Corrupted Excel File after Recovery

[Tech bud]

My Brother accidently deleted a excel file he needs for work. I got the file back using Recuva and the file has data in the properties, so I know there has to be info in the file right?

Error message on Opening: Excel cannot open the file "MGIA 2017 Vendor List.xlsx' because the file format or file extension is not valid. Verifiy that the file has not been corrupted and that the file extension matches the format of the file.

Things I have tried:

1. I tried to open the file on my computer, same message.
2. I tried the built in repair options for excel, both with formulas and without.
3. I tried using Open Office, which it did open but no usable values.
4. I tried using a couple repair tools, DataNumen (which I found on this forums), then I also tried another repair tool on cnet, fails immediately.
5. Tried to open it in notepad, thought maybe I can get something from it.

Running out of ideas, thought maybe someone knows of a good tool or has another idea? Or am I just going to have to deliver the bad news?

 

[AlexCa]

Just a quick shot: right-click the folder where the file was located > "Restore previous versions".

 

[Larry Sabo]

Try Active @ Uneraser and recover the file again, is all I can think to suggest.

 

[lcoughey]

Can you confirm:

1. The source drive was powered off immediately after the file was deleted
2. The source drive was connected to another system on with which the recovery app was run
3. The recovered file was copied to a drive different than the source

In most cases, my experience is that the file is partially or fully overwritten by constant writing to the source drive.

 

[Tech bud]

@AlexCa Sorry forgot, been working on this sense yesterday, I tried the recovery option in properties. But he just went to a security conference and the genius there had him delete all old restore points, so that is a no go.

@Larry Sabo Going to give that Uneraser a try, thanks, maybe get lucky.

 

[Tech bud]

@Icoughey What I know:

1. He told me that it was 3 weeks ago sense the last time he worked on the file. Which makes sense with the file as it was last modified on 03/1.
2. It was saved on his desktop because in quick access it shows in recent files.

3. When I did the recovery I had him use his back up flash drive that I transferred the files to.(if he actually used it like I said, that would have been nice lol) I know it's dangerous to save to the same drive because it may over right the data on the hard disk.

 

[lcoughey]

So, the system was used for 3 weeks after the file was deleted? If so, the odds are, parts or most of the have been deleted. You are likely finding the old MFT record and recovering the sectors which once held the file contents.

 

[Tech bud]

@icoughey He told me Friday night, I told him not to save anything from there. So I'm sure he worked on the computer for a couple weeks.

 

[lcoughey]

Yup, odds are very low. Windows uses first available space. The odds that the original sectors aren't overwritten are slim.

 

[Tech bud]

Ya, thanks for every ones thoughts, think this is case closed, he's going to have to redo it.

 

[Markverhyden]

I'm sure he is now a prime candidate for a backup system.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

I dunno much about the excel format or the repair tools but in some cases you can compare the corrupt file with a valid file of the same format with a hex editor and repair the first few bytes of information which in a small number of cases can be enough to resolve the problem.