When it comes to using computers, error messages tend to be a common occurring. From your typical file not found errors to blue screen of death, most computer users have learned to deal with common error messages that computer programs throw at them. However when it comes to zip files, some errors messages can really make your life miserable as you hardly expect them to come up in the first place.
Imagine you go to your favorite website and download a popular music file or software in form of a zip archive. It is quite possible that the file you have downloaded is being downloaded by countless other people and you know for sure that the file is perfectly in order. However the moment you try to extract the zip file you get the startling error message which proclaims “Cannot of open file abc: this is not a valid archive”. Quite expectedly you get all worked up because you know for sure, that the file which is being accessed by so many people cannot be invalid. Well its time you take a deep breath and understand the reason behind the strange error message.
Zip files can get corrupted while they are getting downloaded or transferred from one device to another. There is a possibility of an archive getting corrupted even during a standard Windows copy paste operation, especially when you move the file to a different storage media. Any interruption during the download or transfer process can lead to corruption of header files in the zip archive which can lead to the file not being recognized as a valid archive at the time of extraction.
Now that you have encountered the error message, you can try to opening the file using another zip application like 7-zip or WinRar. However if you still encounter the same error message it time you look for an alternate solution. In such a scenario the best way forward always involves getting another copy of zip file. However in case such an option is not possible immediately you can look to use a powerful zip repair tool to help you recover your valuable data.
Amongst the several zip recovery tools that are available in the market, the DataNumen Zip Repair is undoubtedly the most powerful application in vogue. It can fix zip files within seconds and get rid of strange error messages that you may encounter while trying to open a zip archive. Last but not the least the tool is a must have if you happen to run a business, as it offers batch zip repair mode for extracting data from multiple zip files in one go.
Author Introduction:
Alan Chen is President & Chairman of DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including zip repair and rar repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com .