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General discussion

Rescue Corrupt File?

Jun 26, 2004 3:32AM PDT

I have a file that seems to have been corrupted (a valuable one, I have a week?s work in it) It was created on Wordperfect as a WPD file, and that is how it appears both in Windows and DOS, even with the correct file size. However, when I try to open it WP asks if I wish to convert it from Unicode.txt. Also, when I try to copy it in Windows I?m told Access Denied.
Is there any hope of recovering this data, even in asci?
Thanks so much if you can help.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Rescue Corrupt File?
Jun 26, 2004 4:01AM PDT

Try this. Boot in SAFE MODE and open it with NOTEPAD.

What happens?

No mention of OS or what Antivirus/Anti-parasite regimen you follow makes me think your issues are just beginning.

Bob

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Re: Rescue Corrupt File?
Jun 26, 2004 4:18AM PDT

Thanks. It does the same thing on 2 boxes, one w/ ME the other w/ W2000. I use NAV Pro 2003, and sig files are current.

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That's a clue and NAV is not enough.
Jun 26, 2004 6:10AM PDT

1. Read http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ and consider that today's pests are not being stopped by NAV.

2. A clue that I have to read between the lines is that this happens on more than one machine. I'M GUESSING that you placed the file on a CD and copied it to the hard disk on the other machine. If you did that, a READ-ONLY flag would be set.

In closing, you didn't answer my question. If you don't answer my questions, that's fine by me, but does leave me wondering how it turns out.

Bob

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Re: That's a clue and NAV is not enough.
Jun 26, 2004 6:19AM PDT

Sorry, I missed the question part of you 1st reply. No help on Safe mode. Also, I transported the file between boxes on floppy, same result off the flopy.

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Just more questions.
Jun 26, 2004 7:10AM PDT

I'll continue if you will?

1. If you try to open the file with NOTEPAD, what happens?

2. The READ-ONLY flag can happen even with the floppy transport. Are you sure this is NOT SET on the file properties?

3. NAV doesn't stop PESTS. A link was supplied and my question is this. What tools do you use to find and remove such pests?

4. If Notepad doesn't work in the normal mode, a boot to safe mode may reveal what ascii text remains in the file.

5. In closing, Open Office from http://www.openoffice.org with a note from this discussion noted a few years ago a start of the Wordperfect filter. You may want to give it a chance.

In closing, it's still your choice to answer any question I ask, but it makes it very hard for me to move forward on your issue.

Bob

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Re: Just more questions.
Jun 27, 2004 5:03AM PDT

My first thought was my rule No.1 is: before you mess around trying things you should back it up someplace so you can always recover and try something else. Now that you safely have it on a floppy, I have a couple of questions for you:

You don't say how you made that backup or how big the file is. Since it is an important file you could at least try to print it. I mean go to the file through Windows Explorer, and rightclick it. From the menu there should be a "Send To" item which not only lets you send to a floppy, there should be an option to send it to a printer.. (thus bypassing WP and other programs).

Also, since WP thinks its a txt file, I would change the extension to *.txt and then try to bring it up in Wordpad (I would use that rather than Notepad because it likely has some formatting in it.)

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Re: Just more questions.
Jun 27, 2004 5:09AM PDT

Another thought: If you do manage to print it, then you have a couple of further options. One is to have someone scan the printed matter either as a graphic, or as OCR, depending on filesize and capability of scanner.

You could then create a new WP doc, import the data and carry on from there. Unless it is in OCR you wouldn't be able to edit it, but at least not all is lost.

I'm not a technician, I'm just a retired accountant who is thinking along the lines of what I would do to retrieve valuable info.