recovered file/unreadable

[Guest]

Please be gentle, I'm not a computer whiz.......
I have a recovered file that is about half unreadable. It is in codes with
symbols. How can I get it translated into something readable? Maybe a
download, or a person who has the technology?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

SWAG. Since you failed to mention what type of file.

How to recover a lost file in Word 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316950

How to recover a lost file in Word 2002
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316951

How to recover a lost file in Word 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827099

How to recover text from any files by using the "Recover Text from Any File"
converter of Word 2002 and Word 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290946

How to recover text from any document in Word 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/212274

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Gordon]

Please be gentle, I'm not a computer whiz.......
I have a recovered file that is about half unreadable. It is in codes
with
symbols. How can I get it translated into something readable? Maybe a
download, or a person who has the technology?

Thanks for your time.

What TYPE of file?

 

[Guest]

What TYPE of file?

Sorry, shouldn't have said file....it's a text document. Does that make a
difference? ( I can feel the giggles of the computer literate!!!)

Thanks

 

[Gordon]

Mia wrote:

Sorry, shouldn't have said file....it's a text document. Does that make a
difference? ( I can feel the giggles of the computer literate!!!)

Thanks

So the file has an extension of txt?

 

[Mike Williams]

Sorry, shouldn't have said file....it's a text document. Does that make a
difference? ( I can feel the giggles of the computer literate!!!)

That gives a small clue. There are many types of text documents. If the
document isn't corrupt then either you're trying to open it with the
wrong program: perhaps because it has the wrong file extension.

Knowing which program (and version) you're trying to use will help too.
Also, how was the file recovered? What happened to it etc.

If you are using Microsoft Word, then it has text recovery options that
you can look for in Help. Word also many dedicated newsgroups with
people who can recommend actions for recovering such documents.

 

[Guest]

Mia wrote:



So the file has an extension of txt?

I don't know. again, not a whiz on the computer or the language. When it
was recovered, ( I have it on a cd, and copied it to my documents) on the
properties, it says "text document" C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Owner\My
Documents.

It was on my laptop, that was reformated with windowsxp (after being
Uninstalled----don't ask)

I just want to know how I can decipher this code-language-text. Is there
hope?

Thanks, yet again.

 

[Gordon]

I don't know. again, not a whiz on the computer or the language. When
it was recovered, ( I have it on a cd, and copied it to my documents) on
the properties, it says "text document" C:\Documents and
Settings\HP_Owner\My Documents.

It was on my laptop, that was reformated with windowsxp (after being
Uninstalled----don't ask)

I just want to know how I can decipher this code-language-text. Is there
hope?

Thanks, yet again.

Can you give us the FULL name of the file?

 

[Jim]

Sorry, shouldn't have said file....it's a text document. Does that make a
difference? ( I can feel the giggles of the computer literate!!!)

Thanks

A text document is just one of several kinds of file. The precise type is
defined by the file extension (txt, doc, etc etc). To properly decode the
file one must use the program that understands contents of the file. For
example, if you try to read a text document whose type is "doc" with
Notepad, you will see the kind of output you have described.

I take it that whatever program you used to read the file managed to read
the entire file, but it could not output the contents of the file in a
meaningful manner. Thus it would seem that you did not use the correct
program to read the file. It would seem unlikely that the file is
corrupted.

But, for anybody to help you, you must do some work. Tell us which program
you used to read the file and what the file type is.
Jim

 

[Guest]

A text document is just one of several kinds of file. The precise type is
defined by the file extension (txt, doc, etc etc). To properly decode the
file one must use the program that understands contents of the file. For
example, if you try to read a text document whose type is "doc" with
Notepad, you will see the kind of output you have described.

I take it that whatever program you used to read the file managed to read
the entire file, but it could not output the contents of the file in a
meaningful manner. Thus it would seem that you did not use the correct
program to read the file. It would seem unlikely that the file is
corrupted.

But, for anybody to help you, you must do some work. Tell us which program
you used to read the file and what the file type is.
Jim

you guys are being so patient...thanks. heres what I have. I tried to open it with notepad, word pad, microsoft office, xml editor. It only says text document. It was an IM log (my sister-she passed away-last logs TMI, I know, but it's important)

 

[Gordon]

Please TYPE the actual NAME of the file, INCLUDING the extension (that's the
bit after the .)

 

[Guest]

A text document is just one of several kinds of file. The precise type is
defined by the file extension (txt, doc, etc etc). To properly decode the
file one must use the program that understands contents of the file. For
example, if you try to read a text document whose type is "doc" with
Notepad, you will see the kind of output you have described.

I take it that whatever program you used to read the file managed to read
the entire file, but it could not output the contents of the file in a
meaningful manner. Thus it would seem that you did not use the correct
program to read the file. It would seem unlikely that the file is
corrupted.

But, for anybody to help you, you must do some work. Tell us which program
you used to read the file and what the file type is.
Jim

It looks like it came from an HTML file. Does that make sense?

 

[Mike Williams]

OK - this is the sort of information that should be provided at the very
start.

The IM program can prossibly open the file and decode any of the special
symbols, which I have a hunch are probably smiley faces etc.

If not, my earlier suggestion to take it to the Word newsgroups holds.
Using Word's text recovery option I suggested also holds.

 

[Guest]

OK - this is the sort of information that should be provided at the very
start.

The IM program can prossibly open the file and decode any of the special
symbols, which I have a hunch are probably smiley faces etc.

If not, my earlier suggestion to take it to the Word newsgroups holds.
Using Word's text recovery option I suggested also holds.

smiley faces, hearts, ect....I've looked at the document,and nowhere does it
have a "." by the names of the file. This was recovered off another hard
drive, and copied to a cd. (if that makes a difference) The file it came out
of is just a bunch of numbers--00009088.

 

[Guest]

OK - this is the sort of information that should be provided at the very
start.

The IM program can prossibly open the file and decode any of the special
symbols, which I have a hunch are probably smiley faces etc.

If not, my earlier suggestion to take it to the Word newsgroups holds.
Using Word's text recovery option I suggested also holds.

How do I do the IM program? There are smiley faces, hearts, squares ect.....

 

[Plato]

Please be gentle, I'm not a computer whiz.......
I have a recovered file that is about half unreadable. It is in codes with
symbols. How can I get it translated into something readable? Maybe a

There is no guarantee that recovered files will be 100% intact. You
"should" HAVE turned of the pc in question immediately after noticing
your error, then run the undelete util.