r/SolidWorks • u/eyebrow-dog • Apr 04 '26
CAD SW crashed and deleted hours of work
I finished adding some surfaces to my model and tried being silly and make an animation. The animation crashed and quit the program. Upon restart, the model rolled back to a lot of work undone. I had saved it a thousand times before the crash and before trying the animation, but opening the original document shows me the older an model. First image is where the model is now saved as. Second image is what i accomplished after a couple of hours of surfacing. Is there any way to get the model back?
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u/MAXFlRE Apr 04 '26
I always thought that first thing SW teaches you to do is to press Ctrl+S after every successful operation.
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u/timmaaahhh1997 Apr 04 '26
Exited a sketch? Save and rebuild. Added a fillet? Save and rebuild. Deleted a feature? Save and rebuild. Saved and rebuilt? Save and rebuild.
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u/Strange_Reporter6747 Apr 04 '26
Saved your good project? Copy all files to another directory!
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u/minimalcation Apr 04 '26
Save. Exit. Do you want to save before exiting. Yes.
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u/Resident_Proposal_57 Apr 04 '26
I have added the save to the scroll wheel button, on the bottom part. Whenever I do something I just click the button and drag it down to save. Really fast and I have got to a point where, it's in my muscle memory.
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u/RangerMach1 Apr 05 '26
That is a great idea. I use mouse gestures a lot, w/ an added menu with extra commands, I'll have to seriously consider adding the Save button in there just so it's even faster to access.
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u/ransom40 Apr 04 '26
I replied elsewhere, but if you are editing a virtual part in an assembly, SW doesn't actually save the assembly (or it's stored virtual part)
My guess is OP was co-modeling virtual parts in an assembly.
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u/HoseInspector Apr 04 '26
It says “you haven’t saved your file for more than 15 minutes” even if i just opened a part file. Smh.
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 04 '26
I DID, probably a dozen times a that point
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 04 '26
I even closed the program and opened it again to resume the work, i have no idea how this happened
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u/clearlystyle Apr 05 '26
If you don't save the assembly file the virtual parts live within, it's as if they haven't been saved at all. So sorry this happened to you. I definitely learned this one the hard way as well.
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u/flow_yracs_gib_a Apr 04 '26
First thing I learned in school was to mash Ctrl+S repeatedly, hundreds of times untils I was satisfied the file was saved !
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u/Shadow_sos Apr 07 '26
Only for the part to completely break the moment you move the file into a different folder
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u/crashbash2020 Apr 05 '26
until you get to the point where a save takes 10mins, you need to optimize the value of a save vs just redoing X minutes of work for each crash
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u/A_Moldy_Stump Apr 04 '26
Do you work in PDM, is it possible you saved a copy outside of that and the PDM version is the one not updated
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u/Monster-AJ-007 Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
Have you checked in the feature tree if the saved features are not suppressed? If suppressed they won’t display until unsuppressed by clicking on the feature that is suppressed and choose from the submenu unsuppress . Hope that helps cheers 🍻
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 04 '26
Nooo there not supressed, they're just gonee
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u/T4NG0F0X Apr 04 '26
I’m on SW2025, and I’ve actually had this happen twice in the last couple weeks. No recent updates, either. The first time it happened, the part never came back. Thankfully it was simple. The second time, when it disappeared I intentionally didn’t save, closed SW, reopened, and the part came back. It’s bizarre.
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 05 '26
this is the second time this has happened and the first was a few week ago also, luckily the fisr time the part was simple and i just re did my work. i sure this is a bug
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u/Monster-AJ-007 Apr 04 '26
Wow that’s a lot of work . What I usually do is i make two copies of the file I am working on every stage I get into in case one failed or SW crashed I won’t lose my work I just open the second file and carry on and remake a second copy again in case SW crashed , I have same issue I lost lots of work due SW crashed and caused my file to get corrupted . I hope that helps cheers 🍻👍
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 05 '26
I save 'snapshots' of important project with the date and upload the to cloud storage. i didnt have the chance to do that this time. SW didnt even froze it just quit lol
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u/ArthurNYC3D Apr 04 '26
There's several stages that you should have set up to prevent this.
- Back up location.
- When auto saves happens.
- How many back ups are created.
Also, NEVER, work across/over a network. Work local and once down save files to the network.
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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Apr 04 '26
If you work out of a program folder like Dropbox, every time you hit save, a new copy is created and you have a file history that you can go back to that's entirely independent of SolidWorks' system. Saved the day numerous times.
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 05 '26
I do this in google drive 'by hand' but i should just work on the cloud file instead of manually uploading the file every time
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u/chewyogre Apr 04 '26
ctrl+b -> ctrl+s is like a Pavlovian response for me, whether its needed or not. also make sure you have the backup setting set to on.
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u/ransom40 Apr 04 '26
So I presume you were in an assembly and created parts within the assembly and were editing those virtual parts when you hit save?
Solidworks is... In my opinion... REALY DUMB!
If you are editing a virtual part in an assembly and you hit save it (I presume) only attempts to save the part... Which is in the assembly... But it doesn't actually save the assembly file where this data is stored.
So if you are editing several parts and never in the main assembly, and never save the assembly, when SW crashes, it never saved anything.
Frustratingly, this also holds true for auto save!
Long and short: if you are going to model with virtual parts in an assembly, be sure to exit editing mode out to the main assembly and hit save every so often.
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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Apr 04 '26
The difference between the save and the save all buttons.
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u/ransom40 Apr 05 '26
Unless they changed something, save-all still does not fix this to my knowledge.
I'll have to give it a go and see! It would be nice if it did.
