Recovering a corrupted .txt file

[xcr]

I would like to recover a corrupted Notepad (actually, Notepad2, but I guess its's the same) file: I previously saved it, then edited, and with the unsaved edits, a power outage made it unreadable. The file is full of [NUL].

I tried CHKDSK. It has found no errors.

I tried this as well: https://superuser.com/questions/223677/recovering-a-corrupted-txt-file
Here, the 2nd answer with the Recuva method. Now, previosly I had a very similar instance, when this one worked very well, now not so.

What other hope do I have?

 

[xcr]

I'm sorry, I'm honestly not sure if I posted this to the right forum. (Where else?)

 

[RolandJS]

Time as we know it does not exist in forums across The 'Net.
I have some experience recovering/"re-writing" text files. Is the file now in a safe place, where it cannot be accidentally deleted? I take it there are no ghosts of this file lurking on the hard-drive? Meaning, you have already tried to find and recover earlier and later versions of this textfile, correct? Download and install both editplus [free version] and metapad, we might need their reading and editing powers.

 

[GEWB]

If it is a small file, try using a HEX editor. You will be able to see the available text then create a new text file in Notepad.

Other option is to learn the structure of text files and rebuild the corrupt file in the HEX editor but that takes some work.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[xcr]

@GEWB

All the HEX editor editor sees of my file is, zeros. Lots of zeros. That's it.

@RolandJS

Actually, my text file contains, (contained?) sensitive information, I cannot send it to you. I tried to replicate it, like writing full a text file, saved it, writing some more, then without save, unplugged the computer, to no avail; I did not managed to replicate it, with non-sensitive text so far. ;(

Is the file now in a safe place, where it cannot be accidentally deleted

Yes, sure, I made copies of the file.

Meaning, you have already tried to find and recover earlier and later versions of this textfile, correct?

Yes. All I found was, Recuva converted all the NULs into something different.

The alternative file starts with:

SQLite format 3

Besides NUL, it contains also EOT, SOH, ETX, ENQ (maybe etc.)

And extended ASCII characters like:

ÐGOR‹Š

Download and install both editplus [free version] and metapad, we might need their reading and editing powers.

What's the methodology with these two editors? What are my hopes?

Thanks for both of your help!

 

[LMiller7]

Text files contain no redundancy or defined format. That means any recovery of a corrupted file is going to be problematic at best. A hex editor is just a tool that allows you to examine and edit the file in it's raw form, including portions that are corrupt. A standard text editor would likely remove most of the file. But a hex editor is just a tool and requires human judgement and knowledge of the file to make it work. Likely you could do little more than remove corrupted portions of the file. What's left may or may not be useful.

Edit: If the corruption is the result of the file being completely overwritten with junk or unrelated material then there is no possibility of recovery.

 

[GEWB]

@GEWB

All the HEX editor editor sees of my file is, zeros. Lots of zeros. That's it.

@RolandJS

Not a good sign.

Did you view it all the way to the end file marker?

Regards,
GEWB

 

[Eric3742]

There a this prog
PDF, DOC, DOCX, DAT, BIN, PHP Viewer - FreeFileViewer

There is a possibilities the text file still exist somewhere.

Go to Windows\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Temp

The folder AppData is hidden.
You can change the "your_username" to your account name
Then highlight from "Windows\.......\Temp"
Open your explorer, select the C: drive and paste it on top

This is the Temp files for all types of files that was saved (depend on setting) while you are working even when sudden system cut-off.
You can arrange by Date/Time of the files.
Check the latest, and ignore with or without .txt &or funny chars.

 

[RolandJS]

Metapad acts like Notepad on steroids. EditPlus, free or pay-for, is simply another document reader/writer. Based on your description of hex-view showing your file filled with 0s and more 0s -- doesn't bode well. However, aim one or both of the above at your file and see what you can see. If there is any viable, visible, text -- such will let you copyNpaste said text into a new good text file.

 

[xcr]

Everyone,

On your recommendation I tried common HEX editor, Metapad, EditPlus, and even FreeFileViewer (Though the latter installed clickware on my machine, for what it's worth, even though I was as careful as possible).

Basically, with all editors, the result is the same: my original text file is full of zeros.

This aspect, however is a little bit more interesting I mentioned before: when I ran the text file through Recuva (see this: https://superuser.com/questions/223677/recovering-a-corrupted-txt-file; Here, the 2nd answer with the Recuva method. Now, previosly I had a very similar instance, when this one worked very well, now not so) it didn't turn my text file readable, like in the Super User example, but something like this (I quote myself again):

One

SQLite format 3

And the other:

ÐGOR‹Š

And many more like this.

The two questions I ponder:

- Why Recuva didn't recover my file, if it recover the file of the Super User user?

- Even if my text file can't be saved, how did it turn to all zeros, if I saved it previously, I just didn't save the incremental changes before the the power outage? For my technical interest. It was on an NTFS partition.

@Eric3742: I sure don't have any backup of Windows, Temp, System Files, AppData, things like that, I use Toolwiz Time Freeze which restores my Windows after every restart.

 

[xcr]

Is my text file lost forever, according to your best knowledge? Okay no big deal, I can live with that, took precautions for it never to happen again.

 

[vr20]

same issue

Hi XCR,
Did you get a chance to fix your problem? I do have the very same problem and all issues mentioned by you.
I tried everything and it is a sensitive file I lost similar to yours. is there a way to resolve this?
Thanks