File permission issues in SolidWorks

We have recently have upgraded our network infrastructure by adding a
Buffalo TeraStation RAID drive to give us a TeraByte of (cheap) storage. I
am storing all my machining fixtures and raw billet models on this drive and
I have full administrator permissions. When I try to include a model stored
on this network drive in an assembly, SolidWorks rejects it saying "Unknown
file type. Cannot be opened in SolidWorks" yet if I copy the model over to
my local C drive, SolidWorks opens it without a stutter.

I have checked the properties of the file on the network storage and it
shows "Read" & "Write" and any other files on that drive such as Word
documents, AutoCAD drawings, even executables all oopen from the remote
location.

Our IT person (an outside contractor who also supplied the drive) has given
up saying that it is a SolidWorks issue.

Does anyone have any experience of similar happenings?

What is SolidWorks looking for that this drive cannot supply?

Any ideas welcome. I ask here before getting our SolidWorks reseller
involved because I am sure that they will also wash there hands of it saying
that the network storage is at fault.

Bob Luck

 

What version of SW? Are you on a domain? Did SW write/move the files
to the Buffalo? What are all the permissions on the files on the
Buffalo? Who is the owner of the files? Can you have SW create a part
on the Buffalo and then have that file included in your assembly? Can
you create an in context part in the assembly and have it work?

TOP

 

Thank you for coming back so quick

I am running SW2007 Sp2.

The computer is part of a Workgroup (I am not sure what you mean by a
domain).

All the files on the Buffalo have read/write permissions - the options for
modify etc are greyed out and, according to our IT person, are not supported
by the unit.

I am the owner of all the files. They were created on my old PC in SW2006 /
SW2005 / SW2004 over the last 3 years and moved en-masse to the Buffalo at
upgrade. There are about 600 of the buggers and my skills in VBA are not up
to opening each on and doing a "Save As" as a macro.

I can save a part created locally to the Buffalo and also an assembly. Both
these files open fine and I can edit parts within the assembly in context,
so I am drawn to the conclusion that the cause of my problems lies in the
mass data transfer. What I am hoping for is a simple parameter setting which
allows me to open my legacy data and allow others to use it.

Bob Luck

 

There are a couple tools your IT guy could use to see what is really
happening. One is Filemon. With that he can observe the actual file
transactions taking place with the Terabyte. Just out of curiosity,
does Word work to the NAS?

 

There are a couple tools your IT guy could use to see what is really

Thank you for that, I'll pass it on.

Word, Excel and all the other programs on my PC will open files stored on
the Buffalo, only SolidWorks gets picky and declines.

Thanks again.

Bob

 

Robert,

At Keller Swartwood Engineering here in Portland, Oregon http://www.ksepdx.com,
we use a Buffalo TeraStation RAID 5 to store all of our SolidWorks and
other project files. It works rather well, although the file access
seems to slow SolidWorks down a bit. If you let your IT person know
that the system is working for other companies, they may have the
enthusiasm to look deeper and try to determine the cause.

Sincerely, Thomas Gray, P.E., Mechanical Engineer