Help with data recovery?!

Hi there,
I just read about recovering data (here at major geeks) from a jumpdrive, I followed the directions and recoverd my wifes .xls files ..BUT!! it all comes back in jibberish
—t®y´¹V#‘•ï4«›K«K«¤›l$¬ŒF0;W©Újú½ÍÂÄì-Ê—ãÐW5¯©ÝˆºM#žµÓµm9R{Ÿc†~3‘žs[:ÞueŠÿO±]ʺGôæ®´*#“IºnÈÚ¼ðíôV:«w¯‰½sÆ~•ÉÎÚmÞ±÷Iö†ÞyèXúÕáu•Ãš›¹ßéž0ºð•Ä,dè2.×…Ç+ï[öž*ðÜ©*[-Ü·,va¾X±ôïXÖ…õGN«¸–Ò"‰$
for example. how do I recover it back to its original state..readable numbers and letters??? please help ( I've tried, pci_filerecovery.exe and Ultimate Data recovery

 

Which version of Excel are you using to open the documents? Is it the same version that the docs were created with? It shouldn't matter (generally speaking) but if the .xls sheets were created with Excel 2003, and you're trying to open 'em with Excel 2000, there may be a problem....

 

Another question.... how were the files lost? Were they deleted via the recycle bin? Was the drive formatted? Was any data saved to the drive after the files were removed, but before starting the recovery process?
These are all important questions, and the answers may determine if the files can be successfully recovered at all, or if you're just wasting your time

 

Hi,
I think that the files were created excel 2000 and now I have excel 2003, and the other question is very good, I assume that the files were accidently deleted from the jumpdrive, there are still some other files left so the drive can not have been formatted, but I have no idea on which pc the files were deleted.( my wife just realized the loss when she used the jumpdrive to transfer some pics)
thnx for all the swift answers
//trixon

 

From the sound of it, the drive has been written to since the Excel files were deleted, and before the recovery was attempted. This overwrites the deleted data that was on the drive and may have corrupted the other deleted data that wasn't overwritten. When data is deleted from any drive, it is not actually erased. The space that the data occupies gets labeled as empty, so that Windows 'thinks' the data has been completely removed. Now that Windows sees that space as empty, new data can be written to it. If data was completely removed every time files were deleted, PCs wound run VERY slowly. Anyway- when data gets written to an area of a drive that is labeled as blank, it offsets all the other headers on the drive that label a space as blank, which effectively tells Windows that all the space between the newly written data and any remaining actual data is now free. This is what has probably happened in your scenario. I have found a few articles that have some links to and tips about fixing corrupt Excel files, which is what your recovered files are. So maybe something in one of these articles/links will help. Good luck! Let us know if something listed works out....
http://www.socrtwo.info/excel.htm
http://www.dotxls.com/excel-recovery/41/if-the-corrupted-excel-file-cannot-be-opened
There are many programs available that can rebuild corrupt Excel files, however I was unable to find any free ones. There are a few that have a demo mode and will scan you corrupt files and will show the data if it can be recovered. You can then decide if you want to pay for the software; the demo modes are 'save disabled' which means you cannot save the rebuilt/recovered files until you pay for the software. Some of these programs are listed at the end of the article in the first link. I did a Google search for "Excel recovery" and for "repair corrupt Excel file" and found a whole bunch of programs (none were free) that varied in price from $30 to over $150. So, before you decide to lay down some dough, be sure the files are actually worth paying for, and be sure the program has a demo mode that will show you that the data can indeed be saved. Excel 2000 and newer apparently has a built-in file repair/recovery tool. It is explained in one of the links above. Give it a try!


[dlb]
:major