AutoCAD is a design and drawing software developed by AutoDesk to create professional 2D or 3D files. This computer-aided design program can automate the execution process, so users can create, edit and manage designs efficiently. The native files created in AutoCAD is saved in DWG format, and you may spend hours or even days to meticulously work on a project, so whenever your AutoCAD DWG files are left unsaved, corrupted or deleted, that would be a disaster.
Yet, it is lucky that we have reliable solutions to recover an AutoCAD file on a Windows, Mac, even from external storage devices.
Best Data Recovery for Windows and Mac
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Free Download macOS 10.15 or later
To find and recover AutoCAD DWG files on Windows or Mac, the easiest and quickest way is to use a piece of dedicated DWG file recovery software. Because it can scan your drive deeply, then identifies, extracts and copies the recoverable data to a designated secure location.
Cisdem Data Recovery is a Windows & Mac program to restore files lost under different situations. It allows users to restore files from both internal and external hard drive, that’s to say, you can not only recover lost .dwg files from your Windows computer or Mac, but also from other external storage devices, like SD card, USB, HDD, SSD, etc.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.15 or later 
tips: With Cisdem Data Recovery for Windows, you should go to Type > Documents > DWG to find the AutoCAD files.
If you left an AutoCAD project unsaved, don’t panic, its Auto Save may have saved your work, also there are other ways to restore an unsaved DWG file free.
You may have realized that lots of professional programs add a feature of Auto Save, allowing users to auto save files every 5 or 10 minutes to a preset location, like Adobe Photshop, Micorsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and AutoCAD is no exception.
With AutoCAD’s Auto Save feature, you can recover unsaved DWG files on Mac and Windows PC too. But first of all, you need to make sure you have enabled this feature and know where is the AutoCAD autosave file location.
AutoCAD has both Windows and macOS versions, and the autosave file location on different operating systems are definitely different. As you can see, the autosave file location on a PC is the temp file location.
On Windows: C:\Users\xxx\appdata\local\temp\
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On macOS: /Users/xxx/Documents/Autodesk/Autosave/
Actually, if you have enabled this autosave feature in AutoCAD, whenever you leave a DWG file unsaved due to sudden power off or crash, it lets you open the unsaved files when you relaunch the program. If not, check the following steps to recover the unsaved DWG file manually.
DWG Recovery Manager would come in great handy when you need to recover AutoCAD file not saved due to any unexpected crash or system failure. It can be launched with or without command, and automatically detects a list of drawing files that fail to save but can be recovered. Here are the 2 methods.
AutoCAD embeds rich features for better user experience, including the one “Create backup copy with each save”, which allows you to recover an unsaved AutoCAD DWG file with backup .bak file. The bak file is often the latest version of the unsaved drawing. If you have enabled this feature, you can follow the steps to recover your unsaved AutoCAD DWG files.
Go to the location where you save the DWG file, find the file with .bak.
Change its extension to .dwg.
Then open the file in AutoCAD.
The autosave location on a Windows PC is the temp folder by default, but Mac is not. If you are using a Mac, you can also go to Temp folder to check if the unsaved AutoCAD DWG files are there.
Struggling to open your AutoCAD DWG files? Often, it is simply because the file is corrupted or damaged for some reasons. If such an issue occurs, you can try following methods, or repair the corrupted CAD file AutoCAD, or online free.
A DWG file becomes corrupted due to damaged headers or structural issues, but if you insert the file into a blank drawing, AutoCAD may ignore the corrupted parts and open the file successfully.
There is a built-in repair tool within AutoCAD file designed to help repair a damaged drawing file, when you cannot open a project. And here is the quick process.
A DWL or DWL2 file may be the reason stops you from opening the file if you see it in the same folder. The DWL file, known as AutoCAD Drawing Lock File, is a temporary file created by AutoCAD to prevent multiple users from editing the same file in the same time, while the DWL2 file also contains additional metadata to track access information. Therefore, if we see these lock files, we can delete them or move them to a safe location to fix the issue that your drawing file cannot be opened.
None of the solution works? Then you need a professional repair tool to fix the damaged AutoCAD files. If you want to do this online and free, there are 2 recommendations for DWG repair tool.
Recovery Toolbox offers both desktop and web tools to recover damaged AutoCAD DWG drawings. If you have just one or several files to be restored, you can do it online without installing any software. However, you should pay attention to these disadvantages:
If you fail to recover corrupted DWG files in Recovery Toolbox, there is an alternative to fix damaged AutoCAD files online and free: OnlineFile.Repair. This repair kit is designed to repair corrupted DWG files, also covering other projects from CorelDraw, Photoshop, llustrator, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
Like using Recovery Toolbox, the uploaded file will be saved on the server for a specific period. It is also uncertain whether this online DWG repair tool can succeed or not, and it often takes a long time to finish the repairing process.
Conclusion
We will feel stressful when mistakenly deleting a file, leaving a file unsaved, even damaged. If you have a backup, you can recover data such as AutoCAD DWG, photos, videos and others super easily. But most of times, we don’t have a backup. Whereas, with some patience and right tools, we can still recover an unsaved, corrupted or deleted AutoCAD DWG, like Cisdem Data Recovery.
Zoey shows a great interest in what she does. Although not long with Cisdem, she has possessed a professional understanding of data recovery.
Claudia
Last week I nearly had a heart attack when my big project file got corrupted out of nowhere. Deleted the DWL file and it worked, lifesaver! Solid advice all around in this guide for both unsaved and damaged files.
Timothy P. Catalan
An import project file is missing from my Mac, I don't know why, I never thought about starting over, so I came to your guide and finally get the file back, thanks for your clear and concise solution.
Chester Dickey
Sweet! Exactly what I needed. Fast and simple! The first option worked for me. Thanks for laying it out so simply and easy to follow.
Shannon Gebo
The online tools did't fix my damaged dwg files, it just stuck there, have you ever repaired your files successfully online? But Cisdem did helped me find some missing dwg files.