How to recover Compressed Musescore File

• Oct 12, 2018 - 17:04

My labtop suddenly shut down due to low battery power while I am writing a piece for piano solo. When I recharged it, I am not able to recover the score. An error message appear when I click on the file name: "Cannot read file C:/Users/User/Documents/MuseScore2/Scores/file name.mscz:"

Any form of help to retrieve this file is appreciated!

Many thanks and have a good day!

Yee

Comments

• Oct 12, 2018 - 23:42

Thanks for the two replies received. I tried the tips in the links but still cannot get the score back. Any other ideas please? Or is there a local Musescore advisor I can ask for help for score recovery please?
Really appreaciate any help. I am writing this piano solo as part of a 12 - 15 minutes audition work for a music composition course. Hope someone has some more ideas.
Thank you so much!
Have a good day!

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• Oct 12, 2018 - 23:54

MuseScore automatically makes the file that starts with a . and ends with a , when you open a score. On Mac and Windows MuseScore makes it invisible and from what I understand Linux type systems automatically make them invisible due to the starting . but the Linux info is based upon my faulty memory. MuseScore does not do anything to this file until you open a score with the same name in the same directory. It has to be there unless you deleted it. If you tell us your operating system, someone familiar with your system might be able to help more.

Edit: The only other time the file won't be there is if you have never opened the score after it was created, then no backup was created but autosave files are created unless you turned that off also.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 15:08

Jojo is correct, occasionally someone can fix a damaged file, attach it here to see what happens. (Edit: attach the corrupt file that does not have the , at the end of the extension, we can't download those).

If this doesn't work, you need to show invisible files in your file manager to be able to see the backup files. In the View menu, make sure "Hidden items" is checked. This must be done to be able to see hidden files. If you find the file, click it twice, a little slow to put it into edit mode. While in edit mode, delete the starting . and trailing , and press enter to accept the change. Windows will warn you that you are changing the file extension, click the button that tells windows you want this change (I forget what the button says but you do want this change). If this results in a duplicate file, then you will want to change the name of the damaged file, move it to another folder or delete it if you're sure it can't be fixed.

I also save my work regularly so my work is less likely to be lost due to a program crash. I'm curious if you have auto save turned on. If you do, then there may be an auto save file that is more current than your backup file. The links above explain auto save files. The backup is created only when you open the score, it is not updated when you save your score so you will lose all of your work from your last session, but at least you will have everything from previous sessions.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 15:55

The howto doesn't explain how to look for hidden files since it varies from version to version in windows and probably the other operating systems also. Windows File Explorer in version 10 looks quite different than it did in version 7. There's a not unreasonable assumption that MuseScore users know how to use their own computer's operating system in the howto.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 15:57

I found my corrupted file name begin with . and end with ,
but when I double click it, it asks me what software I need to use to open it. I selected Musescore and the following message appears:
"Cannot read file C:\Users\User\Documents\MuseScore2\Scores.file name.mscz,:
unknown type"

what does the above message means and is there alternative route I can open and fix this file ?
I hope it will not be lost forever as I spent a lot of time writing the piece and is sad is gone. cheer!

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 16:05

I found and manage to opened the corrupted file after deleting . and trailing , from the filename.

But a lot of the later composition sections (probably a bout 30 bars) that I wrote in were gone. Is there a way to recover these sections to the point just before the cut-off takes place? I believe I saved these sections a minute or two just before the power cut off.

Thanks !!

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 16:28

As I said before, the recovered file only has what was in the file the last time you opened it. Saving does not help with this. If you have auto save files it is possible to find more of the score. the SCxxxx.mscz files mentioned in the howto are the auto back up files. The xxxx in the file names are what look like random numbers and letters. You can double click these files and they will open in MuseScore.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 18:54

Auto-saved files are automatically deleted if there is a successfu l close of the file, perhaps also if MuseScore offers on next startup to restore your previous session but you say "no". Anyhow, if they aren't there, they aren't there, better to focus on the other methods mentioned. My favorite thing to try if I need to recover a previous version of a file for whatever reason is OneDrive.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 18:37

Hi Jm6stringer,
Thanks for your concern and advice.
Maybe if you tell me how to fix it I can be more than happy to do that myself? I am worrying about copyright. On the other hand I appreciate your help as it is a piece I intend for submission for composition course at Uni.
Thanks!
regards
Yee

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 18:47

That's cool! It is a compressed file currently. How do I unzipped it and opened in text editor for repair purposes please?
Maybe I should take it to my local IT / computer store?
I was following your instruction in the Programme File (x86) but in that directory, what files would you like me to look at because there quite a lot in the 'bin' folder.
Thanks!

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 19:07

Maybe I should take it to my local IT / computer store?

Well, earlier you wrote:
My labtop suddenly shut down... while I am writing a piece for piano solo.
and:
I found and manage to opened the corrupted file after deleting . and trailing , from the filename.
But a lot of the later composition sections (probably about 30 bars) that I wrote in were gone.

As your score is for a single instrument (piano), it seems hardly worth a trip to a local IT/computer store.
I think you need to write the 30 bars again. :-(

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 19:12

Hi,
I converted to .zip file from .mszc but when I try extracting the file, a message come up to say the folder is empty. Any idea how it happens as this file clearly existed.
I have problem remembering what I wrote exactly in that 30 bars as I probably can write out fragments of it here and there. The original one is best I believe !
I will search for a music IT expert for help worst come to worst.
Thanks for all your help!

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 19:40

If the size of the zip (.mscz) file is very small like under about 10-20kb, it is probably an empty zip file and you cannot recover the score so you will have to reenter the missing measures.

In the future, if you have a power failure or crash make sure to tell musescore "yes" when it asks if you want to continue the previous session. Telling it no, as Marc said, causes the automatic backup files to become blank or be deleted.

By the way, the howto is located at https://musescore.org/en/node/52116 which is one of the places you have already looked I think. howto means, "This is how to..." and is only found on computer help sites like this.

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 23:50

My current file size is about 35k. I discovered another software to fix invalid zip file such as what happened to mine. Will try to download it and see if it works. If not I will goto a music software shop to recover the missing sections.
I cannot really remember exactly what I wrote there … will be a waste as such beautiful melodies and harmonies go to waste...

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 23:53

Previously Musescore did ask me to restore to previous session when power failure. But when the power shut down unexpectedly this time, this question did not come up and I have no option to say 'Yes'. So I just click on the filename and hope it will open up and what I got is the "Error" message I mentioned in the first blog. But I really appreciate your help to at least recover 2/3 of my work. I just hope my original missing sections will turn up / fixed. Thanks!

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• Oct 13, 2018 - 23:59

I always start MuseScore using my shortcut rather than double clicking a score. It sounds like you start MuseScore by double clicking the score. If you do, I'm curious if it doesn't give you the chance to continue the last session when it suddenly stops and you open it that way. I have nothing to do with MuseScore except I use it like you do, so there is still much I don't know.

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