Fix corrupted txt file (NULL)
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@Scott Sumner
Just today I found out that Dropbox (even the free account of it) saves versions of files, so it kind of acts like a version control system (e.g. SVN), but you don’t have to do manual commits - any time you save the file, Dropbox stores another version of the file. I suppose on the backend they have some SVN-like implementation of this functionality (saving only the changes), but to the user it just looks like separate, chronologically listed versions of the file. Even if Dropbox doesn’t keep the versions for long, or has a limit on the combined size of all the versions, it’s still an excellent defense vs these sudden power outages or blue screens. Because after the computer restart one surely will still have the few copies just before the outage in Dropbox (plus the last NULL-filled copy).
So, yeah, setting Dropbox to start together with Windows is important then.
And btw one doesn’t even have to keep all the important files in the Dropbox folder. Instead, one can create a “junction” for the most important files or folders (https://www.dropboxwiki.com/tips-and-tricks/sync-other-folders).
Lesson learnt :) -
Oh my, just found out that setting “Verbose backup” in Notepad++ now creates a folder named “nppBackup” at the same place as the txt file and saves the backups there each time you save. If you don’t want to clog your folders with all these multiple nppBackup subfolders, you can set a custom path where all the backups of all edited files will be saved, e.g. some folder inside Dropbox.
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It seems that when data is apparently replaced by null characters information is not actually lost. I searched on the web and I found that using a file recovery application (Recuva) one can still obtain the original file without any loss of information (I tried this myself). This is very strange, as it’s not clear where this information come from if the “null” characters are really “null”…
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@Claudia-Frank @pnedev
See https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/PowerEditor/src/CMakeLists.txt and https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/tree/master/PowerEditor/gcc
for cross compilation. Open PRs needed:
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/pull/4320
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/pull/3918
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/pull/4145 -
thank you but since installing VS2017 in my VM it is good enough.
It does take <1 minute to do a full clean compile of npp, scintilla and python script plugin
and ~15-20 seconds for code changes to test.Cheers
Claudia -
Hi All,
In my case, file size is showing 7kb and unable to find that file in back up folder. When I open it shows Null in Notepad++, empty in Notepad.
I tried Recuva and restore the file, again context is not readable.
Restore previous version is also not available. I’m using Windows 10 64 bit OS
Please help me to recover fileThanks,
Mani -
I fixed a corrupted file using the deep scan feature of Recuva.
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for anyone still looking for this!
right click on the file -> properties -> previous versions, -> open, …
check contents before you hit restore.
saved 7 days of work!!! -
Anyone know if this has been fixed? I’m using an older version 7.3.3 64-bit version on Windows 10. Its always been solid. After my last two reboots the files I had been working on previously have turned into all null bytes. Not empty files - each character in the file is now null. Major PITA.
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@Joe-Dougherty said:
Anyone know if this has been fixed?
I have seen no evidence that any changes have been made to date in regard to preventing this from occurring. It happened to me when using 7.2.2.
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Had the same catastrophe today. System Crashed (windows 7). Npp ver. 6.9.
Text file contents coming as null.
Used the recuva technique and got everything back!!
Learnt about verbose backup and updating to the latest Npp version.
Thank you all.
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@Mark-Cage said:
…updating to the latest Npp version
Most people in your situation say something different…Like “I’m switching to Sublime / Atom”…
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@Scott-Sumner said:
Sublime / Atom
I love npp! There might some issues in the other text editors as well
Just enable verbose backup and i think i should be fine :)
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Just enable verbose backup and i think i should be fine
There are some people with the theory that that actually contributes to the NUL problem (i.e. they postulate that if backup was off it wouldn’t/couldn’t occur). I can attest that the one time the NUL problem happened to me, I did indeed have verbose backup turned on. I had a bunch of files that the v.b. creates (so I thought "No problem!), but they too were all filled with NUL, back to the time at which I had started the current Notepad++ run. I lost about 2 hours of work when I should have only lost about 2 seconds worth (I am old-school and am “all over” the Save key…constantly). YMMV. :-)
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That sucks! i hadn’t turned back up on before this happened . Also use the save key all the time. But the null error still occurred. Can only pray that it doesn’t happen again :)
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same thing just happened to me… v7.5.8
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Gotcha!!
Hopefully I can reproduce it under debugger.
Cheers
Claudia -
yeah but this is more corrupted because my txt file named Oofood instead of saying words… it came up with this: ¶¬®°~Z…yàãñöpý²Ã”¦ Vš¸:lŸ
ã"Œ7$2¥ ‰+s;¡*p“‘A\ìö© /2[ÐnUû“H–™øk´b|Ë*Y÷T¾t=¥t˜»¤RÞ~YP6*•°ÉÜü´ÄZ¤ï°³Ê}=ƒ0såÁ¨,©°¯Îß”1XŽÁb€(Þ}Y4ýµB™ yª
@¶e§‹Ê ©öà[_dy ‘rü±wD˜ŒíÝP ÉïCŸ;Q¬| it³JÔÈX5[7D ë¹ã!ä•0ynöWª@»C²É;]C„rÏ<õª—$5ûUôdx3×2`ö¦3õÆš&ÛgpÖÇ$³:Þ"ŠµÙ&¹ŠQâ‚zg¾ðõ^5öŽ(^³Eð«N\§DFNi†“»©˜.Ù/ã« &æ-”&ÚÏŠû²š¢ÔÿÐØ0\m;B–@8ÍÛv¶ïË‘®xJU ´ ôP
’Ð 6ÝÁ¤ªÀ½4;X¶y• kÕñ”ø¡ÇéVËè×_ýÔÇ9|E’Xújƒ /6O´ûv øEî\ê±s5T)%,T,Âa†L c£"ÇÕz ˆ ¯îêjøRÖÓ:òo›7ÆÓG myEU¶Xo‘Å«·øÈëJõ¾Äwå¦B<\©¶ÖÙâÎ,@´~_Nä&BkBc&AŽ…Zºc -
but this looks like the file content has been replaced with binary data - hard to believe that npp is responsible for that.
I assume that your issue must be caused by something else.Cheers
Claudia -
As @Claudia-Frank said, that’s binary data, not just NULLs. If that’s really happened to a file that was plain text, you’ve either edited it with some other editor which has encoded it, or the file has been encrypted. If you weren’t expecting the file to be encrypted, then there’s (unfortunately) a very high probability you’ve been infected with a virus, ransomware, or other malware. Please run a reputable scanner ASAP.
Since many forms of viruses, ransomware, and other malware make your data unrecoverable, I am hoping you have a separate backup of any essential data. But don’t try to access that backup until you know the computer you are on is clean – I’d hate for your backup to become infected as well.
