Catalog Corrupt?

[Allan Chesney]

I have had a problem on my laptop with the Elements Panel stuck accross the top of the screen. Now all of a sudden all the Element files are empty and the toolbar Icons are greyed out. I had not done anything unusual. I had just right clicked and relected Replace (to replace a cabinet) and the program crashed. I tired again with a different cabinet and it happened again. Tried a third time and a third crash - it was on the fourth opening of the program I noticed the Element lists were empty - maybe this is why it was crashing with the Replace option. I was using the Metric Catalog.  I can connect to the Imperial or other catalogs but not the Metric master catalog.

Presumably this is corrupted somehow, as I copied it to my desktop but it sees it as 'empty' also.  I seem to recal someone (Robert I think) also lost his master catalog and had to reinstall (and back to square one) but I can't seem to find the post about it.  Does anyone know if it is possible to 'repair' a catalog as I had customised a lot of the elements?

Allan

[Doug.S]

I don't know of any way to "repair" a catalog short of replacing the master file with a recent backup

(I save a backup automatically every week to a backup folder)

You could try to repair the .bld file and hope for the best but it may not work....especially if you have the same problem with more than one .bld file....I'd run a test with a really simple wizard house builder file and see if your problems still exist, to rule out a .bld file issue.

With the spat of recent problems, sounds like if you repair/re-install the program you should get things fixed....and if you first save your current master catalog you may be able to still use it after program repair.  I say repair because often when you do a re-install it asks if you want to "repair" a current install....but I don't know if TFP does it that way.  Repair here means it check files and replaces any missing or of wrong file size.

Also a good check of a bad .bdb file is to check the file size....if its suddenly smaller or much larger (and you didn't change it) you have lost a lot of data or it is corrupt....unfortunately if the file size is about right it could still be corrupt.  My current master catalog (imperial) is 26.9MB and it has some extra stuff I inserted but not a lot

[Doug.S]

Also don't forget you may be able to find a "back-up" copy of the original or recent .bdb file in your "recycle bin" folder and can restore it if you think its good and current one is bad.

Also I checked my metric master....since I never use it, it should still be the original and is 26,471 KB

[Allan Chesney]

Doug,

The master catalog is obviously corrupt because my desktop also sees it as empty as do any other bld files on either computer.

I had tried a repair of the BLD file before but that didn't help although it did delete the floors which seems odd as it was just an automatic floor so should not have been corrupt.

Obviously I will have to backup the catalog regularly too in future. How do yours automatically?

Allan

[Doug.S]

I bought a backup program...tho I usually try to find a free utility, this one is excellent and the author is very responsive to support questions and suggestions.

Program is called "Second Copy"
http://www.secondcopy.com/index.html
Its about $30 and has a free trial version

I have dual disks...one is set specifically for backups and I "program" simple scripts (wizard) to do exactly what I want...copy, sync, etc
You could use a USB external disk too...they are pretty cheap these days....I use one to backup my backup disk 1/4ly...just for data, not programs but I feel my catalog is data.
Been using this for about 4 years now and no hiccups, minor user error, free updates

Doug

[Robert W - "robban"]

Then the catalog go over 35 Mb will TFP very slow and have tendens to crash, so I have diffrent copy's for diffrent projects so for example if I do school building i use a special catalog for that there I delete all that I not need and add that I need so the catalog file not go over 35 Mb optimal is 33 MB i think. I fund out on more thing if you ad a thing to the catalog the it around 35Mb the TFP will slow down to cure this save and restart the program and you have the same speed as before you ad.
 
I have fund out that you can import dwg simply bay change from dwg to dxf but save first a copy of the original.

[Allan Chesney]

Thanks Doug for the backup information - I will definitely be backing up the catalogs in future.

Thanks too Robert for the comments about size etc and I will be taking up the special catalogs idea too.  I had thought about doing that before, as a lot of things in the catalog I would never use in 99% of the work I do, so there is no point it being there and will make more space for my customised items.

The incident has decided me to go down that track. I have to reinstall anyway because of my other elements list panel problems, so it as good time to start.

Allan