Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

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MSOlsen65
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Re: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?

Post by MSOlsen65 »

freedman wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 4:21 am
P.S. IMO, the date & timestamp naming of backups is rather meaningless if all backups go to your working folder.
All the backups are numbered so you can see the history of your work.
My apologies for being unclear. I was referring to the new backup naming option available in v0.19.

Like you, I generally just use the numbered versions. That said, chrisb mentioned an issue I will have to look into more deeply. So I may be revising my earlier opinion. For now, with my limited number of backups, the number scheme seems to be working just fine.

The new option would be very useful if there was also an option to set a separate path to store backups. Then they could be stored elsewhere on a separate drive, network, or cloud, adding a possible additional physical layer of protection to the data
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Re: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?

Post by chrisb »

MSOlsen65 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45 am The new option would be very useful if there was also an option to set a separate path to store backups.
I had suggested that but it wasn't implemented. I wanted to have placeholders for basename, path, number. With that it would have been possible to always use the same backup names - which is of course only sensible if work on projects isn't done in parallel.
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Re: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?

Post by steve123 »

chrisb wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 1:11 pm
MSOlsen65 wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 10:45 am The new option would be very useful if there was also an option to set a separate path to store backups.
I had suggested that but it wasn't implemented. I wanted to have placeholders for basename, path, number. With that it would have been possible to always use the same backup names - which is of course only sensible if work on projects isn't done in parallel.
Was there any feedback on why a subdirectory cannot be used? That seems like the appropriate thing to do to clean up the clutter. The clutter is a problem when you use Assembly 4 and have multiple parts in the directory.
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Re: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?

Post by chrisb »

The last time I mentioned it - without any echo - was here: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 92#p379919
And this one was the first or maybe second time: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p216572.
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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by Kunda1 »

Status: The default is still 1
Can we come to an agreement?

issue #4313
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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by kisolre »

I set this to 10 but just as a safeguard if some change in FC breaks something. But rarely use them so from time to time I just purge all FCBak files.
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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by GeneFC »

I set it to 5, but I never get there. If there is some significant change I output a modified file name. In that way I do not have to worry about which .FCStdxxx is the correct one to go back and recover.

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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by Kunda1 »

I'm with @chrisb, I vote for '9' being default
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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by Kunda1 »

More feedback please

Edit: I've submitted a draft PR with the default of 5 preferred backup files.
https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/5451
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Re: Ticket #4313 - Increase backup file default (was: Preferences- Number of backup files to save?)

Post by uwestoehr »

Kunda1 wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:47 pm Status: The default is still 1
Can we come to an agreement?

My vote it to keep it at 1 because this is a default setting. The default should be suitable for the average users and beginners. Expert users can change it quickly.

The default of 1 backup file is there since FC 0.17, so for years and obviously it is suitable for many users. My experience with several users I introduced FC to, is also that the single backup file is fine for beginners and those that became meanwhile average users.

So let's not change a default unnecessary.
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