how to open dumped files?

[C.E.]

Recently my computer shut down unexpectedly, with it it
dumped two unsaved word processor documents.
I found the two documents in the minidump file, but have
been unsuccessful in my attempts to open and read them.
The file name ends with .dmp; I tried a program
called 'peek' to read them, but that didn't load
properly.
I would greatly appreciate knowing how I could read these
documents to save for future use as I cannot rewrite them
exactly as I had edited them.

If anyone knows it would be great.

Thanks,
C.E.

 

[Patrick Pitre]

CE,

I'm not clear on what exactly you need - are you looking how to read .dmp
files? If so, you need a program called Windbg and the related symbol files
for you OS. Go here to get started:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/ddk/debugging/default.mspx

Use the symbol server, as it's way easier than downloading the 150+ mb
symbol file.

These memory dump files won't contain any of the contents of your missing
Word document, however. They contain information about the state of your
system when it crashed - what programs were loaded into what memory space,
etc. Reading through memory dump files can be enlightening if you know what
you're looking for, but it isn't for the faint of heart, and it won't help
you actually recover any of your lost data.

If you need more info on how to use the symbol server, post back.

Patrick Pitre

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi CE,

You can't recover them from the dmp files, they are there to help analyze
the crash. These articles can help explain:

Reading the Small Memory Dump Files Created by Windows XP [Q315263]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315263

How to Use Dumpchk.exe to Check a Memory Dump File [Q315271]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315271

How to Gather Information After a Memory Dump in Windows XP [Q314084]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314084

HOW TO: Configure Recovery Techniques in Windows XP [Q307973]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307973

The best you can hope for is that a $temp copy still exists in one of the
\temp folders. You might also try file recovery software to see if one
exists on the hard drive and has not been overwritten yet. This might help
find them:
http://hccweb1.bai.ne.jp/~hcj58401/

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone