Where are my pictures?

Berty

Hello All,

I have created a nasty problem for myself.

I backed up my important files earlier prior to installing Windows 7 on my laptop and now some important pictures have either becoming damaged or degraded.

Anyway. Some of them are still sitting there in the folders showing as JPEG files with average sizes of 2.3MB.

The error I am getting from Windows Photo Viewer is:

"Windows Photo Viewer Cannot Open this Picture because either Photo Viewer doesnt support this file format, or you do not have the latest updates to Photo viewer"

Both of those could not be correct as the programme is up to date and the file format is JPEG and it must support that format.

I downloaded Picassa. Nothing other than suggesting the "Photo is Invalid"

I tried to convert the file to bitmap but the coversion programme ignores their existence.

Im stumped. They are important pictures that are obviously there somewhere.

How can I get access to them?

Thanks in advance.

Razzuh

Could you attach one of the files to a post here (it has to me under 2mb)?

Are you able to copy/cut and paste the files to other folders? Have you tried copying them to a different hard drive/usb flash drive?

Berty

Apparently the file cannot be copied to a Flashdisk because

"xxx has properties that cannot be copied to the new location"

This one happens to be just under 2.

RE: Uploading file to Boards.

Boards wrote:

PICT0700.JPG:
This is not a valid image file.

Razzuh

So are all these photos on an external hard drive at moment?
It'll be easiest if we have a file to work with so we can try to see if there's any route to recovery.

Is there one under 1mb? If so, right click and 'send to'-> zipped folder, then see if you can attach the zip file here. If not, upload the jpeg to any file sharing website (hotfile.com) and post the link they give you here so we can download it.

Berty

Nope. The files were only on external DVD-R's and two USB Sticks. They never made back over neatly for some reason.

As I had not upgraded Windows, rather managed to install another Windows on the same hard drive I had access to the old Windows file. I use recovery software to recover them but not, as of this morning, I believe the partitions(bear in mind I dont know what a partition is) could be corrupted.

I have zipped the file. Here you go. Its a mystery picture by the way. I hope its clean. :eek:

Here a hotfile as well

http://hotfile.com/dl/77777686/14b9da9/PICT0144.JPG.html

bonzodog2

Well after a quick scan in a text editor, I'd say it is certainly clean. Of any usable picture :-(
There are bits of executable program in there (Nero), also bits of an HTML document (Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit is the page title), also many blocks like

FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE
FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE FF FE

or similar

Are your USB sticks possibly less then genuine ? These have been known to cause data loss.

Berty

Thanks Bonzodog. I was expecting the worst news anyway. There were multiple programmes and documents on the USB including MS Office and Nero amongst other things.

It could either have been the Texet(not great) or the Lexar which are good IMO.

I have managed to track down some lost photos which are being held on my iphone. Praise the iPhone!!!

bonzodog2

You might check out http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/H2testw.shtml this program which tests USB sticks. Empty it first.

Razzuh

Hi,
I had a look at the file you attached but as someone already detailed above, it's full of garbage. I'm afraid your chances of recovering your files are slim. Here's a long shot:

Try using this software on your USBs, don't think its designed for DVDs though:

http://download.cnet.com/VaioSoft-Recovery-Manager/3000-2094_4-10286449.html

It's free so you may as well give it a try. I haven't used it myself but I know someone it worked for. There are other programs on that site if you do a search. They're probably not free like the one above, but they should give you a preview of your images to prove they work before you pay anything.

I'd advise anyone not to buy anything before you know for sure it'll work for you. I'd say 90% of all recovery software online is bogus.


Let me know if the software I linked above worked for you.

old_aussie

Berty wrote: »

Hello All,

I backed up my important files earlier prior to installing Windows 7 on my laptop and now some important pictures have either becoming damaged or degraded.

Where did you back up the important files?

To an external HDD, another partition on the same drive that you installed Windows 7, or another internal HDD

MunsterCycling

A non tested backup is the same as no backup at all.... Just a word from the wise and the professionals