Sorry for off-science topic.

I have a 77 page pdf file that got corrupted by a power outage. The file is 6670 kB so is larger than the free online 5 MB limit.
I don’t mind paying for repair, but who?
I don’t want to pay a regular monthly fee for the repair software – this is a one-off job only.

This is what the corrupted file looks like – all the words and spacing are still in their correct place but almost all the individual letters have been lost.

mollwollfumble said:

Sorry for off-science topic.

I have a 77 page pdf file that got corrupted by a power outage. The file is 6670 kB so is larger than the free online 5 MB limit.
I don’t mind paying for repair, but who?
I don’t want to pay a regular monthly fee for the repair software – this is a one-off job only.

This is what the corrupted file looks like – all the words and spacing are still in their correct place but almost all the individual letters have been lost.

Did you make the file? If so, remake it from the pre-pdf version.

Did you get the file from the internet? If so, download it again.

Michael V said:

mollwollfumble said:

Sorry for off-science topic.

I have a 77 page pdf file that got corrupted by a power outage. The file is 6670 kB so is larger than the free online 5 MB limit.
I don’t mind paying for repair, but who?
I don’t want to pay a regular monthly fee for the repair software – this is a one-off job only.

This is what the corrupted file looks like – all the words and spacing are still in their correct place but almost all the individual letters have been lost.

Did you make the file? If so, remake it from the pre-pdf version.

Did you get the file from the internet? If so, download it again.

This file was written by an author friend of mine. Unfortunately, he wrote it directly into pdf.
The pre-crash backup file was only 22 pages long, so the remaining 55 pages are irrevocably lost unless the file can be recovered.

mollwollfumble said:

Michael V said:

mollwollfumble said:

Sorry for off-science topic.

I have a 77 page pdf file that got corrupted by a power outage. The file is 6670 kB so is larger than the free online 5 MB limit.
I don’t mind paying for repair, but who?
I don’t want to pay a regular monthly fee for the repair software – this is a one-off job only.

This is what the corrupted file looks like – all the words and spacing are still in their correct place but almost all the individual letters have been lost.

Did you make the file? If so, remake it from the pre-pdf version.

Did you get the file from the internet? If so, download it again.

This file was written by an author friend of mine. Unfortunately, he wrote it directly into pdf.
The pre-crash backup file was only 22 pages long, so the remaining 55 pages are irrevocably lost unless the file can be recovered.

Did he do it on your computer or his own?

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Michael V said:

Did you make the file? If so, remake it from the pre-pdf version.

Did you get the file from the internet? If so, download it again.

This file was written by an author friend of mine. Unfortunately, he wrote it directly into pdf.
The pre-crash backup file was only 22 pages long, so the remaining 55 pages are irrevocably lost unless the file can be recovered.

Did he do it on your computer or his own?

His. He still has handwritten notes and asked me to type the whole 55 pages in again from the handwritten notes, but if some geek or hacker could get at least a significant part of the file repaired then that would be a huge help.

Are you able to wind back the pc to an earlier time ?

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

This file was written by an author friend of mine. Unfortunately, he wrote it directly into pdf.
The pre-crash backup file was only 22 pages long, so the remaining 55 pages are irrevocably lost unless the file can be recovered.

Did he do it on your computer or his own?

His. He still has handwritten notes and asked me to type the whole 55 pages in again from the handwritten notes, but if some geek or hacker could get at least a significant part of the file repaired then that would be a huge help.

He should still have the original pdf.

There are a number of PDF repair tools on the web.

Such as this one

https://www.kofax.com/eg/power-pdf/using-a-pdf-editor-to-repair-a-corrupted-pdf-file-after-recovery

When the current PDF file is corrupt, you can restore the previous version by right-clicking on the PDF file, clicking Properties, and then Previous Versions to find the one you need. Finally, push the Restore button to open the file. Use an online PDF repair tool.

roughbarked said:

He should still have the original pdf.

The damaged file is the original pdf.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

He should still have the original pdf.

The damaged file is the original pdf.

It can likely still be repaired though.
Have you tried any of the suggestions?

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

He should still have the original pdf.

The damaged file is the original pdf.

It can likely still be repaired though.
Have you tried any of the suggestions?

Well, since there haven’t been any suggestions, that’s a bit difficult.

I’ll phone up a data recovery place tomorrow and ask if they can have a go at fixing it. Data recovery is very expensive, deliberately so, but I don’t want to muck about with unfamiliar software as a rank amateur, I’m likely to do more harm than good.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

The damaged file is the original pdf.

It can likely still be repaired though.
Have you tried any of the suggestions?

Well, since there haven’t been any suggestions, that’s a bit difficult.

I’ll phone up a data recovery place tomorrow and ask if they can have a go at fixing it. Data recovery is very expensive, deliberately so, but I don’t want to muck about with unfamiliar software as a rank amateur, I’m likely to do more harm than good.

So you didn’t read the suggestions?

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

The damaged file is the original pdf.

It can likely still be repaired though.
Have you tried any of the suggestions?

Well, since there haven’t been any suggestions, that’s a bit difficult.

I’ll phone up a data recovery place tomorrow and ask if they can have a go at fixing it. Data recovery is very expensive, deliberately so, but I don’t want to muck about with unfamiliar software as a rank amateur, I’m likely to do more harm than good.

Were there no copies/backup?

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

He should still have the original pdf.

The damaged file is the original pdf.

There should still be a copy of the file on his computer. It’s not like sending a letter in the mail.

Divine Angel said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

He should still have the original pdf.

The damaged file is the original pdf.

There should still be a copy of the file on his computer. It’s not like sending a letter in the mail.

This.