Other people have reported files being corrupted after a power cut. I try tests where I unplug my PC while saving a large file, and so far haven’t managed to corrupt a file.
Windows has a disk cache option, that comes with a warning that you may lose data if there is a power cut. See this article:
In my own tests I have that turned on, to increase the chances of getting corruption, but still I have failed.
You know about file headers, you should get a hex editor program (Neo for example), then you will see that even your SKB is almost all zeros. The SKP is 100% zeros.
Thank you for the detailed explanation and for checking the file, Colin.
This is devastating news for me, as it means I have to redraw everything from scratch. It is a hard lesson learned about disk write caching and power outages.
Just to be absolutely sure before I delete this corrupted file and start over: when you say “100% zeros”, does it mean the geometry data is completely wiped out and absolutely no third-party recovery tool can extract even a partial model/component from it?
If so, I will accept this loss. Thanks again for your help.
The file size itself is not entirely relevant here. As you can see, it could be 25MB of zeros…
Some tips:
If you compress the file into a zip, and its size will significantly smaller than without compress you can assume it is damaged badly.
A skp file is already a compressed file format - actually if you rename it to .zip you can “look inside it”, and some things can be extracted from it “manually”. If you can’t look into this zip file, that also indicates serious damage.
If the above “tests” give a “good” result, then there is a chance that someone else can open it, or Colin can do something magical with it…
I tried following @Dezmo’s tip to rename the extension to .zip, and I found something interesting that contradicts the “100% zeros” theory:
1. The file size did NOT shrink significantly. It stayed at around 25.6 MB after zipping (it did not become small KBs). 2. I was able to successfully extract the zip file using 7-Zip. 3. It extracted into two folders: materials and meta. 4. Inside the meta folder, I can clearly see the ReferenceImage / thumbnail preview of my model as it looked before the crash.
Since the file is not empty and contains readable materials and metadata, is there any chance the geometry data is hidden somewhere or recoverable? Or does the absence of other folders/files (like document.xml or geometry data) mean the model itself is still lost?
Any further advice based on this new finding would be greatly appreciated.
They are not numbers, rather they are states. It could be on or off , black or white , dead or alive.
The .dat file is where your 3d is stored , that’s the part of the file that is corrupt. Files external to that such as images , text and materials are usually ok.
unfortunately this is the normal story and it won’t be coming back.
The interesting part of your story is that the machine isn’t meant to be doing anything in sleep mode - so how it has damaged the zip file is interesting.
Also the SKB file is created independently of the SKP, so why are they both become corrupted?
Apparently, the SketchUp application was left running with the SKP file open whilst in Sleep mode. The OS sees the file handle as open.
It may have been better to use Hibernate rather than Sleep mode. But it is still better IMO, to close the file when not working on it. And shut down the machine when not using it. This clears all memory and you begin next session with clean application startup.
Lessons:
Shut off disk caching as Colin suggests.
Invest in a Uninterruptable Power Supply.
Save you model files to an internal storage drive. (Not a USB or Network Drive.)
Back up your files to Trimble Connect and/or a backup storage whenever losing them costs money in lost time. You can do this with a script or task scheduler.
The SKP, that is 100% zeros, reduces from 26.8 MB down to 27 KB. The SKB, that is mostly zeros, reduces from 26.9 MB to 6.2 MB. As a SKP is already a compressed archive, making it be a zip file should not reduce the size at all.
if you only work on a single file, you run the risk of loosing it all due to a problem like this one.
from time to time, duplicate your file and rename it. V1, V2, or maybe the date, or whatever.
that way, you’ll only loose the work done on the last iteration, not everything.
You can also use trimble connect to save / store your project, it has a similar function that allows you to return to a previous save.
