turboCAD Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) Hello ! About a month ago the HDD (wd7500bpkt) of my Acer 7750G laptop decided to teach me a lesson about backing up data and not putting all the information on the same data storage device no matter how reliable the classic HDD has become. The hdd failed and I tried to fix it with a recovery software and damaged it even further. I took it to a data recovery firm and they managed to recover some data but most of it is non usable(I am referring to .dwg files). The following message appears when I attempt to open a damaged .dwg file: "Drawing file is not valid" However, the file amounts to 1177 KB* which, to me, means that the file contains information but with missing bits; those missing bits may be interpolated using those that are intact as I don't think the .dwg file is encrypted with random sequences that can not be predicted(*that is roughly the same size it had prior to the failure). I found "DWG Repair Toolbox" but have not tried it yet. Has anyone tried repairing a damaged .dwg file and was successful in doing so ?What was the procedure, what software has been used? Thank you ! AND -always back up your work (memory stick + Mitsubishi-Verbatim archiving dvds) -don't try to fix something as important as a hdd that contains all of your work and important documents with software you have just found out about, as you will only worsen the situation: do not reconnect the hdd to voltage and take it to a data recovery company. - defragment your HDD* periodically as it greatly improves the chance of a full recovery for a given file (*defragmenting is recommended for the classical, spinning platters hdd and not for the SSDs ) Edited March 14, 2013 by turboCAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Did you try to Recover or Audit the drawing? Insert into a new .dwg or XREF? See if there is a .bak file of the drawing and rename? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 Did you try to Recover or Audit the drawing? Insert into a new .dwg or XREF? See if there is a .bak file of the drawing and rename? I tried audit and it could not open it. Now, after I read what you told me, I changed the extension from .bak to .dwg and it worked in one out of four files so it is a good start. I will also try your other suggestions and post the results. Thank you, SLW210 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 I tried to insert it: Insert/dwg reference/ and this was autocad's conclusion: [Window Title] XATTACH - Invalid File [Main Instruction] This file cannot be opened. [Content] The problem can be caused by several things: - The data in the file is corrupted - The file is an earlier format that is no longer supported - The file format is not supported Try to obtain a better copy of the file, recreate the file using different settings, or convert the file to a supported file format. [Close] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 click red A in left corner/ Drawing Utilities/Recover/Recover with Xrefs The drawing could not be recovered click red A in left corner/ Drawing Utilities/Recover/Recover Unable to recover drawing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 (edited) this is interesting: I tried to insert another invalid file and when I selected it in the "Insert DWG reference" dialogue, a correct preview of it appeared in the small window at the top right of the dialogue box then, after clicking "Open", the "Attach external reference" dialog box also showed a correct preview of the file but after pressing ok: Attach Xref "tije": C:\Users\Dr. Evil\Desktop\recuperate\tije.dwg ** File C:\Users\Dr. Evil\Desktop\recuperate\tije.dwg isn't a valid drawing. The previews were correct but the file is not valid. The same file analyzed with "recover" yielded a partially recovered drawing: 72 errors found and fixed and 92 files erased but I was not allowed to save it --------------------------- AutoCAD Message --------------------------- One or more objects in this drawing cannot be saved to the specified format. The operation was not completed and no file was created. --------------------------- OK --------------------------- I selected the remaining objects and tried to copy and paste them in a new .dwg file but select,Ctrl+C, => "Copy to clipboard failed" Edited March 15, 2013 by turboCAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 The previews are just saved image files and not the actual DWG file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 The previews are just saved image files and not the actual DWG file. I feared that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboCAD Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Does anyone know how to recover autocad files from "pagefile.sys " file in Windows or from hiberfil.sys ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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