How do I recover a extremely corrupted file?
Our take
Hello everyone. I'm seeking for help because we had a power outage at my job earlier this week and a file we use a lot was corrupted. I have tried everything I can, from clicking "Open and repair" to using HxD to see the decoded text, actually this is a list of all the things I tried so far:
.- Checking the previous versions or unsaved files, and find nothing (I don't use the computer where they keep that file, so don't blame me).
.- Uploading it to Google Drive and try opening it with Google Sheets.
.- Extracting the data.
.- Switching to LibreOffice.
.- Renaming the file.
.- Changing the file extension to .xlsx and .xlsm.
.- XML inspection.
.- Tools like Stellar Repair, Wonder share Repair-it, Kernel for Excel, pretty much every online tool I could find and findstr.
The closest I got to something was when using the HxD software with a different file extension of the file (.xlsx), since on the original there was no info displayed on the software, therefore not much for me to work with; but it did showed me that the file size was still there, so I thought that at least some data was also scrambled inside. With the .xlsx file, I used the decoded text section to try and guide me on the recovery of the file, but I think is just the XML code and Excel stuff rather than the information we want to recover. I know that maybe some information may not be readable through the decoded text, but even when trying to use IDE's nothing was shown besides signs, question marks and like... 10 letters.
I would really value your help on this issue that I have, any advice is appreciated. Thanks for reading.
[link] [comments]
Read on the original site
Open the publisher's page for the full experience
Related Articles
- Excel File reverted to previous version after power outageI had an excel file simply called "bills" that I've been using for the families accounting. I run some server stuff on the computer so its on 99% of the time. Today, the power cut out for about a minute and after rebooting the excel file got reverted to a version from November 2025. I have for sure saved the filed weekly if not daily since then, have autosave on, I have powered off the computer for updates and whatnot and reopened it and continued without problems, but now suddenly all that work has been lost. I have checked the auto recover feature, again only versions from way back last year. I've been told to check the temp files, but I'm either doing something wrong or their not excel files (made copies and trying to rename the extensions to .xls, still just jibberish). I'm freaking out because its how I budget around bills and taxes and whatnot. Its saved locally only so no cloud backups, there was another copy of it called like Bills.xlsx.xlsx but its also been reverted. I don't think I have any recent restore points either, but everything else on the computer is up to date after the power outage so I have no idea what happened. The ONLY thing that I can find that got reverted was excel, and I have no clue why or how, but urgently need to fix it. Any advice at all would be great, Microsoft support told me to kick rocks since its "Office Home & Student 2019" and therefore not their problem and I'm on Windows 10. submitted by /u/Weekly-Mushroom-2225 [link] [comments]
- Excel Error: “File Corrupted” when downloading a file from Google Sheets. (Works on different PC )Hi everyone, I'm running into a frustrating issue while trying to move a large Google Sheet into Excel. I have a 30MB file containing complex formulas and several pivot tables. When I download it from google sheets and attempt to open it in Microsoft Excel, I receive the error: "The file is corrupt and cannot be opened." The Mystery: • A version of this same file from a week ago downloads and opens perfectly. • The current file opens fine on other machines, but fails specifically on my primary workstation. What l've tried so far: • File Properties: Checked the "Unblock" option in the file's security settings. • Browsers: Attempted the download via different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge). • Browser Maintenance: Cleared cache and cookies before re-downloading. • Local Excel: Attempted "Open and Repair" within Excel (failed). Since the file works on other computers, I suspect it might be a local Excel setting, a temporary folder conflict, or a specific resource limit on my machine. Does anyone have suggestions for local Excel configurations or Windows settings that might be triggering this "corrupt" flag for larger files? submitted by /u/Sea-Cycle-2747 [link] [comments]