Searching for my files, need help

[Johnny49]

Ok I hate to have to ask this question, I've been in computers for years BUT:

I have searched all over my hard drive for my carveWright pattern files, Where in the world are they kept?

When I've downloaded pattern files from someone I created a directory to save them to. However I want to find my favorites from outside the program so that I can back them up.

I recently lost my hard drive and lost all the patterns I made or found in different places. That hurt bad, don't want it to happen again.

Can someone help?

Johnny

[Chief]

John,

Have you checked "My Documents"? Microsoft has this annoying habit of placing things, especially downloads, wherever it wants and you often get no say so. If you don't find the pattern files in "My Documents", just do a system-wide search on " ptn ".

I don't remember the latest count but I have over 500k files on my workstation and server. I "try" to not put anything but system files on my drive C where Windows resides. Executables (programs) go on Drive E and all data that you save for any program, whether a Word or Excel file or your latest patterns, goes on Drive D (for Data). I found it a pain to keep stepping down to where I put the patten files so I put a shortcut on the desktop to take me directly to that directory.

Chief

[AskBud]

Most likely, you will find the Designer favorites Folder(s) here:
c:\documents and settings\YOUR USER NAME\carvewright

Sometimes you may have more than one (they seem to grow as you enter them through something other than designer itself).
The largest one should be the one you want.
AskBud

[Johnny49]

All I find there bud are two files not directories. Favorites.mpn

[Chief]

John,

Technically speaking, all files are located in directories/folders including those that are in the root (directory).

Chief

[locovalley]

All I find there bud are two files not directories. Favorites.mpn

Favorites.mpn IS the file that contains the patterns that you downloaded or created. The individual patterns are in that file, not stored as individual PTN files.

Joseph

[mtylerfl]

Favorites.mpn IS the file that contains the patterns that you downloaded or created. The individual patterns are in that file, not stored as individual PTN files.

Joseph

That is correct - any ptn's you directly IMPORTED into the Designer pattern library are typically contained in the "favorites.mpn" which is located in the C:\Documents and Settings\your_name\CarveWright directory.

An mpn file could be considered as sort of a "master file" for patterns (and also for surfaces).

Exceptions: The "basics.mpn" file (the file that contains the ptn's included with the software) is located in C:\Program Files\CarveWright\data directory.

If you created a new category when importing a ptn, then I do not know where the "new_category_name.mpn" is stored. A search of my own computer does not show any mpn file with the new category name. (For example, I have a category named "Make Pattern Tests" but no mpn file that I can find with that name.)

Bottom line...it is probably a good idea to keep each "raw" ptn file in a folder/directory from which you perform your imports from. That way, you always have independent access to any individual ptn file if you ever need it. Otherwise, the ptn's are stored as a group within the favorites.mpn file and cannot be individually accessed outside of the Designer pattern library.

[Chief]

Mike,

I stand corrected on that mpn file vs folder. However, do you know if there is a size limit? Unless they have done some fancy coding, that file could grow to be too large for systems without adequate RAM.

Chief

[mtylerfl]

Mike,

I stand corrected on that mpn file vs folder. However, do you know if there is a size limit? Unless they have done some fancy coding, that file could grow to be too large for systems without adequate RAM.

Chief

Hi Chief,

I don't know if there is a size limit or not. However, I do recall a couple folks reporting that they thought Designer "slowed down" after their library grew quite large. (I haven't noticed that myself...running Win XP Pro, 4GB RAM)

[Chief]

Mike,

Thanks for the info. I don't understand why LHR would take this approach as it harms those with smaller and/or older systems. I'm sure that their answer would be speed but, in this kind of program, speed isn't a necessary requirement. Functionality is.

Thanks for the explanation.

Chief

[TIMCOSBY]

to open that first time from there on out it is instant and doesnt drag the design process down any.