Hello,
 
I recently lost about 5 years of files and digital folders from a power strike. (files cannot be recovered from a data recovery specialist).
 
Anyways, I managed to recover some of the files off an external hard drive that i had them on temporarily using pc inspector - file recovery.
 
I have recovered the files but when i try open them with autocad 2010, it says drawing file not valid.
 
The files were probably created in autocad 2000 or 2004.
 
I have tried recovering the files, inserting the files.
 
Does anyone have any ideas of what i can do or try?
 
Regards
Randal

[QUOTE=randal_ashford]
Hello,
 
I recently lost about 5 years of files and digital folders from a power strike. (files cannot be recovered from a data recovery specialist).
 
Anyways, I managed to recover some of the files off an external hard drive that i had them on temporarily using pc inspector - file recovery.
 
I have recovered the files but when i try open them with autocad 2010, it says drawing file not valid.
 
The files were probably created in autocad 2000 or 2004.
 
I have tried recovering the files, inserting the files.
 
Does anyone have any ideas of what i can do or try?
 
Regards
Randal[/QUOTE]
 Try to open with AutoCAD 2004 then 2010.

Try opening them with an AutoCAD clone like ProGE CAD or Bricscad; they seem to be less picky if the file structure is not perfect. (using a free trial)

"Drawing file not valid" means that either the DWG format is too new for your AutoCAD version (probably not the case here), or that the internal file structure is seriously damaged.
Look inside your DWG file with a text view (e.g. Notepad) and check whether it starts with the AC10... signature - see:
http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/qaID.asp?tip=868
Recovered files often have large portions cleared with null characters - such files will not be recoverable unfortnately (in any CAD software).

Hello All,
Thanks for the replies.
 
I opened the file with notepad and this is what comes up:
 
ÿØÿà JFIF


H H  ÿþ AppleMarkÿÛ „


ÿÄ
¢ 






   
 
at the beginning.
 
I opened a different one and all the text was in chinese.
But what stuns me, is that some of the recovered files open perfectly... but just not the ones i wanted. lol
 
Can i upload one of the drawings? or email someone on here one of the drawings to see what they can do??
 
THanks alot

[QUOTE=randal_ashford]Hello All,
Thanks for the replies.
 
I opened the file with notepad and this is what comes up:
 
ÿØÿà JFIF


H H  ÿþ AppleMarkÿÛ „


ÿÄ
¢ 






   
 
at the beginning.
 
I opened a different one and all the text was in chinese.
But what stuns me, is that some of the recovered files open perfectly... but just not the ones i wanted. lol
 
Can i upload one of the drawings? or email someone on here one of the drawings to see what they can do??
 
THanks alot[/QUOTE]
 Ok Send it in arben.allaraj@gmail.com and I 'll check it.

anyone else willing to try have a go??
 
Thanks heaps

OK for grins...c a b AT e e i t e a m DOT c o m

did you have backup file? i mean in format .bak.. change into dwg, and recover..

[QUOTE=CarlB]OK for grins...c a b AT e e i t e a m DOT c o m[/QUOTE]


sorry what did you mean?? nah no .bak files at all... unfortunately....
 
I have about 1000 really good drawing files taht i cant open. its driving me crazy. Some work some dont