Problem description

When generating a report, the Plaxis report generation setup suggests to store all exported data in a sub-directory of the project directory, called Report, see the image below.

There are two options as export type, for which different things will happen in PLAXIS 2D2010 and PLAXIS 3D2010:

• Separate data files: this will put all files in the chosen directory. First it will completely empty this export directory (by removing all files and folders in this export directory), and then it will export the desired data. This will give you a directory with only the desired data.
• Export to RTF, PDF or HTML. This will first create a sub-directory in the Report directory called Data and then it will completely clear this folder by removing all files and folders that are in this sub-directory. Next all needed data will be exported to that folder, after which the final report will be generated in the chosen directory, as defined in the first step of the Report generation setup.

When changing the export Directory, users should be aware that (without the user’s confirmation), the chosen directory (for separate files) or the sub directory Data (for RTF/PDF/HTML export) will be completely emptied first: all files and subfolders in this folder will be completely removed from the computer without an confirmation!

In PLAXIS 3D2011.00, when exporting the data to separate files, it will also put all files in a sub-directory called Data, just like the export to RTF/PDF/HTML does. So for both export options in 3D2011.00 , it will create this Data-sub-directory, and clears it before it exports the desired data from the Output program.

When (critical) data is stored in this export directory, this data is permanently removed! Users may try to retrieve the data by advanced data recovery tools if the data sectors belonging to this lost data are not overwritten yet.

Solution

The issue is fixed in PLAXIS 3D2012 and in PLAXIS 2D2012.00.