October 28, 2002

Using Floppy Disks and CD’s

When working in our programs, we recommend that you do not try and save or saveas, directly to a floppy disk or CD.

With Floppy disks you have a shortage of space. A floppy disk can only hold 1.44 Mb of data. You might think that most small jobs would fit on a floppy, and in some cases you might be correct. The problem is that we do create many temporary file and folders in the working location on the drive and if you are saving to a floppy, the job may fit but the other temporary files and folders may not. This could result in you losing part or, all of your job.

CD’s do not have the same size constraint but most CD’s are set to Write Once/Read Many which means you could save it once but not update it in the future. You may also be able to open it once but not save any work back to the CD later. This could also mean you may lose some valuable information and your time spent on the job.

We Strongly recommend that you save all jobs to your local hard drive (or a network drive if desired) and then exit our program and run the Windows Explorer (or use My Computer) to copy the files to a floppy or CD for transportation to another computer or long term storage. Then use Windows Explorer or My Computer again to copy the files from the Floppy or CD back to the hard drive to work on them in our program.

The main files we create are as follows: (below are the extensions used after the “.” In the file names)

FLX – this is the drawing file (Example: JOB20AF.FLX)
PST (older versions) – this is the database
MSD (newer versions) – this is the database
BAK – this is the backup or previous version of the drawing
PBK (older versions) – This is the backup or previous version of the database
MBK (newer versions) - This is the backup or previous version of the database
LOG – A log file of what has been done
FLI – a raster identification file (empty if no raster images used)
DWG – if you saves as an AutoCAD drawing
DXF – If you saved as an AutoCAD DXF file
QSB – Surface file for all 3D modeling
LYC – Layer configurations
HRZ – Horizontal Alignment file
TXT – different reports or listings
CFG – Labeling Default Configuration file

Other routines allow you to name the file and give your own extension to it. ASCII Export, Point Lists, Data Collector files, etc. Be sure to know what you are using to make it easier to back it up, if required. Our FieldGenius and Evidence Recorders have their own file extensions and folder names – be sure to record the names, when shown on the dialog boxes, and remember the locations they are stored in.

Not all file types will exist for all jobs – it depends upon which routines you have used in our program.

While you are in our program and you have a job open, you will also see a folder with the extension of PRJ (older versions) or MSJ (newer versions)(seen via Windows Explorer or My Computer while our program is running with a job open). This folder will vanish automatically, when you save and exit the job or program correctly. It is actually the database file expanded, so we can use it. Do not place any files in there unless we do it automatically. It will contain several files – do not touch those files – we do everything automatically and you do not need to worry about them. If you have a power outage the folder may remain, but will be automatically cleaned up when you work in that same job again later.

Which files should you backup to a floppy or CD?

ALL OF THEM, if you can. If you need the bare minimum files then be sure to copy the FLX, PST or MSD (depending on the version of the software), the QSB if you have done anything to do with surfaces, any data collector files and any other files you deem to be important.

If you do not grab all of the files then you may in the future run into a problem. Example: If the database or drawing has been lost of corrupted then if you had the backup files you would be able to rename them and continue working – without them you may be stuck and have to redo some work.

Glen W. Cameron, C.E.T.
Technical Support Manager