The following is an extract (hence the "All Caps") from the show notes of
The Lab With Leo, starring
Leo Laporte. I appeared on the show via webcam. The show was episode 26 and appeared on
G4techTV April 19 2007.
My question was "How do I recover a corrupted file?"
Kate: THIS IS ALLAN, AND HE'S FROM MEDICINE HAT IN ALBERTA, AND HE'S A BRIT.
Leo: HE'S A BRIT?
Kate: HE'S A BRIT.
Leo: OH, SO YOU TWO SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE?
Kate: YEAH, HE'S FROM MANCHESTER, SO --
Leo: YEAH, ISN'T THAT WHAT SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL SAID IS THAT CANADA OR CANADA AND AMERICA AND BRITAIN ARE TWO COUNTRIES UNITED BY A DIFFERENT... DIVIDED BY THE SAME LANGUAGE?
Kate: (Chuckling) IT'S ALL IN THE DELIVERY.
Leo: IT WAS EASY FOR CHURCHILL! (Both laughing)
Leo: WHAT'S HIS NAME? ALEX?
Kate: IT'S ALLAN.
Leo: ALLAN. HELLO, ALLAN!
Allan: HELLO, LEO. THANKS FOR TAKING MY QUESTION.
Leo: OH, IT'S GREAT TO TALK TO YOU. WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU TODAY?
Allan: WELL, I'M AN AMATEUR GENEALOGIST AND HAVE BEEN FOR MANY YEARS.
Leo: YES.
Allan: AND SEVERAL YEARS AGO I CREATED A DOCUMENT THAT WAS IN, AT THAT TIME, WORD 98, SORRY, IN WINDOWS 98.
Leo: OKAY.
Allan: AND NOW THAT I'VE GOT XP, FOR WHATEVER REASON, IT SEEMS TO BE CORRUPT, AND I CAN'T OPEN IT ANYMORE.
Allan: IN WINDOWS EXPLORER, I CAN SEE THE "WORD" ICON, AND WHEN I TRY TO OPEN IT UP, I GET THIS STRANGE WORD -- IT SAYS, "WORD FIX" IN BRACKETS, AND THEN IT GIVES ME THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS, WHICH IS 39,000 AND SOME --
Leo: CAN YOU OPEN THE FILE AT ALL?
Allan: SAY AGAIN?
Leo: CAN YOU OPEN THE FILE AT ALL?
Allan: I CAN OPEN IT, BUT IT ONLY OPENS THE FIRST FEW LINES OF THE DOCUMENT, AND THEN NOTHING ELSE APPEARS.
Leo: OKAY. SO THAT'S POSSIBLE TO FIX. FIRST OF ALL, YOU'LL FIND THAT IF YOU GO INTO A SEARCH, THERE ARE ABOUT A THOUSAND PROGRAMS THAT WILL CHARGE YOU ANYTHING FROM $50 TO $100 OR MORE TO FIX IT. I DON'T KNOW OF ANY FREE PROGRAMS. I THINK THEY FIGURE, "HEY, WE'VE GOT ALLAN OVER THE BARREL. LET'S CHARGE HIM SOME BIG BUCKS HERE." A LOT OF THESE PROGRAMS WILL OPEN THE DOCUMENT, SHOW YOU SOME OF YOUR TEXT AND SAY, "I CAN GET THE REST IF YOU GIVE ME SOME MONEY."
Allan: YEAH, THE WORDS SAY "DEMO" WHERE THE WORDS WOULD BE.
Leo: YEAH, I HATE THAT. AND, YOU KNOW, YOU SEE THE SAME THING IN PROGRAMS THAT CLAIM TO UNERASE FILES OR RECOVER HARD DRIVES.
Leo: IT'S LIKE THEY FIGURE, "HEY, YOU KNOW, THESE GUYS ARE DESPERATE. WHY SHOULD WE BE GIVING THIS AWAY? LET'S TEASE THEM." AND IT MAKES ME MAD, FRANKLY. (Laughing) I HATE THAT. I'M GONNA SHOW YOU AN ARTICLE, AND WE'LL PUT A LINK IN THE SHOW NOTES, REALLY, I THINK, A VERY GOOD ARTICLE FROM A SITE CALLED mvps.org.
