solidworks & network setup

Get a faster network. Mine is 1gb and it saves to the network almost as fast as it saves to the c drive.

PDMWorks will fix most of your problems. It acts as a vault repository of your SolidWorks models. You take Ownership of what you want to work on, then copy everything out to your local hard drive (Latest Revisions come out by default). While you have ownership, no one else can update what's in the vault. When you're done, you check it back in and the vault is updated (central place for backups as well). This methodology keeps all the files you need local so this saving problem is eliminated and the ownership keeps you from stepping on each other's toes and playing the he-who-saves-last game.

IT folks love this product because it requires very little from them in the way of setup and maintenance. It is meant to be easy to use.

This tool is included in SolidWorks Office Professional and Premium, so if you have either, you already own the product. I would have your VAR do a presentation for you so you can see it for yourself.

You may need to check your server specs to make sure it will support the product.

Steve O

There's got to be something wrong with your network. We also have a simple 100MBit network and a basic server, and no PDM and we don't get the delays you get. A 10MB assembly might take 1min to open, though it first appears on screen much quicker.

John H

John - Not to dispute upgrading the network because I know most companies need it, but a 15mb assembly took me 3 seconds to open locally. Same assembly took 4 seconds to copy over the network. So using PDMWorks, it will take me ~7-10 seconds to take a 15mb assembly and copy all its parts to a local drive and then open it. Multiply that out over the course of a day or week and you've got some great time savings.