dta file corrupt...HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shane Wu]

I cannot open my dta file and I DID open it successfully yesterday! The information shows below:

.dta file corrupt
The file does not record <varnames> where expected. Either the file was written incorrectly in the first place or the
file has become corrupted.
r(612);

Nick Cox once answered the same question in 2014 and suggested "this kind of problem is best sent to tech support". How can I get reach to STATA "tech support"??
The data is still in my computer and the size of it is as before.
This data is very much important. Any help is precious! Thank You!!

[Clyde Schechter]

Before contacting Tech Support, I recommend you try a couple of simple things. They may not work, but if they do, you'll save yourself some time and trouble:

1. Verify that you have the latest update of Stata. Run -update query- and if instructed that an update is available, get it and try again.

2. Close Stata, re-launch and try to open the file again.

3. Shut down your computer, re-boot (cold re-boot), launch Stata and try again.

If none of that works, see https://www.stata.com/support/tech-support/contact/ for instructions on how to contact Tech Support about your problem. Be sure you follow the instructions there carefully and completely: if you leave things out you will just waste your time and theirs as they will have to get back to you to ask you to fill in whatever you omit.

Added: One additional thought. Are you using the current version (15.0) of Stata? If you are using an older version of Stata, you may have been caught in the following trap: you used this file before without difficulty because it was originally created by your version of Stata (or perhaps an earlier one). Since the last time you used it, somebody else using a more recent Stata than yours -save-d the file. The file is now in a format that is beyond your version of Stata's capabilities.

[Shane Wu]

Thank you, Clyde! Very much helpful!!

[Richard Williams]

Very good suggestions from Clyde. I'll just add that the first thing I would do is make a copy of the file. Otherwise you might do something that makes things even worse.

[Oded Mcdossi]

I'll just add that if your file saved on a cloud you might try to restore an earlier version of it.

[Nick Cox]

Long shots here but try

1. Just typing the file to check for a silly mistake, e.g. It's not a .dta file in anything but name

2. Using -hexdump- to see if that offers clues

3. Opening a file in a good text editor, ditto