:39:17 GMT

major dumb SH!_ move here.........I had a bunch of programs running and in closing them all down I accidentally closed a session of AC without saving, after oh, about 4 hours of intense & valuable work......unbelievable but sadly true.

I am wondering if the .lck files generated as what I have always assumed are autosave associated, once discarded or trashed, can be retrieved, [from where ever they go], and be used to get back to where I was...........maybe this should go on my wish list, but if someone knows where I can find it, assuming it's still "out there", and unless otherwise cautioned, I can give it a go at least.

Heading to the beach to walk the dog and berate myself outside........

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Link — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:51:53 GMT

Hey Jeff

The .lck file is just a tiny lock file that detects you as being in the project, to prevent others from possibly opening it & overwriting your good work. You may have seen the 'This project is in use by 'Mr-I-Don't-Need-to-Save' @ His Computer'.... Open with Exclusive Access/Don't Open/ Open as Read-Only' Information warning? That lck file causes that warning to appear if you try and open the file twice or if someone else tries to open it at the same time. So the.lck file ain't gonna help you retrieve data.

If you effectively crashed out of ArchiCAD, there should be an autosave document stored on your machine. The actual path is set in your work environment profile under Company Standards Schemes> Data Safety> AutoSave Folder. Mine is set to C:\Users\Link\Graphisoft, so your may be similar. I HOPE that you have autosave turned on! There should be an @Global.T file in there somewhere which is an exact copy of your project as of the last autosave. It is a good idea to copy that file out to your desktop, just in case!

[There could be multiple autosave folders if you crashed out with multiple projects open]

In any case, ArchiCAD should prompt you to rescue that file once you start ArchiCAD again.

Cheers, Link.

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Eduardo Rolon — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:57:56 GMT

This is a long shot. If you have not opened AC (or closed it per the wiki article) yet there might be some autosaved files in your Graphisoft folder under your user name.

http://www.archicadwiki.com/TechNotes/Recovering%20project%20data%20after%20mistaken%20exit?highlight=%28AutoSave%29

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Jefferson — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:29:26 GMT

Thanks Mates! Unfortunately, [and how often will you hear this], I didn't crash..........I simply clicked on the"X", which I never do religously closing out file>save>save>exit. My head was somewhere else.......completely, apparently. Not so stupid as to not run autosave, not smart enough to recall where to find it, partially having never needed it before.

And yes autosave is set, every 15 seconds, however I oh-so-stupidly had reopened Archicad just before reading this post, sssooooooo, the autosave file is/was now only related to the last open AC file. Closing the just opened file emptied the autosave folder. Any chance I might have had is now gone fo good

This post will self-destruct in 12 hours so laugh it up while you have the chance and learn from my mistakes mates

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Link — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:35:04 GMT

There's nothing wrong with hitting the X (Close) button, if you're talking about the one in the top right corner of the application. That's the same thing as closing the window. And if the current window is the floor plan, then it will close the project and exit the application. Unless you have just saved and done no work since, ArchiCAD will prompt you to 'Save Changes' as usual.

So did you save or did you ignore the prompt?

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:42:51 GMT

"...I accidentally closed a session of AC without saving..."

Unfortunately it's gone. You LOST all. When you closed AC it ERASED the entire folder named "ArchiCAD AutoSave Folder"...It contains a sub folder "@ODB_ObjectSetsxxxxxxxxxx and 3 files, one of this is your .lck file "@Global.T") . Now if you started AC again it will create an empty folder with that name in the same place.

Maybe some program for UDELETE FILES could restore that file (@Global.T), but you MUST USE IT BEFORE starting AC again!

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Eduardo Rolon — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:44:59 GMT

At a minimum the second time around takes less work since all the decisions are already taken.

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Link — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:45:59 GMT

andro55 wrote:
"...I accidentally closed a session of AC without saving..."

Unfortunately it's gone. You LOST all. When you closed AC it ERASED the entire folder named "ArchiCAD AutoSave Folder"...It contains a sub folder "@ODB_ObjectSetsxxxxxxxxxx and 3 files, one of this is your .lck file "@Global.T") . Now if you started AC again it will create an empty folder with that name in the same place.

Maybe some program for UDELETE FILES could restore that file (@Global.T), but you MUST USE IT BEFORE starting AC again!

Way to make him feel better!!!

Remember Jeff, beer is always your friend...

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Jefferson — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:31:57 GMT

Link, 'fraid you know me all to well.

A few more posts here since I stepped out check on my new best "friends" in the refer. Not hitting "save" instead of AND hitting "don't save", [worse than ignoring the promt], which in some zombi-like state I clicked on instead was the "......major dumb SH!_ move....." on my part and I suspect/hope/pray I won't do this again. We tend to remember the hard lessons best.

Time to go rebuild what was from memory, and indeed it should be faster the second time through.....

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Barry Kelly — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:44:27 GMT

Link wrote:
Remember Jeff, beer is always your friend...

Maybe beer was Jeff's problem in the first place?

I'll just ...Hic!... shut down this ...Hic!... application ...Hic!
Was I ...Hic!... supposed to ...Hic!... press that ...Hic!... button?

All said jokingly of course.
Barry.

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Jefferson — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:49:04 GMT

"Maybe beer was Jeff's problem in the first place?

I'll just ...Hic!... shut down this ...Hic!... application ...Hic!
Was I ...Hic!... supposed to ...Hic!... press that ...Hic!... button? "

ouch mate! the self-destruct of this posting may be accelerated at the owner's discretion..........

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:32:44 GMT

Laughing because I have "Zombied-Out" in the same fashion, Jeff.

Hate to post here after the days have gone by and you have healed a bit from your self inflected wound.

I was curious (big problem) and looked at my C:\Documents and Settings\Jay\Graphisoft folder and found there to be 4 "ArchiCAutoSaveave Folders" Only the two most recent ArchiCAutoSaveave Folders had the additional ArchiCAD.TMP and @Lock.T files. The other two ArchiCAD AutoSave Folders may be from my previous version AC10.

Also in the Root Graphisoft floder I found 265 CrashDump-......dmp Files.

Are these files and folder ever purged? Can we? Should we?

Re: Can a .lck file be retrieved once the project was closed

Link — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:35:04 GMT

I'd delete them. I ~think~ the dump files are only needed if GS tech support al for them, and when's the last time that happened?;-)

GS used to (and hopefully will continue to) release ArchiCAD Cleaner applications that would clean all that old stuff out. Very effective cleaners if you can find them.

Cheers,
Link.