If you could not open a file or send it to the Recycle Bin, there is the possibility that it is corrupted. There are many things that can cause a file to be corrupted; it could be the result of software failure, a virus infection, or a system crash. If you have just downloaded the file and it will not open or run, it could be that it was corrupted during the download. If the data transfer rate is too slow during download, there is a great possibility that the file will be flawed and would not open. Defects in the file system of the hard disk  or in the disk itself can also cause files to be corrupted. Corrupt files can cause you headaches but the good thing is that the probability of saving or fixing a corrupted file is quite high.

Because there are many things that can cause files to become defective, there are also many ways that can lead to the solution of a corrupt file problem that you can. You can restore corrupt or lost files from recent backup. Numerous programs automatically produce back up files; one good example is Microsoft Word, a widely used word processing program. It automatically backs up .doc files with .wbk files. If you somehow find that your Word document file is corrupted, try looking for the file in the same folder that has the extension .wbk and change it to .doc. You will then be able to open it using MS Word.

You can also use the System Restore tool if the problem is caused by accidental disk format or bad installation. Windows XP allows for the rollback of system files to previous states when the system was working properly. If your system fails to work normally after installing or uninstalling a software or an update, you can simply rollback to previous working states of your system.

If you want to fix lost or corrupted top-level folders that contain different kinds of file types, it would be best to use HDD Regenerator or Partition Recovery. If you are not really sure about the kinds of files in the folder to be fixed, you can make use of FAT Recovery or NTFS Recovery. You can also use some file recovery tools like Recover My Files (for recovering lost data), DOC Regenerator for fixing or rescuing Microsoft Word documents, XLS Regenerator (for fixing Microsoft Excel files). For partially downloaded .AVI files you may use DivFix. If the file that needs to be fixed is .ASF file, you can use AsfBin and AsfBinGUI, a free but powerful command line utility that can cut, join, and repair fragments of .asf files. There are hundreds of software out there that can recover or fix different kinds of files. Just Google terms like “Fix broken files” or “fix corrupt files” or any term that you think can lead you to the right software.

If all else fails to fix or recover your file, you have no choice but to pay for the services of people who are expert in data recovery. But before you do it, be sure to try all the solutions mentioned above.