Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 5
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Good evening,
My Windows 10 machine had to do a forced restart while I was in a Hero Lab portfolio for my Pathfinder game. When the machine came back up Hero LAb acted like it had never been activated and my portfolio will not open stating: "Error reading specified file. Please verify that the file exists and is a valid Hero Lab file." Is there a way to recover the data? It has my PC's for the game I have been running for two years... |
#1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,321
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Can you copy the portfolio to a new file? Portfolios are Zip files, so if you copy it with a .zip extension you should be able to look at the insides, or at least confirm that it's corrupted.
Currently Running: Pathfinder Second Edition Currently Playing: Pathfinder First Edition, Star Trek Adventures Former HL Games: D&D 4e & 5e, Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Savage Worlds |
#2 |
Senior Member
Volunteer Data File Contributor
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,502
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{nods} Worse comes to worse, you may be able to grab the HTML or XML output and re-enter everything.
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#3 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 5
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@charlieluce, Thank you for that tip! I copied the portfolio and appended the .zip extension to change the file type; however, when attempting to open it I receive the following error: "The Compressed (zipped) folder 'file name' is invalid."
@Duggan, Thank you for the advice. How would you recommend I go about doing that? |
#4 |
Senior Member
Volunteer Data File Contributor
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,502
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Oof... yeah, that sounds like a corrupted archive. My method requires you to be able to open the archive file up still.
There's some options at https://www.raymond.cc/blog/repair-d...d-zip-archive/ for fixing a corrupted archive. I'd advise following one of those to see what can be recovered. |
#5 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 5
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@Duggan,
None of them worked... damn... I am glad some of them had PDF print outs from not too long ago, but it still means a lot of reconstruction. Especially the NPC's I did not have in other portfolios... Ungh... Thank you for the information though. Would have been amazing if any of them resolved my situation, but still useful to know nonetheless. |
#6 |
Senior Member
Volunteer Data File Contributor
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,502
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One of the perils of compression is that a single scratch can wipe out a lot, unfortunately. Good luck with reconstructing things. *wry grin* And you may want to consider setting up backups.
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#7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 453
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Quote:
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#8 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 5
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@Duggan, methinks that shall be standard practice from now on as this is the second time this has happened to me, although it was a year or so apart and that was because Windows NEEDED to update suddenly and without warning.
@Toblakai, I do not mind sending the .por over to you that has the PCs in it that I am more concerned about if you do not mind taking a stab at it. |
#9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 453
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I took a look, the entirety of both files just consist of the Null character, there is unfortunately no data at all in either file.
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#10 |
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