PDM data going missing for users 2

[SteveJJH]

Hello,

One of our users has just tried to find an old SolidWorks document and can't find it in the vault. On closer inspection it seems as though most of the data in a large old project of ours has disappeared. Looking at the actual vault data on the server it seems as though the data is there, however it is not visible from any workstation. I'm not sure if it's affecting any more projects.

Any ideas?

We're running SW2009 SP5.0

 

[macduff]

Is it possible to copy the data of the server onto a flash drive, go to a workstation and copy it onto there, open the files, and try to see if it loads into the vault?

You also might want to check your permission settings.

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[SteveJJH]

but the data on the server is in a weird format of folders with files in them called things like "_slddrw"? so in order to open the files, won't i have to rename the documents?

 

[macduff]

That's a Solidworks drawing file extension (.slddrw). Try using one part for now, not a drawing. Copy a .sldprt and try and file it in the vault. If it's named for example: 120-XXXX-01_sldprt, rename it to 120-XXXX-01.sldprt

Don't know if it will work, but it's just a test. It sounds very weird what's happening with your vault. Perhaps some of the other users of this forum can shed some light on your problem. Did you check your access permissions under your vault admin?

Best,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[JMirisola]

Has the project been archived and hidden from users? Where it's not visible to any user, I'd check with the vault admin to make sure the folder just isn't hidden.
The underscore is strange though. You'll want to follow Colin's suggestion and see what happens.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[macduff]

Good point on the archiving Jeff.

You might want to call tech support Steve.

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[SteveJJH]

when I say "_slddrw" I mean that I have navigated to the vaultdata folder on the server, found the folder for the project, picked a drawing that no one can see and gone into the folder for it, then the folder for the latest revision and found the files in there. the files are stored as "_slddrw", "_sldprt" or "_sldasm", with no actual file name and extension as such, so I can't move them into the same folder as all drawings have the same file name. I hope I'm making sense.

my access should be sound, I'm an administrator, but are there any settings I'm forgetting?

I hoped for a moment that another administrator had archived the project, but no joy there.

I wish I could call tech support, our subscriptions ran out at the beginning of this month, typical

 

[JMirisola]

If you were on good terms with your VAR, give them a call anyway. I know that when I was an AE, I'd help off-subscription customers when I could.
You might also want to post this question on the SolidWorks Forums. You don't need to be on subscription and there's a good chance that a SolidWorks employee might respond.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[NL8]

The _slddrw and such in the vault structure on the file server is Workgroup's method of "encryption" in short it renames all files to _file format and knows what they are based on the vault structure file and file location, plus internal ID I think. when it passes through the vault is when the renaming happens and such. It was explained to me by my VAR at one point that if you want the files from the back side of the server like that you have to go through and rename each and every one of then individually, after figuring out which is which.

Joe Hasik,
CSWP/SMTL/MTLS
SW 10 x64, SP 3.0
Dell T3400
Intel Core2 Quad
Q6700 2.66 GHz
3.93 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

 

[SteveJJH]

yeah, that's what I figured. It's thousands of files though, it would take a year

 

[fcsuper]

Another possibility is that the project is hidden due to settings in the vault and user access rights.

Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solidworks & http://twitter.com/fcsuper

 

[SteveJJH]

I've got a couple of things to try today. Someone recommended not letting the vault log get any bigger than 1mb, so I've cleared that. The other thing is to remove the tree information metadata files for that project and re-start the vault twice:


1/ Stop PDMWorks Workgroup Server service
2/ Open Windows Explorer and go to the VaultData folder
3/ Delete <VaultData dir>\data\cache.store
4/ Delete the following files if present:
- <VaultData dir>\projects\<ProjectNameWithMissingFiles>\pdmrc\tree.pdmw
- <VaultData dir>\projects\<ProjectNameWithMissingFiles>\pdmrc\treeinfo.pdmw
- <VaultData dir>\projects\<ProjectNameWithMissingFiles>\pdmrc\treeinfo.old.pdmw
5/ Restart the vault service twice with validation enabled.

Restarting the vault service twice with vault validation enabled will repair the vault by recreating the missing tree information and tree metadata files in those projects.

It takes about an hour for the tree structure to rebuild, so i'll have to time it carefully

I'll let you know if it works

 

[macduff]

Steve,
My 2 cents....It might be worth bringing in an application engineer (from your VAR) to help out. I know you folks didn't renew your subscription, but it might be time to pay them and fix this problem right. I'm not saying you don't know what you're doing, but this is very sensitive data, and one mistake might really mess things up.

Good luck with your quest.

best,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[JMirisola]

I'm with Colin on this one. Is your data worth less than the money it will cost to have an AE come in? Even if you're not on subscription, I'm sure your former VAR will help you on a per hour basis.
Unless this 'someone' is an expert, I don't know that I'd take that risk.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[Updraft]

I'm with Colin and Jeff on this. This is too tricky and too big a risk to screw up. There are very knowledgeable and willing folks on this forum. If they haven't been able to give you safe and direct advice then your are potentially in dangeraous situation with your vault.

Perhaps you can negotiate the VAR's work as part of getting back on subscription. Sort of like paying for a car diagnostic and that fee being applied to any repairs they make.

- - -Updraft

 

[EEnd]

Before hacking on it, make a backup copy of the vault directory. This is best done with the PDMW service stopped.

After the copy, and with the service restarted, try the following. In the Vault Settings tab of VaultAdmin there is a check box for Validate vault. Try checking that, and rebooting the vault computer. It might fix itself.

Eric

 

[SteveJJH]

Danger and I are old companions

I did the process as described above and it worked, so I thought I'd mention it in case anyone searches for this in the future

Got to admit I was sweating a bit though

 

[macduff]

I think you should give Eric a star then. How about it Steve?

Happy Friday,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[SteveJJH]

Not the reboot, I'd tried that already. The deleting of the metadata files worked. It was a bit of a worry after the first reboot and the project had nothing in it at all, but all looks well after the second reboot. Although I forgot about a sub-project (dang)