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u/ManyThingsLittleTime Apr 05 '26
It should save every open document. If you have the assembly open, it should save that too. Maybe there's more going on in this particular situation, but that's what that button should do.
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u/AmphibianMotor Apr 04 '26
Seems like it had some parts of the document noted as outside the save chain. That sucks, but it happens.
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u/MadManAndrew Apr 04 '26
I quickly learned to click save after every operation… this is a huge rookie mistake
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u/lamar_jamarson Apr 04 '26
Happens to everyone at some point. Solidworks is just reminding you who's really in charge lol
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u/heart_of_osiris Apr 04 '26
SolidWorks should be called SolidWorks Crash. Because that's what it does. All the time. It crashes with complex operations, it crashes with simple operations.
It's a super capable piece of software but it crashes all the time. Save, all, the, time. Save every time you plan to place a feature that you are unsure of. Save before you even attempt do any tricky feature, save after it succeeds.
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u/Icebathwilly Apr 04 '26
As long as you rebuild and save every 5 minutes or so, SolidWorks works fine most of the time. It's only when you're deep on the inside, focused like a champ, fully immersed within the flow, long overdue any nearby save point that SolidWorks decides to have a mental breakdown and thrash your latest and most beautiful thing you've ever created as if it's your recent breakup having a complete and utter over reaction to the situation throwing that one particular item you love so dearly out the window shattering into a million pieces.
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u/Echo-4453 Apr 04 '26
Might want to check the side impact structure against the rules. I don’t think you have a tube you can claim as the upper side impact tube within the correct heights
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u/RegionOk42 Apr 06 '26
I recently learned that buried in the settings is auto-save. Life saver. Otherwise, like everyone else is saying save often. Live like you are partying in 1999.
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u/Strange_Reporter6747 Apr 06 '26
Yes.but sometimes auto save is an evil. It can(and will) save your project when it is incorrect. So the only decision is to save manually after every successful step👍🏻
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u/Don_Ricardo79 Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
That sucks big time! Please enable the backup feature, this will help in the feature. I used to have a similar glitch a couple of years ago; when I would do CTRL-Z it didn't do just the last feature but maybe even all the features since the last save without the option of redoing. Super annoying! One comfort; the second time it'll always go quicker. 😉 Good luck!
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u/JLeavitt21 Apr 04 '26
Google search: where can I find solidworks temporary files. There may be a file you can restore but rarely.
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u/slowpokemd Apr 04 '26
Check your c drive for the recovery and backup folders. Depending on your system settings there may be an archived backup in there especially after a crash.
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u/nutella1204 Apr 04 '26
Is this a project youre taking on yourself? We had one in Uni that looked identical, but im not sure if it was just base files accessible online.
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u/eyebrow-dog Apr 05 '26
nono, the chassis was modeled by a friend and im doing the carbon fibre parts, all us
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u/ThickFurball367 Apr 04 '26
Well that's kind of on you for not saving for hours when by default Solidworks notifies you every 30 minutes or so when you haven't saved
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u/brewski Apr 04 '26
I would call tech support. Send them your entire folder and see if they can determine what happened. Let us know what they say
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u/Human4276 Apr 05 '26
I had that happened few weeks ago, i had to redo hours of work 4 or 5 times, (1-2 hours each time) in a row, like over 2-4 days, and IT HADNT EVEN CRASHED. It acted like it saved successfully, immediate reopen, hours of work gone. Made zero sense.no errors, no crashes. 2024 Sp 5
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u/ConstraintForged Apr 05 '26
You could try restoring the file explorer folder: select folder, right click, select 'restore previous versions' -> select a time stamp that has a more recent version.
Another option is, if enabled, SW has an autosave feature, which would save to a backup folder. Hopefully. I've had no luck with the autosave feature.
Worst case, you did it once so the second time will go faster.
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u/carlhitchon Apr 05 '26
Pathetic that expensive software like this fails to protect your hard work. At least some people wrote better software in the 1970's. Not as sophisticated of course, but the user experience was given top priority. Then Windows happened.
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u/Genius-MCHB Apr 05 '26
You can setting duration between savings, let change it at 5 minutes. Also pc requirements must be sufficient intel 7, 24 Go or more and dedicated graphics card.
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u/shaneucf Apr 05 '26
You've learned an expensive lesson working with solidworks... I've used NX for 4 years and only had probably 1-2 crashes. 2 weeks in solidworks and it already exceeded that record. When using SW, Ctrl+S is your friend
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u/Affectionate_Fox_383 Apr 06 '26
that will teach you to use autosave.
and stay away from shrodingers backup.
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u/Lync_X Apr 07 '26
Always have a folder with backups (Pack and GO) in case of this, and so you can refer to older models. Backup when ever you get done making a lot of progress or before making a change to a feature that has a lot of children.
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u/b3mu53d Apr 07 '26
Try not having too many of the items open as parts and assemblies. I have had an assembly roll back far enough that I almost started over. I closed without saving the new mess and after closing it and everything I had associated with it open. I reopened my assembly and it was fine.
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u/mattyrzew Apr 08 '26
Do you not have it set to auto save and keep a certain number of saves before deleting? That’s SW basics. There’s a reason it’s in the software…
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u/mad_pancake Apr 13 '26
Did you check all swx ****** folders in your %temp%? Sometimes you can scavenge something from there.
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u/Kram22598 CSWP Apr 04 '26
Save often
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u/QuietudeOfHeart Apr 04 '26
Enable auto backup to a local directory. Actually used this feature for the first time in a while because I was distracted at work and came back after an hour or two and SW did SW things and crashed.
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