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STG_E_READFAULT
What this indicates
STG_E_READFAULT is a storage-layer read failure. It does not by itself prove that the document was created incorrectly. A compound file may be structurally valid but unreadable at a required offset because of a failing device, an interrupted copy, a transient network problem, or an incomplete cached file. Conversely, a malformed sector chain can cause a reader to reach data that cannot be read as expected.
Because Compound File Binary Format stores a hierarchy of storages and streams in one physical file, a small damaged area can block access to an otherwise unrelated stream. The application’s feature that first touches the affected stream determines when the error becomes visible.
Practical next steps
- Confirm whether the same file fails after copying it to reliable local storage; preserve the original before any repair attempt.
- Compare the copy size and hash with its source or a known-good archive.
- Use an independent read-only parser to distinguish a reproducible container problem from an application-specific issue.
- Check operating-system and storage logs; repeated I/O failures are an infrastructure problem, not a document-format fix.
References
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