Help Me, I'm Pulling My Hair Out (Computer Related)

[pennywisdom]

I need to open a .doc file that I have saved on a floppy disc. The problem is that when I double click it, it doesn't open at all. It stalls for about five minutes and then gives me some sort of lame message. The weird thing is that every other file contained on this floppy disc opens just fine. It's this one single file that I need. It seems that the file is corrupted, or else the disc is damaged or something... I see no visually apparent signs of damage to the disc itself, so I have no idea what's going on.

Frustrated, I changed the file extension name to .txt, hoping that it would open in another program, if not Word. No luck.

I'm pulling my hair out because I had a lot of my own creative writing saved on this file and now it appears to be gone. It's my own fault for not making multiple copies and putting them in different places, but it doesn't change the fact that the entire document is seemingly FUBAR.

Is there anything at all I can do? Why would just a single Word document be screwed up when the rest of the disc is completely functional?

Thanks for any and all help.

[cactusmaac]

It can happen of one of the sectors on a disk goes bad.

Sucks for it to happen, but backing up important files is quite essential.

You can try these:

http://www.officerecovery.com/word/download_demo.htm

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/File_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/Kernel_Word___Repair_Corrupted_Word_Documents.html

Google the error message you get in case there is a quick and easy fix for it.

[Cam63]

I hope it works.

[pennywisdom]

It can happen of one of the sectors on a disk goes bad.
Yeah, I think that's probably it, although I don't know what "disk sectors" are.

Sucks for it to happen, but backing up important files is quite essential.
I know. It's nobody's fault but mine. That's what I get for trusting anything computer-related... the goddamn computer... bane of my existence.

You can try these:

http://www.officerecovery.com/word/download_demo.htm

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/File_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/Kernel_Word___Repair_Corrupted_Word_Documents.html
Neither of them worked. In the case of the first program, it recovered the document, but only the first page and it was full of errors and the word "demo" all over it, anyway. The second program gave up and just said "Recovery Failed", so it seems to be a lost cause.

Thanks, though. I appreciate the assistance.

[YoGo]

You might have pulled out the disk before it finished writing to the disk maybe. Sometimes word closes and the disk is still being read by the drive.

[FantomasPR]

Check your PM box Pennywisdom.

[Lester C.]

I need to open a .doc file that I have saved on a floppy disc. The problem is that when I double click it, it doesn't open at all. It stalls for about five minutes and then gives me some sort of lame message. The weird thing is that every other file contained on this floppy disc opens just fine. It's this one single file that I need. It seems that the file is corrupted, or else the disc is damaged or something... I see no visually apparent signs of damage to the disc itself, so I have no idea what's going on.

Frustrated, I changed the file extension name to .txt, hoping that it would open in another program, if not Word. No luck.

I'm pulling my hair out because I had a lot of my own creative writing saved on this file and now it appears to be gone. It's my own fault for not making multiple copies and putting them in different places, but it doesn't change the fact that the entire document is seemingly FUBAR.

Is there anything at all I can do? Why would just a single Word document be screwed up when the rest of the disc is completely functional?

Thanks for any and all help.

I had the same problem and came up with a possible solution that I didn't think to try. As a weapon of last resort try deleting the file then recover it from the recycle bin. I have no idea if that's going to work but I wish I tried with my term paper I had to retype. Best of luck to you.

[sk716]

You can try to force it open with Notepad. I can't gurantee the quality of the file, but Notepad has yet to fail me if I end up with a corrupted .doc file.

Right click and select "Open with..." Then select Notepad, but be careful to look and make sure to uncheck the "Always use to open this type of file" box at the bottom.

[Lester C.]

You can try to force it open with Notepad. I can't gurantee the quality of the file, but Notepad has yet to fail me if I end up with a corrupted .doc file.

Right click and select "Open with..." Then select Notepad, but be careful to look and make sure to uncheck the "Always use to open this type of file" box at the bottom.

It failed me but I was working with a text file rather than a word file.

[TCJohnson]

There is a program called getdataback from runtime.org. Although it can be slow as molassas, it has not failed me yet! I have only used it on hard drives, however. And remember, I repair stuff like this for a living.

If you need any help with it let me know.

I would also try running chkdsk /r on the disc. I will also try right clicking on it and cutting and pasting it and see if that helps.

[Jeff Brady]

Yeah, I think that's probably it, although I don't know what "disk sectors" are.

It refers to the specific coordinates of the data on the disk.

[pennywisdom]

Thanks to anyone who posted. I really appreciate the advice. It means a lot to me that people will help if I need it.

I don't have a lot of time to experiment with different solutions right now, but I'll check into some of your advice within the next day or so. I just wanted to post back and say "thanks".

[pennywisdom]

Never mind. It's gone. Nothing worked.

Thanks again for the advice, though.