Recovering excel file

During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file with
another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am really in a
panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover my
file. HELP!

Thanks,
Margaret

MDJ wrote...
>During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file
with
>another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am
really in a
>panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover
my
>file. HELP!

You have two alternative, neither particularly attractive.

1. Look for any backups. If the file were stored on a network drive,
there may be a tape backup from which you can restore the file. If the
file were stored on your own PC's harddisk and you're normally
connected to a network, there's an outside chance your local files are
also backed up automatically.

2. Shut down the machine on which the overwritten file is stored, and
find an data recovery firm to see if they can locate and recover your
file from file blocks that would have been freed when you overwrote the
file. This will be both time and cost intensive, but if the file is
worth several thousand dollars of lost time to reproduce, several
hundred dollars to recover would be expedient. If you decide on this
approach, DO NOT WASTE TIME DOING ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR PC. THE LONGER
YOU USE IT/WAIT TO SHUT DOWN, THE GREATER THE CHANCE YOU WON'T BE ABLE
TO RECOVER THE FILE.

MDJ wrote...
>During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file
with
>another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am
really in a
>panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover
my
>file. HELP!

You have two alternatives, neither particularly attractive.

1. Look for any backups. If the file were stored on a network drive,
there may be a tape backup from which you can restore the file. If the
file were stored on your own PC's harddisk and you're normally
connected to a network, there's an outside chance your local files are
also backed up automatically.

2. Shut down the machine on which the overwritten file is stored, and
find an data recovery firm to see if they can locate and recover your
file from file blocks that would have been freed when you overwrote the
file. This will be both time and cost intensive, but if the file is
worth several thousand dollars of lost time to reproduce, several
hundred dollars to recover would be expedient. If you decide on this
approach, DO NOT WASTE TIME DOING ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR PC. THE LONGER
YOU USE IT/WAIT TO SHUT DOWN, THE GREATER THE CHANCE YOU WON'T BE ABLE
TO RECOVER THE FILE.

Margaret

First, if "very important" why no recent backup??

Move out of panic mode and into job search mode.

If you have saved with the same filename, the original is gone.

There are are third-party file recovery services out there which are pricey.

If you want to go that route, STOP using your computer immediately to enhance
your oppotunity of finding the file data before those clusters get overwritten

Maybe your IT dept makes a LAN wide backup each day?

See your IT person.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 12:05:04 -0800, MDJ <[email protected]> wrote:

>During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file with
>another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am really in a
>panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover my
>file. HELP!
>
>Thanks,
>Margaret

As per Harlan and Gord's notes, this is NOT something you can recover from
yourself - Call IT and do it now. Do NOT open any other files on this
machine, and make that call.

--
Regards
Ken....................... Microsoft MVP - Excel
Sys Spec - Win XP Pro / XL 97/00/02/03

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission :-)
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"MDJ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file
with
> another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am really in
a
> panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover my
> file. HELP!
>
> Thanks,
> Margaret

Any chance you emailed it someone else--check your Sentbox or ask for a copy
back.



MDJ wrote:
>
> During the saving process I replaced a very important spreadsheet file with
> another one. Now I can't access the original spreadsheet. I am really in a
> panick! I have excel 2003 and I would like to know how I can recover my
> file. HELP!
>
> Thanks,
> Margaret

--

Dave Peterson