Powercut now can not open file I was working on

[anita]

I have had a powercut to the laptop and the file is now split in 2 files. one with a wave sign in front of the name.
WhenI open them I get all kinds of scribble.
How can I get my file back please?

[RoryOF]

The one with the tilde (squiggle) in front is a lock file. It should be very small compared with the other and can safely be deleted. The other file is the important one. What file type is it?

[anita]

just the saved file that i was working on the whole day. I can not open it normally. also when I look at the characteristics the file requests windows runtime to stop working.

[RoryOF]

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).

[anita]

that program found no files

[RoryOF]

What type was the damaged file? .odt? .xls? /doc? or what?

[anita]

odt open document text I have that one and still the lock file as well. It is not so good that a file that has been saved while working on it, is demolished as a file whenthe power cuts out during use. There should be some sort of backup file so that you can get the version that you saved last and use that instead in case of powercut.

[RoryOF]

Outside of OpenOffice copy the .odt file to a file of type .zip. double click that to cause it to open ; if it opens extract file content.xml and your content should be in that in unformatted form.

[Bill]

There should be some sort of backup file so that you can get the version that you saved last and use that instead in case of powercut.

There is. Right-click the file in Windows Explorer and select "Restore previous versions".

[anita]

no previous versions and all I see is ######################### simple it is just all gone.

[RoryOF]

If all you see is ### it is almost certainly gone - sorry.

[Bill]

no previous versions and all I see is ######################### simple it is just all gone. :crazy:

Your signature says you're using Windows 7 which has "Previous versions". Are you using a different operating system?

Previous versions of files: frequently asked questions

[John_Ha]

If you were editing a .odt file (it does not work for .doc files) see Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files for help recovering the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the .odt file, and then deleted when Writer was closed.