all my weeks of work... gone :(

[Ravager]

i tried to save my best modle in the "my library" section and when it did, it was denied, so i quit and came back to see if it would work better, but instead, my weeks and weeks of work on my modle was erased and never seen again. is there a way to save in the library and if not, please tell me if i can ever retrieve my weeks of work!

[Stuart Rogers]

please tell me if i can ever retrieve my weeks of work!

Where you're data's concerned, never ever ever rely on anything! Take back-ups all the time, and then take another.

[KenH]

Where had you saved the model up to then? Did you have any iterations? Post something here and we could salvage it.

[heyvern]

Not enough info.

 

There is no way to tell from the description exactly what you did or where the file "went" or "is".

 

Do a search for the file name to find out where it was saved originally. If you saved to a new location and it wouldn't let you... it should still be where it was.

 

-vern

[Rodney]

Ravager,

The Library just holds a shortcut to your file.

If you've saved the file the Library might not show it but it should still be on your harddrive.

 

Remove the Library out of the equation for now and do a search for your model on your harddrive.

 

so i quit

 

Hopefully you saved BEFORE you quit or at least once or twice over the weeks you were working on the project.

If you saved it and didn't delete it it'll be there.

 

Rodney

[youngman]

I don't know about how to retrieve your lost model!but a bit of advice from someone who has done the same thing.

In your your model area 'Right Click - Save As' An absolute esentianal tool.

 

Sorry if not much help for now,but invaluable for any new project.(from someone who shares your pain)

 

 

Jay

[johnl3d]

the library might have been refering to the library files on the cd and of course you can't save to a regular cd , Chances are there is a copy of your file if you have been saving it for weeks, As suggested do a search.

If you are in windows see if the name apperas in recent documents and then right click\properties will tell you where it should be.

 

good Luck

[bedheadben]

I hope you will find it, and I think you will, because it doesn't make sense that you could be saving it for weeks and have it not really saving whenever it says it is. Anyways, good luck getting your file back!

[Ravager]

i can still open my project file, but it says that it cannot find the "model" file, i even did a search for it on my computer, nothing

[Eric2575]

You did say that you've been working on it for weeks, right? So you have not been running your computer uninterrupted for all that time, right? So you have been saving your work as you shut down AM, right?

 

Well, if you are on a PC, right click on the start button and click "explore." Right click on "My Computer" almost at the top of the pane and hit "Search" . Now click "All files and folders"and type in "*.mdl" without the quotes. This will bring up all AM model files on your hard drive - be sure to take out the AM cd, or it will list all those too. Now if you don't know or remember what you named your model, you may have left the default name of "model1", so I would look for that one first. Be sure your view is set to "details" so you can see what directory the model are under.

 

Let us know what you find. This search takes only a few seconds.

[NancyGormezano]

i can still open my project file, but it says that it cannot find the "model" file, i even did a search for it on my computer, nothing

 

Also do a search for any old (previous versions) project files - (if you saved your project files in versions?)

 

If not - you can inspect the text of your project file in a text editor - and look for something that resembles the file name (and path) of the model in the project text file...assuming the model file wasn't embedded.

 

Your project file may be corrupted - so maybe posting it here - someone might be able to tell what's corrupted - and if so - and they can't fix it - Hash might be able to fix (don't know)

[Fuchur]

Once I lost my work of three weeks too...

I hope you will find yours, but if not it will teach you to save in several version...

 

Other tipps:

Dont save the models externally from you projectfile, or if you do, save your models in several version too... (more work, but if your projectfile will go corrupt, your model will still be alive...)

 

How I do it:

- I save everything embedded in my projectfile.

- I save my projectfile with a number (like project_01.prj, project_02.prj) at every major-change...

 

You should do this with every document, file, etc. you will create. I lost several *.docs, *.psds and some other files because of some problems... today even if I loose a file, I always can go back to a slightly older version and I dont have to start all over again.

 

I know that wont help to get rid of your frustration, but this properly will:

If you start again with your project (if your motivation is back) than the new project will most likeley have a better result than the old one had. You now know, how to do it or where the problems of the old project were.

So make it better this time!

 

*Fuchur*

[heyvern]

I hate to mention this.. but...

(This has only happened once in the last month. It was a freak occurance after a freaky computer crash unrelated to AM... uh... thunderstorm... power went out.)

 

I was working on a project and saving often as usual. When I opened it again after mother nature decided I had been on the computer too much that day...

 

... the model was "missing" from the project... the shortcut in the chor was linked to a blank reference. There was no model in the objects folder.

 

The model had been embedded in the project.

 

Like I said I never even gave it a thought... it was a simple test project that I created in like 5 minutes... at the time it seemed odd but was not terrifying and I just redid it.

 

------

 

The lesson here is to always make backups of everything you work on.

 

Here is a what I do... Imagine... really really think how you would feel if the file you are working on VANISHED into thin air.... pretend like it really really happened...

 

... if you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach... save a copy of the project and model/s immediately.

 

I apply this technique to ALL my software files... not just AM.

 

-Vern

[rbjohnsn]

I had this problem occur with ver 13c. There was an error window suggesting that you "save as" before proceeding. I didn't, what happened was the file was zeroed out. The file name was still on the drive but, no more data. Always save the data in two locations to allow for lost "hours of work".

[pwknox]

Ravager,

 

This will not help you get your data back. I sincerely hope that you find it. A similar thing happened to me a few years ago so I programmed up a backup program that creates a new copy of your project every time you save it. It automatically creates the backup for you. You can find it here.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~pwknox/Saver.htm

 

Good luck,

Phil

 

PS: PC only, sorry mac folks.