u/driukk

I WILL PREFACE THIS TO SAY I AM FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!

I have a very sensitive excel doc that I work on exclusively on my usb configured to FAT 32 to switch between mac and pc use. (I know that is not the best use for it, just bear with me please for the solutions).

I worked on the file a bit on my Mac, saved the file, ejected it correctly using finder. A couple of hours later, I connected it to my Pc (running on windows 11 which I know I need to update). It opened up to the last version of my file (the previous one to my last update). I wondered what happened, ejected it and went to the Mac again. Now the computer doesnt even recognize the files in the usb, just shows up blank in Finder. Wondering what the hell. A quick search suggested that I use First aid in disk utility, did that, recovered access to all of my files EXCEPT FOR THE ONE I WAS WORKING ON.

Now when I try to open the file it says "cannot open due to file extension" or something like that and I cannot get it to open, even with a previous copy etc. I ejected, went to the PC again, same thing, cannot for the life of me open the file.

I already tried to use a file repair program Tenorhsare 4DDiG, tried opening it using Libre Office, which 1) didnt work and 2) opens a completely empty file.

I am seriously crashing right now. Its at least 5 months of solid data on there that I cannot at all redo, it would literally be impossible.

Please help!! My trusty computer repair person will come tomorrow to check on it, not sure if I should stop fucking around with it or try anything else. She has already let me know that it will likely be hard to recover because Macs have that issue when working directly from a usb and not a file saved to the computer

Update: My amazing partner managed to track down, recover and repair a temp file! Saved the day ✨ thank you for the help!!

I WILL PREFACE THIS TO SAY I AM FREAKING THE FUCK OUT. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!

I have a very sensitive excel doc that I work on exclusively on my usb configured to FAT 32 to switch between mac and pc use. (I know that is not the best use for it, just bear with me please for the solutions).

I worked on the file a bit on my Mac, saved the file, ejected it correctly using finder. A couple of hours later, I connected it to my Pc (running on windows 11 which I know I need to update). It opened up to the last version of my file (the previous one to my last update). I wondered what happened, ejected it and went to the Mac again. Now the computer doesnt even recognize the files in the usb, just shows up blank in Finder. Wondering what the hell. A quick search suggested that I use First aid in disk utility, did that, recovered access to all of my files EXCEPT FOR THE ONE I WAS WORKING ON.

Now when I try to open the file it says "cannot open due to file extension" or something like that and I cannot get it to open, even with a previous copy etc. I ejected, went to the PC again, same thing, cannot for the life of me open the file.

I already tried to use a file repair program Tenorhsare 4DDiG, tried opening it using Libre Office, which 1) didnt work and 2) opens a completely empty file.

I am seriously crashing right now. Its at least 5 months of solid data on there that I cannot at all redo, it would literally be impossible.

Please help!! My trusty computer repair person will come tomorrow to check on it, not sure if I should stop fucking around with it or try anything else. She has already let me know that it will likely be hard to recover because Macs have that issue when working directly from a usb and not a file saved to the computer.