When the Autosave feature is enabled in AutoCAD, it will create backup files automatically when processing a drawing. By default, the backup files will be saved on the Windows temporary directory and the file extensions are .sv$.
When data disaster occurs, for example, AutoCAD crashes or is otherwise abnormally terminated during a session, you can recover data saved in .sv$ files by finding the autosave file, renaming the .sv$ extension to .dwg and then opening that file in AutoCAD. The autosave file will contain all drawing information as of the last time autosave ran.
If AutoCAD reports error when opening the renamed autosave file, then that means the autosave file is also corrupt or damaged due to the data disaster.
AutoCAD has a built-in “Recover” command that can be used to recover the corrupt or damaged autosave file, as follows:
- Select menu File > Drawing Utilities > Recover
- In the Select File dialog box (a standard file selection dialog box), enter the corrupt or damaged drawing file name or select the file.
- The recovery results are displayed in the text window.
- If the file can be recovered, it will also be opened in the main window.
If the file cannot be recovered by AutoCAD, then you can use our product DataNumen DWG Recovery to repair the corrupt autosave file and solve the problem.
Sample File:
Sample autosave file: sample_autosave.sv$