Leo: AND IT IS TALKING ABOUT CORRUPTED WORD DOCUMENTS, AND IT TALKS ABOUT WHAT TO DO TO TRY TO SAVE THESE, LIKE IN OTHER WORDS, FIGURE OUT WHERE THE CORRUPTION IS AND HOW TO SAVE IT. THE REAL ISSUE IS CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHERE THE CORRUPTION BEGINS. NOW, THAT'S WHY I ASKED YOU IF YOU COULD OPEN THE DOCUMENT AT ALL. THE FACT THAT YOU CAN OPEN IT IS A GOOD SIGN. IT MEANS THAT IN ALL LIKELIHOOD, MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE DATA IS STILL THERE, BUT THERE IS SOME BAD -- THERE'S A BAD BIT SOMEWHERE IN THAT DOCUMENT THAT'S CAUSING PROBLEMS, AND THIS CAN HAPPEN, YOU KNOW, ANYTIME. I MEAN IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANY COMPUTER ANYTIME. COSMIC RAYS ARE ALWAYS HITTING THE HARD DRIVE AND CHANGING BITS, AND YOU GET THE WRONG BIT CHANGED, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, THINGS AREN'T GONNA WORK ANYMORE. SO ONE THING THAT THEY SUGGEST TRYING, AND I'LL GIVE YOU A FEW OF THESE, FIRST OF ALL, MAKE A COPY OF THAT FILE SOMEWHERE AND DON'T TOUCH IT. THAT COPY IS, YOU KNOW, KIND OF YOUR LAST RESORT. WE'LL GO BACK TO IT. WORK ON A COPY, IN OTHER WORDS, NOT ON THE ORIGINAL. SECOND, THEY SUGGEST IF YOU'RE USING -- NOW, YOU SAID IT'S AN OLD VERSION OF WORD. WHAT VERSION?
Allan: I THINK IT WAS PROBABLY WORD 97, I WOULD THINK.
Leo: OKAY. SO IT SAYS, "IF YOU CAN ISOLATE THE CORRUPTION TO A TABLE --" ARE THERE ANY TABLES IN YOUR DOCUMENT?
Allan: YES, IT ACTUALLY IS A TABLE.
Leo: YEAH, YEAH, WELL, THIS IS INTERESTING. I GUESS TABLES ARE MORE LIKELY TO CORRUPT. WHAT THEY SUGGEST IS YOU EITHER SELECT THE TABLE AND CONVERT IT TO TEXT OR PASTE IT INTO EXCEL, AND THAT WAY YOU CAN GET THE TABLE OUT OF IT. APPARENTLY THIS MAGICALLY CAN FIX THE TABLE. SO THERE ARE A FEW THINGS TO TRY.
Leo: I'M GONNA AGAIN POINT YOU TO THIS DOCUMENT BECAUSE IT'S NOT JUST ONE PARTICULAR TRICK. IT'S A NUMBER OF TRICKS, THINGS LIKE SAVING IT AS RTF, JUST TO SEE IF IT'LL COME BACK, OR MAYBE EVEN SAVE IT AS TEXT TO SEE IF IT'LL COME BACK. DELETING SECTION BREAKS -- APPARENTLY SECTION BREAKS ARE ALSO A COMMON CAUSE OF CORRUPTION -- WILL WORK.
Leo: SAVING IT IN AN OLD FORMAT, RECOVER TEXT -- THERE IS APPARENTLY A WAY TO RECOVER TEXT FROM A FILE AND OPEN THAT CORRUPT FILE. IS IT IMPORTANT THAT YOU GET THE TABLE OUT INTACT, OR DO YOU JUST WANT TO GET THE --
Allan: NO, AS LONG AS I GET THE -- I MEAN AS LONG AS I GET THE DOCUMENT ITSELF, IT DOESN'T MATTER ABOUT THE TABLE.
Leo: YEAH, DO A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR "CORRUPT WORD DOCUMENT" AND LOOK FOR THE ARTICLE ON mvps.org. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT ARTICLE THAT TALKS ABOUT THINGS YOU CAN DO WITHOUT PAYING ANY MONEY. NOW, I DON'T KNOW. I'VE NEVER TRIED THESE PAID PROGRAMS. I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WORK BETTER OR IF THEY'RE SOMEHOW MAGICAL. MY SUSPICION IS NOT, AND I JUST KIND OF, I RESENT THE FACT THAT THEY WANT TO TEASE YOU LIKE THAT AND CHARGE YOU MONEY. SO THIS SEEMS TO ME TO BE A REALLY GOOD RESOURCE FOR A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS YOU CAN DO TO TRY TO RECOVER CORRUPTED WORD DOCUMENTS, AND IT SPECIFICALLY DIVIDES IT UP "PRE-WORD 97" OR "WORD 97 AND LATER," "WORD 2000 AND LATER," SO I THINK THAT THESE SUGGESTIONS -- AND IT'S INTERESTING THAT YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE TABLE, BECAUSE THAT'S THE VERY FIRST THING THEY MENTION. IT MUST BE SOMETHING THAT WAS A LITTLE BIT OF A PROBLEM IN WORD 97.
