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    SketchUp 2021 file corrupted via Google Drive sync — header intact, 3 small localized zero-byte blocks identified — need help repairing it...

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    • N Offline
      Naty Mureb Newcomers
      last edited by TIG

      Hi all,
      I have a corrupted .skp file from SketchUp 2021 and I've done some binary-level diagnostics myself. Hoping someone with knowledge of the internal SKP format can help patch it — I'm on a tight deadline.
      Symptoms:

      File triggers BugSplat immediately on File > Open in SketchUp 2021 Desktop
      File was stored in a Google Drive-synced folder (likely cause: sync process interrupted a write)
      No autosave (.skb) or Windows Previous Versions available
      A Drive "version history" copy exists but is significantly outdated (~30% of the work)

      Binary diagnostics (done via Python, byte-level inspection):

      File size: 189,946,064 bytes (~181 MB)
      Header is fully intact and valid: identifies correctly as "SketchUp Model", version {21.0.339}
      File is NOT a zip container (confirmed — this format doesn't use zip)
      No truncation: high-entropy (compressed-looking) data continues consistently all the way to the last byte — this does not look like a file that was cut off mid-save
      Exactly 3 zero-byte runs found, each 10,479 bytes long, total ~31KB out of 181MB (~0.016% of the file):

      Offset 52,117,304 (27.44% into the file)
      Offset 54,164,814 (28.52% into the file)
      Offset 56,330,073 (29.66% into the file)

      Notably, the 200 bytes immediately preceding each of the three zero-runs are byte-for-byte identical across all three locations, and the data immediately following each zero-run also starts identically. This doesn't look like random corruption — it looks like a repeated/duplicated write pattern, possibly from the Drive sync process re-writing the same buffer multiple times with gaps left zeroed.

      Given how small and localized the damage is relative to the file size, I'm hoping this is recoverable. I don't have tooling to parse the internal SKP structure myself. Would really appreciate help from anyone who's dealt with this kind of corruption before.
      File (181MB) available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10b83OPyXvXJR0ye1WnDF7evvtJPkdKuE/view?usp=sharing
      Thanks in advance — happy to provide any additional diagnostic info needed.

      TIGT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • TIGT Offline
        TIG Moderator @Naty Mureb
        last edited by

        @Naty-Mureb
        Your best bet at SKP 'repair' is through @ colin on SketchUp.com forum.
        He's a SketchUp team member and has access to specialized tools, that others don't have.
        PM him there and mention me [TIG] if you want to...

        TIG

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