While a piping system is being worked on in PIPE-FLO, a backup file is created on disk periodically to protect from loss of data in the case of an unexpected exit from the program. The location and name of this backup file depend on the state of the piping system file in use.

Previously-Existing Piping System

When a previously-existing piping system file is opened from disk and worked on, the backup file is created in the same directory as the piping system file and has the same name as the piping system file except that it has an additional ".BAK" extension. For example, if the piping system file in use were

C:\Users\[USERNAME]\My Documents\sample.pipe

the backup file would be

C:\Users\[USERNAME]\My Documents\sample.pipe.BAK

New, Saved Piping System

When a new piping system is created, saved to disk, and worked on, the same scheme is used as for a previously-existing file. As expected, the directory and filename used for the backup file are based on the location and name of the saved file (see above).

New, Unsaved Piping System

When a new piping system is created and worked on without being saved to disk, there is no directory or filename information for PIPE-FLO to use when creating a backup file. In this situation, PIPE-FLO uses the filename "~ESIUntitled.pipe.BAK" and creates the file in Windows' "temporary" folder.

To locate this file, click the Windows "Start" button, click "Run", type

%temp%

and press Enter. This should produce a Windows Explorer window displaying a folder with a path similar to one of the following:

C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Local Settings\Temp

C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Temp

This folder should contain the backup file with the name

~ESIUntitled.pipe.BAK