Q: I have recovered a file, but I cannot open it?

In some cases, files recovered by using Linux File Recovery cannot be opened properly. Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, and Power Point) files and large files such as MPEG files often run into this problem. Please consider the following points:

Damaged Files

After a file is deleted, it could be damaged by another file, overwriting, disk defragmentation, virus attack, or hacking activity. (Microsoft Office files are especially susceptible)

Fragmented File

Some large files are saved in discrete locations because they cannot be allocated in contiguous Hard Disk space. When one of these files is deleted, recovery can be very difficult. Even though the file's start location is available, the location information of other fragments is usually lost.