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Several .docx and .xlsx documents were saved on a flash drive, edited in word and excel applications, and changes saved directly to that flash drive again.

These files, when opened, now contain only gibberish of the "}eZ1Ѕqдњ]2^ХЭ*sЖЎfЮcнv1Т2TN" type. Using different encodings to view the file produces only different sets of gibberish. The files have correct names, extensions, and seemingly correct sizes on the flash drive.

An attempt was made to recover the files on the PC where files were edited using word version control (it came up with no files) and recuva (it failed citing "the system cannot find the path specified").

Is it possible to somehow recover the contents of the files?

budgiebeaks
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1 Answers1

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Make copies onto a file share (not the problem removable disk) and only work on the copies. This avoids further damaging the original.

In Office, click the arrow next to Open, and click Open and Repair.

If not recovered, evaluate how valuable this document is to you. You can purchase other software or professional data recovery, or spend time looking at the low level file structure.

And if the storage was yanked before ejecting, don't do that. From the same article on open and repair:

Preventing file corruption in the future

Problems with file corruption typically happen when the file is stored on a USB device that is disconnected while the device is open in Windows. You can prevent damaging files by using the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Windows taskbar. If you don't see the icon, click the up-arrow in the notification area to show hidden icons.

In the event of a crash or loss of power, you can recover a previous version of your file if you turned on the Autorecover feature in Office.

John Mahowald
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