P3 troubles for PC user without administrative rights

Rafael,

I do agree with you, 100%.

The point is, it is not P3’s fault if a user does not have securely backuped files.

And it is safer to work with a well working network and mirroring system than with no backup at all.

When you are on the field, in a developping country, it is not always so easy to get "a well designed server", but it would be the user’s fault not to have a backup disk and to backup project files several times a day.

Alexandre

Alexandre



I am not questioning about the files being written, I know these will be lost under both systems in case of a crash.



In a well designed server , after a crash that corrupts the Primavera P3 files, the mirror images are still intact to prior of crash, when the server boots again it will recover the uncorrupted files and you will not have to go to your backups, the version just prior to the crash will be the most up to date. This will not happen on a standalone PC, here the PC will reboot back with the corrupted files. Because a well design server will use several hard disks you are not only protected from software crashes but also from hardware errors and even from permanent damage to one (or several) of the hard disks.



The following are the most common technologies; each has various levels of redundancy.

-RAID

-Clusters

-Storage Area Network



My point is that if working on a large job you are better protected by keeping the files on the server, it makes a difference.



Best regards,

Rafael

Rafael,

let’s make the things clear:

a) you enter data related to activities or resources in a column or a activity/detail form: these data are saved as you soon as you click in another field; cliking OK in activity form saves data and calculates the current activity only,

b) you enter data in a dialog box (mainly any option in the Data menu): these data are saved when you click OK or Close to close the dialog box,

c) you customize a layout: this layout is saved when you click on the Save button.

I don’t think that using P3 on standalone PC or being connected to a server will change anything; if P3 crashes when writing data in the database, you will for sure lose data P3 was writing.

A P3 crash will not necessarily corrupt the database, most of the time you are able to open P3 and the project again and be back to work; if the project files are corrupt, because of the crash or for any other reason, you will appreciate having a fresh backup, I mean a backup made a few moments ago whenever possible: every time I going to start something touchy with P3, I make a backup of my project before anything else; some days, I will make up to ten backups.

Hope this helps,

Alexandre

Alexandre



Thanks for your highlight about which data might be lost and for your recommendation on being careful enough not to enter a large quantity of data in Resources or Activity Codes dialog boxes without closing the dialog from time to time. I always considered it a design flaw P3 does not allows you to save changes up to date in Resources or Activity Codes dialog boxes without need to close the dialog box. It should allow you to save changes the same way you can save changes to your current layout without need to get out of your current screens; a simple click should do it.



What will happen if during a crash P3 was writing to the database? Do you mean that during a server or a PC crash only a few data will be lost and there is no possibility of database corruption? I thought there was a big difference between a crash when writing and a crash when not. I undrestood there are some utilities to restore a P3 corrupted database so not all is necesarily lost if you do not have a backup. If you know about it your comments will be welcomed.



On a server you might have mirror images of your files at different hard disks within your server but on a single PC you are at more risk of data loss under a software crash or a hardware failure. When entering data every other hour I update my backups on my external hard disk, more often when doing changes in logic to the schedule, at times I even keep different file names just in case I want to return back to an intermediate scenario.



Best regards,

Rafael

Hi there,

fortunately, you do not have to save project data in P3, because P3 itself automatically saves data as soon as entered; however P3 does not save data when keyed in in a dialog box, so you will be careful enough not to enter a large quantity of data in Resources or Activity Codes dialog boxes without closing the dialog from time to time.

therefore, when P3 crashes you will only lose the very last data entered in the very last field, and the current state of the layout.

Alexandre

Maybe you had a system error. P3 is kind of old software, developed as a 16-bit application; it runs under Windows XP under a 16 bit emulator as Windows XP is set up for 32–bit applications. Not sure about P3.1 but most probably the database engine Btrieve still does. Under Windows XP emulator mode this occurrences are very rare but do happen, the usual fix is to reboot windows when restarting P3 is not enough.



After this happens all unsaved work is lost, get the habit of saving your file after a few changes and do frequent backups so in case your file becomes corrupted or you have to go back to where you started you have a prior version not so different.



Best regards,

Rafael

I faced the same issue this morning while i was working in P3 all of a sudden a error message popped up and closed the P3 window. I opened the project again but primavera displayed message stating that project is locked.I check access right but still not working

Hi,

have you checked the Access tab in the Open a project dialog box? do you have read and write rights on the projects?

Alexandre