Both files are more than half-filled with zeroes and are not recoverable.
Hey @DaveR could you please help me? Im having the same problem in a project that i made in may, and didnt opened till today.
NATSUMI 070524.skp (1.6 MB)
Where were you saving the file? Did it get deleted and did you use some file recovery application to try to recover it? The file you shared is not a SketchUp file. It doesn’t even have the SketchUp header. Did you try renaming the .skb backup file to .skp and then try opening it?
Don’t double post.
also can’t open it, but it’s not filled with zero. Colin might be able to salvage stuff.
@colin can u help?
sorry, forgot to ping 
if he is in the US, it’s night right now.
don’t wait. start from whatever previous step you have a skb file, or a previous version.
worst case, you’ll have a headstart if nothing’s recoverable.
This file is not a SketchUp model file. It’s missing the header that tells what version of SketchUp it was made in and it’s missing a chunk of data at the end.
Where were you saving the file while working on it? Are you using a cr acked version of SketchUp?
Do you have the .skb backup file?
IT’s also missing a large chunk of data at the end.
What about the answers to my questions?
Hi. Having a similar problem. Use mainly 2024 pro but have 23 also on windows 10. Saw at least 2 files that were fixed by @colin (holgate) and reposted. Fingerscrossed I can get this work back.
New here so not sure if ive uploaded correctly or how to get notification. email hello@cultivateatx.com Thanks!
helfrich sunroom.skp (508.2 KB)
Your file contains nothing but zeroes. There’s absolutely nothing to recover in it.
Have you tried renaiming the .skb file to .skp and opening it? Where were you saving the file as you were working on it. Since you are using SketchUp 2024 you must have a current subscription license, right? Were you also saving a backup copy of your model to your Trimble Connect storage?
Hey, Dave, I have seen you resolving this issue in various other posts over time. The truth is I am facing a similar issue, I have checked the Hex file, and its not just zeros, can you help me out. Heres the link to the file
That file is clearly not a SketchUp file even though it is not full of zeroes. It is missing the header that SketchUp puts in every file and the contents do not have the structure expected in a SketchUp file. Did you perhaps accidentally erase the file and try to get it back using a recovery utility? Those seldom work on binary files such as SketchUp.
Yes, is there any way to recover it at this point ?
No. For all intents it is now random garbage.
Can you recommend any recovery software which gets back .skp files better ?
Sorry, no.
Files are stored on disk as collections of segments. Deleting a file returns those disk segments to the list of ones available for use, losing the connections that used to string them together as a file. A recovery app must search among all those free segments and try to reconstruct the original file’s sequence. In some cases, such as text files, the recovery app can guess what follows what based on how the words fit together. But for binary files, such as skp, it is effectively impossible to guess reliably. The apps then fall back on guesses based on typical patterns in which an OS grabs space for a file (e.g. sequential spaces on the disk). But that’s a crapshoot that only works when you get very lucky.
Steve has you sorted I guess. Not the way you want but …
Going forward, make sure that in addition to saving your SketchUp files locally, you are also backing them up with your Trimble Connect storage. It’s included in the price of your subscription so you might as well be using it. Every time you save your model to Trimble Connect it’s an incremental save so you can go back to an earlier version if needed.
Is there an automated way to save every new SketchUp file to Trimble Connect?
Or for each file and revision do you need to manually save it?
