Sorry for the Rant - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrAureliusR
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 05:45:07 am
content: EAGLE just %^$#ing crashed after I've been meticulously working on a $#%^ing AMAZING layout of a PCB... easily the most advanced I've ever done. I was on a roll and BAM it's all gone. Yes I know I should have been saving along the way... I'm actually surprised I didn't because it's not like me.But I went to delete a polygon (I don't know why polygons are its weak spot, something ALWAYS #%^$s up when I try to edit/delete a polygon...) and it just locked up....OH MY GOD I seriously want to explode. Deep breaths.Anyone else had EAGLE lock up when trying to edit/delete a polygon?!?!EDIT: Wow, %90 of my schematic is gone as well... Literally my entire day's work gone. I can't freaking believe this shit. I hate when shit like this happens because now I'm not going to work on this project for weeks, because I'm so disheartened about having to do it ALL over again. ARGH. All my component research, I had to create my own part footprints (another first time for me)... it took hours!!! At least my library entries are still there.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 05:49:57 am
content: I feel your pain!During a Final on Solidworks, the computer crashed and I didn't get a chance to save it to the server harddrive ( i did on the computer though). Well, the project being saved on the computers local harddrive doesn't matter, because college computers reset back to a default setting for others to use once they are restarted or the person has logged out. So, all the information and programming was gone.Luckily, the professor understood, and gave me more time to complete the project.Since then, regardless of whatever program I am using, I've gotten in the habit of saving every 5-10 minutes on my own, in addition to the programs 'self saving' feature.Get in the habit of saving yourself, it is a good practice.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:14:26 am
content: I have a macro finger that subconsciously (read=compulsively) hits the save key after every major edit.

author: MrAureliusR
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:15:40 am
content: I usually do save every little while as well. I once had to write a ten thousand word paper, and lost it all right when I was near the end. That was literally DAYS of research and writing... oh man did I ever lose my temper. So I've already learned this lesson before, which makes it even more painful. I wish EAGLE had an autosave feature... I love programs that do. Especially when the autosave goes to a separate, temporary file. That way, even if it crashes, you have the original and the edited versions.Anyone know if there's a plugin or something like that for EAGLE? Would definitely have saved my life half an hour ago.@EEVBlog: that's in Altium though, correct? I actually do have a version of Altium on here, but I just haven't learned my way around it yet. Still prefer some things in EAGLE though from preliminary playing around with Altium I know I will much prefer it when I get into it.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:25:05 am
content: Quote from: MrAureliusR on January 17, 2014, 06:15:40 amYes, but my Alt-F-S macro finger works for most apps. I'm a compulsive saver.

author: MrAureliusR
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:26:55 am
content: Oh, yes, of course. I had almost forgotten about keyboard shortcutsWhen I was a teenager I used to sit back in my chair with just the keyboard and do everything with it! I remember my friends being like WTF how is that possible? How are you opening menus etc.?I should try and see if there's a single button macro for save (F5 in some programs, F11 in others...)

author: Skimask
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:32:32 am
content: Or just use Alt-F-S...or Ctrl-S...or any one of another thousand different methods of saving a work in progress, as mentioned earlier.For that matter, how's that backup hard drive working out?A thousand different methods of saving is one thing. Waiting on a hard drive to crash or files to be stolen or a fire to break out is another...P.S. EAGLE has never crashed on me in that manner. Hiccups, yes. Having to revert to an earlier SAVED version and losing a few minutes of work, sure. Crashed so hard that I lose a file completely? Nope...P.P.S. Look in the folder where you generally save your files. You might get lucky and find a S#xxx file and the one with the latest time stamp may have saved most of your work.

author: Jon86
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 07:28:43 am
content: It should be required by law for programs to have an autosave functionI've done this far too many times...

author: MrAureliusR
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 10:05:59 am
content: @Skimask I actually do have a 2TB backup drive, and my entire main drive is backed up weekly. As I said, it's not like me to let this happen. I've already learned this lesson the hard way. But still, I usually save at the end of every 'session' if you know what I mean. I work on something for a bit, take a break and I save when I take a break. This time I literally was just working straight through, and since I rarely left the window it didn't occur to me to save.Anyway. I've had problems with EAGLE before, whenever I ratsnest a polygon to do the fill, if I use one of the tricks to get the polygon to disappear or just delete it entirely, then sometimes it'll crash out. Don't know why. Man was I pissed.I ended up just restarting the whole layout, and... I actually like Rev 2 better. Kinda figured that would happen after I cooled down. Since I was back to literally about three components on a schematic when I re-loaded, I had to completely rethink the whole board and it ended up better.

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 10:43:16 am
content: Quote from: Jon86 on January 17, 2014, 07:28:43 amThe licence is worth it for this feature alone.https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7xkbxxf2i0rgw4/bestfeature.png

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 11:41:56 am
content: Oh, been there, done that...In KiCad, I tend to cycle reflexively: make an edit, ctrl+S, F3 (cleans up the graphics crumbs...). I probably save about once every twenty secondsBut then I'm usually running a testing build, so it's even worse. I've had it crashduring saveand corrupt the file. So now I keep everything in a local Git repo. It's also helpful if I want to look at an old layout revision or something. I highly recommend it.

author: jc101
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 12:25:33 pm
content: Eagle does have an auto backup, which saves a copy of the changes made. On the Mac version this is on by default, saving every 5 minutes and keeps a history of the last 9. These files are in the same directory as the schematic and board files, I can see them on a Mac but are they set as hidden in the Windows versions?The help file give the description asQuoteIt has been a handy feature I've had to use a couple of times of late.

author: con-f-use
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 12:49:08 pm
content: Sorry to hear of your problem. So far I was in luck and Eagle never fucked up this big. Btw. sometimes Eagle autosaves (at least on Linux). Look at strangely named hidden files in the working directory and the eagle directory.

author: ohmineer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 06:02:50 pm
content: Have you checked project directory? Something weird must have occur in your case. Eagle is configured to autosave every 5 minutes or so by default. If fact it creates a new file backup and keeps the last backup. The number of backups is also configurable, when the maximum is reached, the oldest one is overwritten.Have you modified this configuration? I hope you can recover your work.

author: sdg
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 09:14:51 pm
content: Quote from: MrAureliusR on January 17, 2014, 06:15:40 amIt does have one: Eagle Control Panel -> Options -> Backup... -> ...If it was disabled, well...

author: IanJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2014, 11:05:55 pm
content: MrAureliusR,NOT saving is suicide!Look for .b# and .s# files in your project folder.Copy ALL the files in that folder away safe before you start playing with those backups. Rename them in pairs to keep pcb/sch consistency.I'm with Dave.......it doesn't matter what software I use I am always hitting save, sometimes after each action no matter how big or small. Compulsive saving comes from the days when DOS/Windows apps were a lot more unstable and even to the point of saving my work to multiple floppies at the end of the day (yeah, that was years ago).Ian.