Buzz
There are several reasons why files get corrupted or damaged. It could be due to faulty applications during the saving or creation process. Refer to the article below by Mytour for more information.
Understanding the Root Causes of File Corruption
Files typically become corrupted or damaged when written to disk. This can happen in various ways, with the most common being faulty applications during the saving or creation process. Office applications may experience time-related errors when saving documents.
File compression applications may encounter issues when compressing files. Backup applications may face problems when overwriting backups. Your browser (or other download applications) may even encounter issues when writing downloaded files to disk.
Corrupted files differ from cases where files are lost or accidentally deleted. If a file is accidentally deleted from the hard drive, you can use data recovery software to retrieve it. Some data recovery software options include Recuva...
Typically, these applications will detect errors, alert you to the occurrence of an error, and prompt you to retry. However, sometimes there are no notifications of errors until you attempt to open the file. Additionally, there are many other reasons that can cause files to become corrupted or damaged.
Before shutting down your computer, ensure to properly close any open files. In the event of a power outage or computer failure, files left improperly closed can lead to corruption or damage, affecting not only your documents but potentially also system files.
A faulty hard drive can also be a cause of file corruption or damage. In some cases, such as with a hard drive having bad sectors, this can lead to file corruption or damage. Additionally, minor issues like cross-linked files can also be culprits.
Finally, malware and viruses cannot be overlooked as culprits for causing file corruption or damage.
How to safeguard files from corruption and damage?
The first and best solution to protect your files from corruption or damage is to ensure regular backups of your entire computer. Be mindful that cloud storage services and file synchronization options may not be sufficient to backup your entire computer.
If there are files corrupted or damaged on your local drive, syncing these files to cloud storage services means backing up these corrupted files. When relying on cloud storage services, ensure you have options to restore previous file versions (such as in Dropbox).
It's best to utilize backup solutions like File History (on Windows), Time Machine (on macOS), or Backblaze for Mac. All these solutions allow you to restore to previous file versions.
The next solution is to ensure your computer is equipped with antivirus software to prevent virus attacks as well as malicious software.
Consider investing in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system to protect your computer from sudden shutdowns during power outages. UPS acts as a backup battery, providing you with a buffer in case of power loss.
Typically, UPS can provide power to your computer for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more, giving you enough time to shut down your computer properly. Using UPS can prevent file corruption due to improper shutdowns, although the culprit causing the error could also be a hardware issue.
How to recover corrupted or damaged files?
If any files are corrupted or damaged, the best approach is to redownload those files from the original source where you obtained them.
In case system files are corrupted or damaged (due to sudden computer shutdowns, faulty updates, malware attacks, etc.), you can use built-in tools on Windows like System File Checker to fix errors. System File Checker will scan your system to find corrupted files and replace them with original ones.
If you've tried everything but still can't retrieve your data, head to the top data recovery centers for the best assistance. Most major cities have reliable data recovery centers where you can seek help in retrieving lost data.
If your system is under attack by malware, firstly ensure you've removed the malware from your system. If suspecting faulty updates, you can restore your system to a previous state.
If the corrupted or damaged file is a document you've created, unfortunately, your options are limited. Some applications (including Microsoft Office) automatically save multiple versions of documents, allowing you to open a previous version in case the current document version is corrupted or damaged, or you can follow some measures to fix Excel files as instructed by Mytour.
Microsoft Office applications, along with other software, provide built-in tools for users to recover lost or damaged documents. Even if you can only recover text from a document, you can save a lot of time in recreating the file.
Mytour's article just introduced you to the causes of file corruption and damage, as well as some ways to troubleshoot and recover corrupted files. Additionally, you can search online for file recovery applications. Among these applications are both free and paid ones, and some may even come bundled with malware. Therefore, the advice for you is to carefully consider if you choose to use these applications.
