You may encounter a situation where your project, master, or standards database becomes corrupted or is otherwise made effectively unusable. Fortunately, Design Master regularly creates backup databases that you can use to get back much of your work without starting over.

Backups are automatically created the first time a project is opened each day, every hour while you’re working, and before major database changes (e.g., software updates, running Coordinate Drawings and Database and most other commands in the  Utilities section of the Design Master menu). Project backups are stored in a “DMBackup” folder in the same location as the project drawings and database. Master and standards backups are stored in a “DMBackup” folder in your customization folder (how to locate your customization folder).

This article explains how to use these backups to restore corrupted or otherwise unusable databases.

NOTE: This process will overwrite your current database; any changes made since the backup was created will be lost. Make a copy of the current database before starting this process. Contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Once you’ve completed this process, open a drawing and run a few commands to see if the backup database is usable. If you still encounter errors, close your CAD program, return to the “DMBackup” folder, and repeat the process using the next most recent backup. Continue until you find a database that works.

Once you’ve found a working database, run the Coordinate Drawings and Database command and select all of the drawings in the project to synchronize them with the new database.

Ribbon: DM->Utilities->  ->Coordinate Drawings and Database

Pulldown Menu: DM->Utilities->Coordinate Drawings and Database