Corrupted files can occur for many reasons, such as the installation of malicious and infected software, which corrupts the files on your computer. Corrupted files can include Word, PDF, Excel files, images and other Windows system files. Furthermore, the conversion process can also damage your files. After experiencing all these problems, the most important question that comes to your mind is how to recover damaged files on your computer.
Fortunately, there are many ways to repair damaged files, especially on Windows computers. There are several tools that allow the recovery of damaged files. Below I have provided an ultimate guide outlining possible methods to repair and recover damaged files on Windows computers.
Part 1: What Causes File Corruption?
If you want to learn how to recover corrupted files, you need to understand what caused the file to become corrupted. These are some of the main reasons for the corruption of your file.
power surges
Power surges can corrupt the file and negatively affect the Windows system file. Using a surge protector is the best way to prevent file corruption.
Energy cut
This means that your power is interrupted when you are editing or trying to open a file. It may cause file corruption. It also means that your battery drained faster than normal and you were unable to save or close the file.
System failure
A system crash usually corrupts your files and is one of the major causes of file corruption.
update failed
Bugs and glitches can cause your files to get corrupted while you update your system, and update errors are one of the main causes of file corruption after an update.
Virus
Many unwanted and malicious files on your computer can damage the files. The computer becomes very susceptible to viruses and gets in through the internet connection, leading to file corruption.
hard drive problem
The safety of corrupted files is increased if your computer’s hard drive is occupied by junk files or bloatware.
mismatched versions
You may cause file corruption if you download or install the wrong version of the file.
Part 2: Feasible Ways to Recover Corrupted Files on Windows
To be honest, can you recover a damaged file? The answer is yes, and you can recover them by applying the methods that I am going to tell you about.
Use Tenorshare 4DDiG to recover damaged files on Windows
Tenorshare 4DDiG is data recovery software that allows you to recover data regardless of how you lost it. Recently released version 9.0 which improves user experience and recovery performance. The probability of recovering your damaged or lost files on the computer increases due to the algorithms of the software.
Main features of 4DDiG
- Meets the data recovery needs of Windows and Mac users
- It supports data recovery from various different scenarios such as accidental deletion, accidental formatting, corruption, etc.
- It can recover data from internal and external devices, including data recovery from USB, hard drives, SD cards, external hard drive
- It supports many different types of data recovery, including photos, videos, documents, etc.
You can recover damaged files from Windows 10 by following the steps below:
- Download and run it on your computer, select the drive where your corrupted files are located, and click Scan.
- Now select the files you want to restore and click on recover. Select the folder where you want to save your files and click OK.
- The software will recover and save working versions of your damaged files on your Windows computer.
Run Check Disk
Your files may get corrupted if there is a bad sector on your drive. You can repair corrupt files using check disk command like;
- You can open a Command Prompt window by pressing Windows Key + X and selecting Command Prompt (Admin).
- When the window opens, press Enter and it will scan and fix any problems on your drive.
Use the CHKDSK command
You can recover damaged files in Chkdsk by following these steps.
- You can open a command prompt and enter the following command line
- chkdsk e: /f /r /x
- Let’s assume that all possible damaged files are found on your system. In that case, it would be better to run the System File Checker command-line tool to repair the corrupted system files after Chckdsk has finished.
Use the sfc command
SFC is an acronym for System File Checker. Also, it is a utility that allows you to repair malicious files on your computer. You can recover damaged files in the following way;
- You can open the command prompt window by clicking the Windows + X key combination on the keyboard and selecting Command Prompt (Admin).
- Type the command and press Enter when the window opens.
- This tool scans and repairs all the damaged files on your Windows PC.
change file format
You can reuse your damaged files by changing the file format. It would be better to change the format to an appropriate one; otherwise it won’t work.
Suppose your damaged file is in PNG format. If you rename PNG to JPG, it will still work because they are both image formats. You can try opening it on your computer if it works. To do this, right-click the file or folder, and then click Restore Previous Versions.
Restore damaged files from previous versions
In addition to other methods, you can also recover damaged files from your previous version, just right-click on the damaged files and go to “Restore Previous Versions”.
If you don’t have this option, skip to the next method.
Restore damaged files using System Restore
System Properties is also a good way to restore damaged files. With this system restore feature, you can easily recover damaged files.
- Type “create restore point” on the Windows taskbar, then go to “System Restore” and click “Next.”
- After you see the pop-ups, select “Show more restore points”. Then you will see some items listed on the interface.
- Now select the items you want to restore and go to “Next”. And this is how you restore damaged files using system restore.
Recover corrupted files using DISM tool
You can use the DISM tool named Deployment Image Servicing and Management as;
- Search for ‘Command Prompt’ and right click on the top results. Then select the “Run as administrator” option when it appears.
- Then type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to repair Windows 10 image and then press ‘Enter’;
- Now just wait for the repair process to finish and don’t forget to restart your computer when the repair is done.
Reboot and reset your Windows
Your last hope will be to reset your Windows if none of the above methods can fix the damaged files on your computer. Please note that this process would remove previously installed apps and files.
You can do these steps if you want to restore Windows 10 to factory settings;
- Restart your computer
- Open Troubleshoot and select Reset this PC.
- You will now see two options;
- Keep my files – This would reinstall Windows 10 while keeping your files and settings. (You can use this option to clean the drive)
- Delete Everything – This option would inevitably delete your files and settings.
- Choose your username and then enter your password. After that, you can go to the version of Windows that you want to reboot. Then all you have to do is follow the onscreen guide to complete the process.
Part 3: FAQ
What are DAMAGED FILES?
In short, a damaged file is damaged. All data on your computer has a structure. When this structure is damaged or broken, it can cause the file to become corrupted, it can cause the file to no longer open, and your operating system may no longer know how to handle the file. If you try to open it, the application may crash because there is missing data that the program you are using does not know what to do with. Corrupted files can include Word, PDF, Excel files, images and other Windows system files.
How to avoid file corruption?
You can apply the following ways to avoid damaging the files on your computer;
- Use the same software everywhere. Transferring files between different apps or app versions can damage the files.
- Backup of all files.
- Use secure transmission protocols.
- Operate the equipment on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
- Use the file recovery features of the application.
Conclusion:
Now you can clearly know what caused your files to get corrupted and how to recover them. If you can’t find any backup of your damaged files and still want to recover those important files that have been damaged, we recommend you to try a professional damaged file recovery software – Tenorshare 4DDiG Data Recovery.
Also Read: How To Recover Deleted Files In Windows
Categories: How to
Source: HIS Education