[Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

[lolindir]

Hi guys,

I have a corrupt ODS file which I am not able to recover. There seems to be still valid data inside the file, but the file header is corrupt (= it does not start with the required hex codes 50 4b 03 04 14 00 00 00). If I open the file inside a hex editor, I however see what seems to be (a part of) valid data (= the file does not contain '00' entries only).
Is there a way to recover the file? How can I do this?

(Since the file header seems to be corrupt, I cannot open or recover the file with an archive program like 7-zip.)

Many thank for your help8

[RoryOF]

I would waste no time on the damaged file. I doubt anything can be recovered from it.
To try and recover your file, you should look in the backup and temporary directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice : Paths. Rename any files in those to type .odt (or whatever file type you were using) and see if they contain your data. Download Recuva or PhotoRec (only one needed) and let it do an indepth recovery of deleted files on your computer. You may get a file containing some or all of your data (or not).

[lolindir]

Hi all,

I have a corrupt ODS file. The file header seems to be corrupt (when opening in a HEX editor, the file does not start with 50 4b 03 04 14 00 00 08). As a consequence I also cannot open the file with a file archive manager (like 7-zip).
The file however seems to contain data (it's not a file with only '00' entries).

Is there a way to recover the file?

Many thanks for your help!

[acknak]

... Is there a way to recover the file? ...

Try RoryOF's suggestion to recover a copy from the filesystem.

On rare occasions, the text can be recovered from a damaged ZIP but I the only way to know is to examine the file. You can attach the damaged file here, or send me a copy (email or PM buttons at right).

[lolindir]

Hi,

Thanks for your fast reply!
Unfortunately a recovery from the file system will not be possible I'm afraid: the file stands on a NAS :/
I have sent you a copy of the file via PM. Many thanks in advance for your help and time!

[RoryOF]

Search the workstation that accessed the file, as it is there temporary copies may have been made. The sooner this is done the better.

[lolindir]

Hi,

I've done this already, but unfortunately I cannot find any copy back. It's an Ubuntu machine (from my girlfriend). Cannot find a copy in the tmp folder, nor can I find it anywhere else on the file system
I've activated now the 'create backup' option in Calc, which should prevent this in future (this is unfortunately not solving the current problem).

I've just heard there was apparently a short power cut yesterday, before the problem occurred, during a thunderstorm. Might be the cause of the problem I'm afraid...

[acknak]

Sorry, the zip archive is missing most of the data; there's no trace of the content.xml entry. I don't know of anything else to try.

Sorry I couldn't help.

[lolindir]

Bummer... Anyway, thanks for having a look at it!

[John_Ha]

See Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files for help recovering the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the document, and then deleted when Writer was closed.

[keme]

Your NAS may have a rollback option, if a working copy of the file was ever stored there.

Those good old Novell file servers had a salvage utility, and the file system would always use some of the LRU blocks (Least Recently Used) when it required additional storage space.

FreeNAS has a snapshot option. If a snapshot has been taken recently, a rollback may be possible.

Search the web with keywords "salvage", "recover" or "rollback" and the name of your NAS system.

[lolindir]

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions. I had a backup of the file from 2 months ago. We've used the backup and extended it with the missing informations.
Lessons learned: make regular backups

Have a nice evening!

[ljicpu]

Hello ,
I have a big problem. I was working on my .ods file and power went down. I didnt had backup on. The file is corrupted and i cant open it now. I tried every solution posted on this forum and none worked.
Can someone try to help me to repair the .ods file ill upload it here
Or atleast check it and tell me is there even any chance to save the file

Thank you

[acknak]

Sorry, the file contains nothing but zeroes. There's no recoverable data there.

You'll have to try and recover a temporary copy of the file; there should be suggestions about that here somewhere.

[John_Ha]

See Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files for help recovering the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the document, and then deleted when Writer was closed.

[acknak]

Thanks, John. I forgot you had put that nice write-up together—bookmarked it!

What do you think about splitting that post off into a tutorial?

[RoryOF]

If so, perhaps best to mention also PhotoRec, as that is cross platform, whereas Recuva is Windows only.

[John_Ha]

What do you think about splitting that post off into a tutorial

acknak

It is on my list of things to do as soon as i get a moment. I started doing it a week or three back but it is somewhat more than a mere copy and paste.

[floris v]

Can you split a single post in the middle of a thread?

[RoryOF]

You could split the tread from that point, then split the new thread after the target post and merge it back to the original. Easier to Edit the target post and copy/Paste to the desired location or to a new thread.

[floris v]

There is a Move posts option in the drop-down when you have ticked one or more posts in Split topic. I wonder what it does.

[RoryOF]

I'm not going to fiddle with it tonight! Too late to do so.

[floris v]

You can do it with Move posts. Tried it in the Dutch forum. Downside is that the post in the original topic will get lost there. In this case that may not be a problem.

[John_Ha]

Thanks for the suggestions. What I think is easiest is to edit the post and copy and paste into a tutorial post. I need to do some rewriting to merge all the posts I refer to ...

[John_Ha]

Thanks for the suggestions. What I think is easiest is to edit the post and copy and paste into a tutorial post. I need to do some rewriting to merge all the posts I refer to ...

[jmac86]

Hi everyone,

Spreadsheet seems corrupted, asking for filter to open. None work. Don't really understand how to get it back to .xls file or the steps to get the content. Says that the document has 2kb of data which i don't understand as I've used this document over the past 2 years to update information. Anyone that can recover any data from this will save me hours or work. Much appreciated for your time!

[John_Ha]

Sorry, your file is full of zeros - there is no data in it and nothing can be recovered from it.

Did the PC crash or hang while you were editing the file? Or were youe diting a fuile on a USB memory stick which you removed too quickly? You may have slammed the laptop lid shut too quickly - that seems to cause it.

See Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files for help recovering the temporary files which, in your case, Calc wrote while you were editing the spreadsheet, and then deleted when Calc was closed. Read .ods for .odt, and read .xls for .doc.

[jmac86]

Thanks for trying.

Is there Recuva instructions for mac users?

[John_Ha]

Is there Recuva instructions for mac users?

No - not least because I don't have access to a Mac. But the idea is exactly the same

1 Locate the ...\Temp folder via Preferences > OpenOffice > Paths ...

2 Make sure you can see the ...\Temp folder and the files in it. It would be useful to create a new document and watch the files being created in ...\Temp so you understand what you are looking for.

3 Download a "file undelete" utility for Mac and use it to un-delete the temporary files.

[jmac86]

OK thanks, I'll try that.

The original document was used between 3 computers from dropbox. Do you know if dropbox stores previous copies of files?