5 Applications to Repair Damaged/Corrupt Files in Windows

 If you have corrupted files in Windows, perhaps an application to repair corrupted files can bring them back to life. Does the error message look like this:

* The file is corrupt and cannot be opened.

* The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

* There was an error opening this document. The file isdamaged.

A computer file is just a collection of data, organized in such a way that programs can open and read it. If part of the data file is disorganized or missing, then it becomes unreadable, in other words damaged or corrupted.

Corrupt can occur in several ways. Maybe the file was generated by buggy software that wrote the file incorrectly. Sometimes a program needs to keep files open during use, and if the program crashes, the files can get jumbled up. Viruses can also damage files.

Unfortunately, repairing damaged or corrupted files is difficult. The chance of success depends on how flexible the file format is, how much data is lost or messed up, and how smart the recovery software is. Have a damaged or corrupt file? Here are some applications for repairing damaged / corrupt files that you should try.

1. Repair Toolbox

Repair Toolbox

Repair Toolbox is not a single application but a selection of 22 single-purpose utilities, with each designed to repair different file types. It's a double edged sword, it's inconvenient if you want to install all the repair apps, it looks convenient if you only need one or two apps.

All utilities operate in the same basic way, you point the application to the corrupted file, provide a name for the repaired file, and click Fix. Supported formats include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, PDF, ZIP, RAR, Illustrator, Photoshop and many more.

Unfortunately, Repair Toolbox is not completely free, the demo versions of each utility have some limitations. For example, a PDF utility demo only saves the first page of a document, while a ZIP utility demo only shows if it can be repaired and doesn't actually save.

2. Hetman File Repair

Hetman File Repair

Despite its name, Hetman File Repair is not a general file repair application, it focuses specifically on repairing damaged image files. Note that this is not the same as retrieving deleted photos or recovering photos from a damaged device. If you have an image file that won't open, that's when you use this app.

Hetman File Repair can repair corrupted JPEGs (without compromising image quality or EXIF data), TIFF (compressed and uncompressed varieties), and BMP and PNG (without recompressing image data). It even has a nifty Wizard that walks you through the steps, making it easy enough for anyone to use.

While you can scan files for free, Hetman File Repair requires a license to actually repair and save images. The Home edition costs $60 for personal use and the Office edition costs $140 for business use.

3.Digital Video Repair

Digital Video Repair

Digital Video Repair is a free application that can repair corrupted MP4 , MOV and AVI videos as long as they are encoded in Xvid, DivX, MPEG4, 3ivx or Angel Potion. However, it comes with a bundleware for the online market research community called RelevantKnowledge. This is a trustworthy organization, so don't worry about malicious software, the admin is just warning you not to let your guard down.

Something to keep in mind when using Digital Video Repair is that if a video file is missing frames, the application can't magically generate those frames. Instead, it "fixes" the file in such a way that it won't be wobbly, glitchy, or cause your video player to lock up. It also allows you to search through videos, which is often impossible to do in the event of a crash.

4. Stellar Microsoft Office Repair Toolkit

Stellar Microsoft Office Repair Toolkit

Stellar Microsoft Office Repair Toolkit is a collection of three utilities each specializing in repairing different file types, namely Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. For office workers, this is the best app to deal with corrupted files.

When you run the application, you can scan your entire system for corrupted and corrupted files or specify a specific file that you want to repair. In particular, Stellar File Repair Toolkit can repair corrupted files even if they are password protected.

Unfortunately, it's a business utility sold at a premium. Although you can download it for free, you can only scan and preview the corrupted files. To really unlock the repair functionality, this app is priced at $69.

5. System File Checker

What do you do if there is damage to system level files? While this isn't as common now as it was a decade ago, it can still happen, and if it is, your best option is to use the utility included with Windows itself namely System File Checker.

Fortunately, System File Checker is very easy to run. Launch Command Prompt with admin privileges by pressing Win + X keys, then selecting Command Prompt (Admin) in the menu, then typing the following command:

sfc /scannow

That's all you have to do. It may take 15 to 60 minutes for a full scan to run depending on your computer's hardware, so be patient and let it do its thing.

System File Checker is just one of several essential commands that every Windows user should know.

Conclusion

So those are some apps to repair corrupted files. Keep in mind this app can only fix minor problems. If entire chunks of data are missing from a file, there is no way for the application to know how to fill in the gaps. And don't be fooled into thinking that a more expensive app will solve more problems! Price has nothing to do with it.

If the admin has a file that is damaged or corrupted, the admin considers it dead. If a repair app could bring it back to life then that would be a great bonus, but I never expected it to happen. More often than not, it won't happen.