Recommendations for 'No Install' CD recovery software for a thumb drive?

October 17, 2007 10:57 AM

Recommendations for 'No Install' CD recovery software for a thumb drive?

I need to recover what I can of a .doc file from a damaged cd. Here at work I'm prohibited from installing software to the company computer. Can anyone recommend a (preferably) freeware utility I can run from my personal thumb drive to accomplish the task?

posted by whatisish to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I've never had the opportunity to use it, but I have CD Recovery Toolbox on my usb drive for just such an occasion.

http://www.oemailrecovery.com/cd_recovery.html

Unstoppable copier is another program I've not had the chance to try, but heard good things about.

http://www.roadkil.net/
posted by Crossbar at 11:42 AM on October 17, 2007

Just use a portable version of OpenOffice. You can carry it in on a flash drive.

Then, do the following:

1. Make a copy of your corrupt file in case this doesn't work or makes the problem worse.
2. Open OO.o's Word equivalent (I forget what it's called), and then browse to your doc from the file menu.
3. Open up the file. Did it open? If yes, re-save it with OO.o, and then try opening it with Word.

Should work. I worked in a university PC lab. I used to recover corrupt docs, ppts, and xls's this way.
posted by SlyBevel at 5:43 PM on October 18, 2007

Oh yeah, it's called Writer. Right?
posted by SlyBevel at 5:44 PM on October 18, 2007