After being in this industry for over 40 years I think ther general consensus is that upload is from PLC to PC & download is from PC to PLC as it is the PC that is the master. i.e. you are the controlling factor.
Which ever way you call it, it is impossible to transfer an empty i.e. no project from the Pc as it will not have any idea what PLC it is or it will not have been compiled, only if you have a project that has the right PLC selected & a compiled program will it allow PC to PLC. When you manage to get your copy of the program ensure that the data tables have been copied while the machine is not operating i.e. in a state ready to start, this way any data held in registers will be what you expect when machine is ready to start.
One thing to be aware of is that it is possible that the program was written in GXIEC developer, this was the early version of GXWorks I do not have a copy now but as it used FBD language the code will come back not what you expected, in most cases it will work ok but I have had instances where it will not translate into ladder, GXIEC to get the re-constructed graphical representation requires the symbolic code to also be written to the PLC, this is rarely done as it takes up memory & very often there is not enough.
altghough not having GXIEC I cannot confirm if the A17xx motion PLC is in the list as it is rather old so it is probably unlikely supported in GXIEC just like GXWorks.
Which ever way you call it, it is impossible to transfer an empty i.e. no project from the Pc as it will not have any idea what PLC it is or it will not have been compiled, only if you have a project that has the right PLC selected & a compiled program will it allow PC to PLC. When you manage to get your copy of the program ensure that the data tables have been copied while the machine is not operating i.e. in a state ready to start, this way any data held in registers will be what you expect when machine is ready to start.
One thing to be aware of is that it is possible that the program was written in GXIEC developer, this was the early version of GXWorks I do not have a copy now but as it used FBD language the code will come back not what you expected, in most cases it will work ok but I have had instances where it will not translate into ladder, GXIEC to get the re-constructed graphical representation requires the symbolic code to also be written to the PLC, this is rarely done as it takes up memory & very often there is not enough.
altghough not having GXIEC I cannot confirm if the A17xx motion PLC is in the list as it is rather old so it is probably unlikely supported in GXIEC just like GXWorks.