I searched on these forums and the help, but may have missed it.

I'm working on a shared file and the ".c 2" file went missing somehow. The other extensions are there (see screenshot), so we can see there was some compression issue, perhaps with saving over a network connection.

In past versions of CII, I was able to open a .c2db and recover the input. Is this not possible on the 2019 version? Those extensions are not an option in the 'open' menu.

If it's possible, can Richard or Dave maybe link or explain the steps on recovering input from a .c2db file?

(Thanks in advance, I've found a lot of solutions over the past 10 years by digging into these forums)

I tried copying the .c2db and then changing the extension to ".c 2" . This came up as corrupted and wouldn't load.

Louie in Seattle

You cannot recover the model from the "c2db" file. This is a secondary input file that is used to store mostly strings - like the element name, or the restraint tag, and so forth.

I can't tell from the image above if the _A file is there - this is your model input. If this file is not there, you can check the backup directory. You can select one of these from the "File Open" dialog. Below the graphic image you can see a drop box with the filename, date & time. The latest edition of the job is usually at the bottom.

You can also find these archives under \ProgramData\IntergraphCAS\CAESARII\Version\backup. Replace "Version" with your version number. Below \Backup you will find a directory for each job file. Within each of these you will find the most recent 25 copies of the job.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Richard, I'll give it a shot and report back. Since it was a shared folder I may be able to restore files back to a previous version before the ".c 2" file was deleted.

Louie Baweja, PE
Project Manager, Mechanical Engineering

Coffman Engineers, Inc.
p 206.623.0717 www.coffman.com

The ".c 2" file is an archive that contains all of the individual job files. When these individual job files are extracted, the ".c 2" file is deleted.

The ".c 2" archive is generated from the individual files when:
a) you change jobs
b) you completely shut down CAESAR II

Once the ".c 2" archive is created, then the individual job files are deleted.

IMPORTANT:
When working in a shared folder, make sure everyone sets their "User ID" in the configuration of their workstation. This will keep people from stepping on each other's communication files in the working directory.