Help me repair a cwk file!
January 10, 2012 3:54 AM Subscribe
Help me repair a cwk file! It's a database that we edit using Appleworks 6. When we try to open it we get an I/O error. It's got loads of very important info in it! Help!
Response by poster: Thanks for the response! Sadly, it doesn't look like you can get StarOffice in the Google Pack anymore. I'd rather not spend £70 on software if I'm not certain of it working...
posted by Cantdosleepy at 4:37 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by Cantdosleepy at 4:37 AM on January 10, 2012
An I/O Error may mean an error on the disk itself, have you tried copying the file to another drive? It's probably not a problem with Appleworks itself, if you've used it previously without issue...
posted by beerbajay at 4:52 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by beerbajay at 4:52 AM on January 10, 2012
Response by poster: I've copied it to an external disk and I still get the error.
I've checked the file size and that's correct.
Opening other files with Appleworks works correctly.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 5:06 AM on January 10, 2012
I've checked the file size and that's correct.
Opening other files with Appleworks works correctly.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 5:06 AM on January 10, 2012
Can you download a demo of Office or iWork and try to open your file with those apps?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:42 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:42 AM on January 10, 2012
I assume you've followed the suggestions from Apple. Good luck.
posted by blob at 5:52 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by blob at 5:52 AM on January 10, 2012
You might also try to track down a copy of DataViz MacLink Plus. They don't make it any longer, but you might be able to find an old copy online.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:58 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:58 AM on January 10, 2012
Response by poster: I've just tried to insert it into a new document, blob, and no luck.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:19 AM on January 10, 2012
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:19 AM on January 10, 2012
It looks like you are going to be out of luck cantdosleepy. There's no support anywhere for opening these files that I could find: a few attempts at the text format dotted around here and there, but none whatsoever for the database.
Do have access to a Mac with a copy of iWork? That might open it, but if it is really corrupt you're going to be stuck.
If the data you need is text based, you might be able to get it out of the file by opening the file in a proper text editor and searching for text fragments, but that won't help you fix the file. Unless you've got backups then you're going to have to reconstruct the data by hand from the corrupt file & any other sources you have.
posted by pharm at 6:46 AM on January 10, 2012
Do have access to a Mac with a copy of iWork? That might open it, but if it is really corrupt you're going to be stuck.
If the data you need is text based, you might be able to get it out of the file by opening the file in a proper text editor and searching for text fragments, but that won't help you fix the file. Unless you've got backups then you're going to have to reconstruct the data by hand from the corrupt file & any other sources you have.
posted by pharm at 6:46 AM on January 10, 2012
Old information but potentially useful: AppleWorks Document Recovery
The article above mentions programs that may be able to open a cwk file. I'd try opening it on another machine running Appleworks, opening with open office, emailing it to someone with MS Office, trying to open with google docs...
posted by countrymod at 7:07 AM on January 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
The article above mentions programs that may be able to open a cwk file. I'd try opening it on another machine running Appleworks, opening with open office, emailing it to someone with MS Office, trying to open with google docs...
posted by countrymod at 7:07 AM on January 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
I have MacLink Plus installed. I could try converting it to something else. I also have AppleWorks installed, so if it were successful maybe I could convert it back. MeMail me if you are interested.
posted by BryanPayne at 3:56 PM on January 10, 2012
posted by BryanPayne at 3:56 PM on January 10, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
(First check the size of the .cwk file looks sensible and compare the size to your backups)
posted by devnull at 4:09 AM on January 10, 2012