saving files to a network drive

[michael4841]

I am not a mcam user, but am working with a programmer who does. My questions/confusion is understanding what he is saying...

 

We (company) have to maintain control of machining files...so we have a two folders set up on our controlled network drive (configured and developmental), Is there any reason why we can't save files to our drive vice saving them on the local c: drive? He is explaining that mcam doesn't work well when files are on a network drive. They have to be on the c drive. I am not understanding this...my knowledge is I see no reason why you can't post a "development" program on a controlled network drive...because it is an "output" through mcam, which is NC code. So if you had to edit the program, the main post or cam files are within the software files, right? So you wouldn't be asking mcam to go out and find the NC file?

 

Appreciate any assistance.

[uncle_dolan]

To my knowledge there is no problem reading/writing files to a network drive.

 

We have all of our .mcx files on a network drive, and all of our nc files on the network drive. I think Mastercam CAN run into problems when important files for mastercam functions are accessed by a network, and for this reason all of our POSTS and config files etc are stored locally. Our machine defs and control defs are all network located though.

 

Perhaps your programmer has run into problems before with networks. I have encountered problems at my previous workplace where you could not POST any files across a network else it could randomly remove lines and include errors in the coding. This was using unigraphics, and UG said it was not a POST issue, it was an issue with network interference, and the IT guys said the network was fine, it was a software problem. All i know is there was an issue and posting it locally and then transferring it seemed to work.

 

All Im saying is there could be more to the story than first appearance

[rocheey1]

I have run into problems working from a network drive. Its usually some sporadic error that wouldnt allow me to save to the remote disk. But the problem compounds itself when you are attempting to open *another* file .... MasterCam would prompt me to save the current file, the save would fail, and then the other file that would be opened immediately afterwards would be the *previous* file that supposedly couldnt save, effectively overwriting one file with another. Thank god for backup files!

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Network traffic is typically an issue when doing that. Most CAD/CAM files are rather large in scope and unless you have a robust network, you may find issues reading and writing to the network. Yes, people have done it but be aware you may have issues depending on files size and your company network.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I maintain a local copy of the network NC folder and CAD/CAM folder using Beyond Compare to keep them synchronized. I load and save Mastercam and model files to and from the local copy, which helps significantly with speed and reliability, and post NC directly to the network (never had issues with that). This also gives me the advantage of a backup copy that I can compare to if I or anyone else make manual edits, or if a file does get messed up for any reason.

[Guyinthedesert]

We keep all our files on a network drive without any problem, except one. if folders get moved or renamed on the network, it screws up your paths, and if your using STL files for stock def or verify or whatever then you'll have a problem,

[gcode]

We keep all out mcx-6 files, posts, tool libraries, machine and control defs and nc files on a network.

We path our temp files and the Mastercam backup utility to our C drives.

Our individual config, toolbar and mouse config files are in the User folders in our local computer.

This works well and we have no trouble with it.

It requires a fast stable network to run like this. If your network is glitchy or slow it's going to cause problems

[Jayson Kramer]

I work from the server as well and have had no issues. but like stated I run switches and not hubs and I run a gigabit this helps with larger files.

A guilty network maters so you do not drop packets.But I have a many of tech calls were people have had corrupted files saving across a network. more years ago not as much these days as networks have gotten better.

[spade117]

We keep all out mcx-6 files, posts, tool libraries, machine and control defs and nc files on a network.

We path our temp files and the Mastercam backup utility to our C drives.

Our individual config, toolbar and mouse config files are in the User folders in our local computer.

This works well and we have no trouble with it.

It requires a fast stable network to run like this. If your network is glitchy or slow it's going to cause problems

 

Same as gcode here.

[Justin Beebe at Folsom Tool]

We keep all of our MCX files, machine defs, control defs, and posts on our local C drives with backups of them on our server. All of our NC programs are saved on our sever with DNC Pro

.

[GoetzInd]

We now keep everything on our network. Files, posts, defs, libraries, configs etc. No issues here. Only 7 computer network though.

 

Mike

[Tim Johnson]

We keep all out mcx-6 files, posts, tool libraries, machine and control defs and nc files on a network.

We path our temp files and the Mastercam backup utility to our C drives.

Our individual config, toolbar and mouse config files are in the User folders in our local computer.

This works well and we have no trouble with it.

It requires a fast stable network to run like this. If your network is glitchy or slow it's going to cause problems

 

Same as G-code here. We've been running off server drives since V9.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

I have run into problems working from a network drive. Its usually some sporadic error that wouldnt allow me to save to the remote disk. But the problem compounds itself when you are attempting to open *another* file .... MasterCam would prompt me to save the current file, the save would fail, and then the other file that would be opened immediately afterwards would be the *previous* file that supposedly couldnt save, effectively overwriting one file with another. Thank god for backup files!

 

I have this exact problem. I've seen it at two separate companies.

 

-Josh

[gcode]

I've had this problem as well.

It usually occurs when using very large files.

My solution is to save the file I want to close, then hit File/New, then open the the next file.

 

I started doing this back in V9 days when opening a very large file when another large file was

open could result in the loss of both files.

It's a habit now and works well.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

Yes but wouldn't it be nice if it was fixed? QC asked me to try and replicate it. It's not that easy, it just happens.