Help to convert a .pmd file

[dzhani_7648]

Hi all!

I am trying to restore a file from an old floppy via an external floppy drive. With a lot of workarounds, i extract something with the help of HxD, Winimage, and more, but I am not sure that the file is not corrupted.

Can someone who can open these kinds of files check if I am on the right track?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tSXm3xXzN6Mi_SLEk5haVueiJEJ0rrHX/view?usp=sharing

Thanks in advance

[BobLevine]

You'd need InDesign CS6 or earlier to open it in InDesign. Hopefully someone will be along to help you with it.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

This file is only 7kb in size! I don't think it can contain any useful layout data.

Old  versions of Indy — like CS3/4 — can open PageMaker 6.0-7.0.
I tried, but it can't open it and throws an error.

[dzhani_7648]

Thank you for your attempt. 

I am trying to select the correct part of the binary using HxD to make the file partially functional. Maybe you are right that 7 KB makes no sense. I will give it one more shot tomorrow and post a new link if you can retest it.

[BobLevine]

7KB? No, that file is garbage. There is absolutely no way to recover anything from it.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Yah, there's nothing in this file. There's no code in this, header, fragment or otherwise, that is in any sense something I would see in an actual Pagemaker file. Even the simplest of files would be at least 40-100KB.

See if you can find someone with an old PC tower (I am assuming the file was done on Windows as you wouldn't be able to read a Mac-formatted floppy anyway). Maybe they can see the entire file. 

DM me. I have PageMaker running so I can test-open it.

[dzhani_7648]

I tried again to select the proper raw data. Could you please give it a shot? 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cn5PJRwyEUSJFdjeZ2Cq6sRoOG3_dYZp/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111257712...

[Kasyan Servetsky]

No joy!

The PageMaker document is damaged and cannot be recovered.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Yep, same here. It looked promising as the header of the file was definitely PageMaker, but the data after that was all garbled, Are you not able to just copy the file from the floppy onto your computer instead of using tools to recover raw data?  I think your attempt to retrieve data that way is getting sevral files mixed together, as would be the case on any disk. Is the disk PC-formatted?

[dzhani_7648]

Firstly i try to just copy/paste but the file is corrupted,after that i try to  extract it with WinImage again the same issue.

The only tool that give some green light is HxD(because i see the raw data of the file )  but maybe i am unable to select the correct bytes.

So as not to bother you do you have some suggestions or tools that i can download and test it on my side(maybe some paid solutions?)

I am doing a favor for a friend but i love challenges and i will try to finish it if its possible,.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Ah, I understand now. Unfortunately, if you couldn't just copy the file, then it's probably beyond help. Due to the nature of how files are saved on disks, the data for the .pmd file can be spread out in different sectors across the disk and interleaved with fragments of other files, which is kinda what I see in the hex code of the last file you sent me.

I only suggested trying different machines as maybe another PC might read the file better. I don't deal with PCs generally so I cannot suggest any better tool for you in this regard.