The Symptoms of File Damage

The symptoms of a missing file are pretty obvious (you won’t be able to find it), but the symptoms of file corruption can run the gamut. Some of the symptoms of file corruption include

• A file that won’t open when you click it; the operation either puts you at an hourglass or does absolutely nothing.

• You see the file you want to open in a folder list but when you try to open it, you’re told the system cannot find the file or it’s not a valid file.

• A file opens with a wide range of error messages, not all of which indicate corruption.

• A file opens to display what appears to be garbage characters as if you opened the file using the wrong program

• As the file is opening, a low memory warning appears, or you’re told you cannot open the file because you have too little available memory.

• Windows prompts you to tell it what program to load this file with, when the file is of a type already associated with and recognized by that program (such as .doc files in word processors).

• Your application exits spontaneously every time you try to open a specific file or group of files.

• Your application, previously open and working fine, displays odd behavior each time you open a particular file.

• You have problems saving other files from an application that are open at the same time as a corrupted file.

• Closing a suspect file seems to improve the performance of the application.