Recover files after factory reset of PC

[MrProgrammer]

Hello. I factory reset my PC a couple nights ago and forgot to save a back up of a story document. I was able to recover them both, but both are in ASCII format and I have been unable to restore them no matter what I did. I have attached the files as they were when I recovered them. Any advice or help is appreciated.

[RusselB]

Welcome to the forums.
I think you might be out of luck due to the factory reset, however, you might try the suggestions listed in this tutorial as the data might still be recoverable from your hard drive.
In my experience the IT Added chapters file might be recoverable, but the IT file appears to be corrupted beyond recovery.
Other helpers on this forum have had better luck at recovering files than I have, so they might have better luck.

[Paradoxiaeclypse]

Thank you very much for your reply. I am in the process of trying to recover them, so I’ll keep trying. Hopefully I can fix this.

[John_Ha]

The two files are valid ZIP files but the data in WordDocument is completely corrupted and nothing is recoverable.

The files have the structure of a .doc file. They may well have .odt qualifiers but they are definitely not .odt files.

You probably need to follow the route for searching for .doc files in the tutorial (as well as searching for .odt files just in case).

[Paradoxiaeclypse]

This is very good to know. So I need to stop trying to recover them, I am assuming? Or would changing them to .DOC files work?

[John_Ha]

Do the following in the tutorial

1. Search for .doc files. If that fails
2. Search for .odt files.

Check with your PC manufacturer but I think that a Factory Reset deletes all user data (effectively it formats the disk which wipes everything) so I think you are really out of luck.

Changing them to .doc will do nothing as the data within is completely corrupted - nothing is recognisable as user text.

Have you ever emailed them to anyone - if so check your web mail.