Corrupt File: ASCII & Hashtags

[dghjarrett]

Hi all,

I am in need of assistance concerning an .odt file that has recently become corrupt. I was working on the document when my laptop crashed and has to be restarted. Now, when I try and open the document, a message comes up about ASCII Filter Options and the whole document is hashtags. I have read posts from other users and I understand that there may not be any hope for the file. I have attached the .odt file to this message in the hope that someone might be able to assist in recovering the data.

Thanks,

Daniel

[RoryOF]

I got nothing from it, so things don't look good. Perhaps someone else may, with more powerful tools. Best to immediately take another approach:
look in the OpenOffice backup directory, pointed to by /Tools /Options/ Paths/ Backups and see if there is a bak file. Also look in /Tools /Options/ Paths/ Temporary Files and rename any files with arbitrary names to the correct filetype and see if they open with any of your information.

Run PhotoRec or Recuva and see if a deleted version can be found.

[dghjarrett]

Thanks for the advice. I tried Recuva but nothing was found. SO annoyed

[Jan_J]

I got nothing from it, so things don't look good. Perhaps someone else may, with more powerful tools.

No chance. The content is a block of NUL (ASCII 0) characters, instead of valid ZIP.

[RoryOF]

I didn't think there was anything in it, but a second opinion is always reassuring.

[Hagar Delest]

Sadly, quite nothing to do I fear, see: 22 pages term paper replaced with pound signs.
Very common with crash during save operation.

If you want to help fix this problem, you can also do this survey created for this very problem: Document Recovery Survey.

[patdragon]

Right first time in forums but this seems almost what i'm after but i'm having a similar problem except here are the details.

my file has become corrupt - fair enough - I did have it backed up (partly). The issue is now when ever I save direct to this new usb (so it may be the usb) the file will not open again and come up with hashtags.
It is not a matter of losing power mid save and the saving is definitely complete and i have tried safety removing the hardware, just in case.
I have tried saving it in different files, but it happens to all of them.

What is up and how can I fix it?

[thomasjk]

Try resetting the user profile viewtopic.php?f=74&t=12426.

[RoryOF]

It may be a sick USB key. If it were mine, I'd run chkdsk /f on it; if that didn't work I'd try reformatting it, but be aware that reformatting will destroy any remaining data.