Allan: OKAY.
Leo: ALL RIGHT? mvps.org.
Allan: CAN I GIVE A PLUG FOR MY WEBSITE WHILE I'M HERE?
Leo: YEAH! WHAT'S YOUR WEBSITE?
Allan: IT'S A GENEALOGY SITE. JUST TYPE "SCAHILL" INTO GOOGLE, S-C-A-H-I-L-L.
Leo: ISN'T IT GREAT THAT WE DON'T REALLY NEED TO REMEMBER ANY ADDRESSES ANYMORE? (Laughing) WE JUST -- LIKE, FOR INSTANCE, WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME, I SAY, "JUST GOOGLE LEO LAPORTE. EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW IS THERE." SO "SCAHILL AND JOHNSON FAMILY HISTORY PAGES," IS THAT IT?
Allan: THAT'S THE ONE, YEAH.
Leo: OH, THERE YOU ARE, ALLAN. I SEE YOU.
Allan: YEAH, I'M NUMBER ONE ON GOOGLE FOR MY NAME, SO I'M PRETTY PLEASED ABOUT THAT.
Leo: WELL, THAT'S A NICE THING! I WISH I WERE NUMBER ONE FOR "LEO." I'M NOT.
Allan: (Laughing)
Leo: I AM NUMBER ONE FOR "LEO LAPORTE," I HAVE TO SAY. SO THIS IS REALLY NEAT. SO THIS IS A REALLY GREAT IDEA. DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN GENEALOGY?
Allan: YEAH, I'VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE ABOUT THE MIDDLE '80s. I'VE BEEN DOING GENEALOGY.
Leo: THE INTERNET IS SUCH A BOON FOR GENEALOGY, LET ME TELL YOU. NOW LET ME SHOW YOU ONE LITTLE TRICK TO FIND THE DOCUMENT THAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT THAT'S A VERY USEFUL TRICK IN GOOGLE. IF YOU TYPE THE WORD "SITE" COLON, AND I TOLD YOU IT'S "mvps.com," SO "SITE" COLON "mvps.com," AND THEN TYPE IN SOMETHING LIKE "CORRUPT WORD --" OH, IS IT ".org?" I'M SORRY.
Allan: ACTUALLY, THAT'S A TECHNIQUE THAT I USE TO SEARCH A SITE IN GENEALOGY.
Leo: I BET YOU DO. I BET YOU'RE REALLY A MASTER OF SEARCHING, AREN'T YOU? AND THEN THAT WAY, WHAT IT'LL DO IS IT'LL ONLY -- IT'LL SEARCH FOR THESE WORDS ONLY ON THAT SITE, WHICH MAKES IT REALLY -- YOU KNOW, THAT THEN BECOMES THE NUMBER ONE SEARCH RESULT BECAUSE WE'VE NARROWED IT DOWN TO THAT SITE. SO, YEAH, I BET YOU COULD SHARE SOME TRICKS WITH US, ALLAN, FOR FINDING STUFF. THAT'S PART OF THE FUN OF IT. IT'S ALMOST A DETECTIVE JOB, ISN'T IT?
Allan: YES, I'VE LEARNED A LOT WHILE I'VE BEEN DOING THIS HOBBY.
Leo: THAT'S REALLY NEAT. HEY, ALLAN, THANKS FOR CALLING. I HOPE YOU GET THAT DOCUMENT BACK.
Allan: THANK YOU FOR TAKING MY CALL, AND THANKS FOR THE POINTERS.
Leo: AND WELL DONE ON THE scahill.ca SITE. THAT'S REALLY NEAT.
Allan: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Leo: YEAH. WE HAVE A -- I'LL SHOW YOU SOMETIME MY FAMILY GENEALOGY SITE. I DON'T RUN IT, BUT SOMEBODY IN MONTREAL DOES, AND IT'S VERY COOL. IT'S REALLY NEAT.
Allan Scahill
Posts
most popular last name in the US.
times on WhitePages.
