How to Restore AutoCAD Files?

AutoCAD is a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software application used for designing 2D and 3D formats. this tool was one of the first programs to run on personal computers. Nowadays, the software is widely used by industries for many purposes.

There are many ways to get back this CAD files and following are few methods that might help you to retrieve your CAD file.

Method 1: Recover AutoCAD file by using recover command

Recover Command is one of the simplest way to retrieve your AutoCAD file, to recover your file using this command follow the below procedure:

Open a new drawing and select File->Drawing Utilities and then “Recover”. Select the drawing from the dialog box and click OK.

Method 2: Recover AutoCAD file by using Auto save feature

• Open AutoCAD application
• Go to Tools and then Options
• Under Options go to “Files” Tab
• In files tab click on “Automatic Save File Location” and check the location of the auto save files. (Default location would be at C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp)
• Access the folder and try to search for your CAD file name, but the file would be of different extension(BAK or SV$)
• See the date modified of those files, if the date and time corresponds to your lost / deleted CAD file then change the file extension of those files from .bak or .sv$ to .dwg

Note: If your Auto save feature is not enabled, you can enable it by-

Going to Tools-> Options-> "Open and Save" Tab->and make sure “Automatic save” is active and set the time for auto save.

Method 3: Recover AutoCAD file by using a recovery program

Yodot Photo Recovery tool is a media recovery software which is especially built to recover AutoCAD files (.dwg) along with all other media files. This tool performs rigorous scanning and retrieves CAD file deleted / lost due to any scenario. Apart from recovering DWG files, this utility also recovers other media files such as photos, videos, audios, RAW images, documents and many more from all storage devices like hard disk, Pen drive, memory card, USB, iPods and etc.

Recovering AutoCAD files using the software

• Download Yodot Photo Recovery and install the application to your desktop / laptop
• Launch the application and follow the main screen procedure
• Click on “Deleted Photo Recovery” option to retrieve your deleted AutoCAD files. Click on “Lost Photo Recovery” option to recover your missing CAD file
• The software scans your computer hard disk and displays all the drives present on the computer
• Choose the drive from where file is to be recovered and click “Next”
• The application repeats the scanning process and displays all the deleted / lost AutoCAD files in 2 views, “Data View” and “File Type View”.
• Choose the files which you would like to obtain back
• Preview the files before saving
• At last, save the rescued files to your  desired location
• You can also use the software to save the files to an optical storage device like CDs and DVDs