Corrupted CWP File forensics. (REWARD!)

Hello Cakewalkers.

I am offering $100 USD via PayPal for anyone that can help me salvage the MIDI info from a corrupted CWP file.


WHAT HAPPENED:

Long story short, I had a random problem with a damaged user profile in WinXP that wiped out the My Documents folder, where all my stuff is saved. I had backups of every important project except for this new one on which I spent 10-12 hours that day. I use auto-save with revisions, but since the whole folder was wiped out, I lost all the files. This DID NOT happen as the result of a SONAR crash or anything. I literally just restarted my computer and away my files went.

I searched high and low on my computer for my project. I was only able to find it with some data recovery software that is capable of recovering lost and deleted files. I managed to recover the whole project, but NONE of the 4 CWP versions will open in SONAR 8 PE. The audio file is strangely intact. In fact, all of the data I recovered from that deleted folder is intact except for these project files. Ridiculous. 

I have already tried opening the projects in safe mode and doing a system restore to try and roll back the My Documents folder. The only progress I've made in recovering the files are with the data recovery software. I suspect that the project isn't too corrupted, since everything else I recovered was perfectly fine.

The project consists of 1 audio track and one Superior Drummer track with a VERY carefully (and perfectly) crafted MIDI performance as well as a new personal best of a drum kit mix. 


WHAT I NEED:

I need to salvage the Superior Drummer settings and the drum track's MIDI information. A working CWP file would be great, but I don't necessarily NEED that; I just want to salvage the MIDI information. As long as I have the info for the Superior Drummer kit mix and the pitches, timecodes and velocities of all the MIDI events, I can rebuild the track manually.

If anyone knows a way to unpack and decode the info in a CWP file that would be outstanding. If anyone has any ideas on how to repair the file that would also be outstanding. If anyone can get the file working again that would be perfect.


WHAT YOU NEED:

Here are links to the 4 versions of the project file. I have SONAR 8 PE, maybe the file will open in some other version. Again, I have already tried opening in safe mode. I have also tried making copies of these are renaming the extensions to .WRK and .MID to no avail.

Original: http://www.daybreakdrive....t%20of%20my%20Life.cwp
Auto-save 1: http://www.daybreakdrive....t%20of%20my%20Life.cwp
Auto-save 2: http://www.daybreakdrive....010-07-17-22-57-52-046
Auto-save 3: http://www.daybreakdrive....010-07-17-21-14-15-296


Please don't lecture me about the importance of backups. I backup all my stuff regularly but this is a one-time, same-day fluke of an event. I suppose now I will start immediately backing up every time I hit the save button. It's apparently necessary. 


Thanks in advance!

Don't know if you can still do this but I remember back in the day it was possible to recover rewritten files via OS and disk utilities... apparently, the file doesn't write over the same space on the hard drive the the OS file management system just put a rename character on the file and if your system didn't use the same physical space (if you ever do a defrag - you were toast), you were able to recover the file (using the utility) by renaming it and viola... file back in business.

Research and see if this is still possible.

Jim

OT: What is the advantage to having a closed file format in this instance anyway. Gee it's not like another DAW can't be whipped up overnight with another format, and the power can't be in the format.

Cake: publish the darn thing so we can have repair tools if you're not going to give us some.

What is the advantage to having a closed file format in this instance anyway.

There is a big advantage, and it has nothing to do with trade secrets. An undocumented format means the CW devs have the freedom to change it at any time without worrying about breaking third-party tools or updating public documentation. As soon as you make something public, you're then obligated to support it and maintain backward compatibility. As long as the CWP file is a black box, they are free to add, modify or remove features as needed and only need to make sure that sonarpdr.exe knows how to read it.

Still, I think that opening up the format might spur third-party development, which would help the SONAR community. I'd love to see some reporting capabilities, for example. Imagine being able to get a spreadsheet of a project's routing map, or a list of all projects with session times and notes, or a popup utility you could invoke from the Tools menu that displays an enhanced routing diagram or a list of synths and what tracks they're on or a billable-time history or ...

Whether or not those benefits would justify the added work needed by CW staff - it could end up being one person's full-time job - is another matter.