Save *.3dm and *.3dmbak files to different drives / locations

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Hello,
I searched / & saw some old inquiries about if one could save a *.3dm and *.3dmbak file to a different location and the answer was: no’ do to technical reasons. As far as I could determine these inquiries were from the Rhino 6 and Rhino 7 Serengeti era. I did not find reference to this matter in the now or for the WIP etc. Rhino 8. So I am wondering if the answer is still no’ for Rhino 7 and if decided upon yet, for Rhino 8 ?

Thank you,

Andy

2

The way it works is by renaming the current file .3dmbak, then saving a new file as the .3dm. So putting them somewhere else is a completely different…thing. It’s a new feature request. What would be the purpose?

3

Hi Andy - there is no change in this behavior in V8. What problem would it solve to put the bak files someplace else? Are you filling up a cloud drive?

-Pascal

4

Hello Jim,

The gist of the purpose then as now- and for me- is a “have your cake and eat it to” in that your *.3dmbak file is saved to a different drive and thus not utilizing drive storage space on the same disk as the *.3dm disk. This utility may take the form of that on the fastest [SSD] drive / bus the *.3dm file resides while the *.3dmbak file is saved on a HD [ given that the saves are not considerably slowed down]. Perhaps one could, I imagine, consider this as a quasi [& local] RAID set up for these files. Having written all: alternative view: why not simply disable [uncheck] the *.3dmbak option and backup the *.3dm file in some other way. I imagine:Fair enough and just as reliable [ data integrity] way to go.

So what happened: the last time I updated Rhino unbeknownst to me -at 1st- the *.3dmbak option became enabled. So in this serendipitous fashion I considered the above.

Thank you,

Andy

5

Yeah…implementing that would quickly become an overly elaborate feature. I would just disable the 3dmbak files and improve my backup setup, if space is at such a premium. Or add more space, SSDs are getting super cheap and you can pool them with Storage Spaces.

2 Likes
6

Hello Pascal,

If you would like, please read Jim and my posts. I think this will “square” most matters.

I am not surprised that you thought of a permutation I had not considered. I imply that their might be motive as you make explict. But I believe that Jim, you and I are all thinking similarly. There is no advantage to having the *.3dmbak file as long as you back up the *.3dm file. Correct ?

While, I in general, concur with Jim that prices for storage are decreasing, as the adage [in the US] might now go: “A trillion here a trillion there and pretty soon you are talking “real” money.” If there is indeed no advantage to the *.3dmbak file then why incur the storage space expense ? Even if the cost is low, no increase expenditure is better. No lack of places to put that trillion here and their to work,

Thank you,

Andy

7

Hi Andy -

I wasn’t able to reproduce that behavior here.
-wim

8

Hello Wim,

Thank you for taking a look. So I think one can infer [assume] that what really occurred was along the lines of: the last time I updated Rhino unbeknownst to me -at 1st- I enabled the *.3dmbak option…

So sorry for this, but perhaps some of the content of the thread that will be useful to others now and with Rhino 8 .

Thank you,

Andy