Has anybody had this problem?

[Dazed]

I had some photos on my laptop that I was copying to a CD. The files on both my hard drive and on the CD somehow got corrupted. I can see them in thumbnail size, but when I double-click on them, it says No Preview Available. I've tried everything I can think of, but can't figure out how to get them back. I've tried saving it as a different name, saving it with a different extension (like .gif), opening with a different application, tried restoring my hard drive back to a different day (it's a work laptop and they never set it up to do that), and everything else my computer geek friends could think of.

So, now I ask the photo-specialist folks...any ideas on how I can get my images back or have I lost them forever?

If anyone would like me to send them a photo to "play" with, just PM me with your email address and I'll send it over.

Thanks!
Trisha

[Vrrr]

Older versions of Windoze Viewer can't preview some tiffs and 16-bit images. Instead saving with different extensions try saving as 8-bit jpg. That should work. Or just open it with some smarter viewer, like irfanview or so.

[veritus]

I had the same problem with a couple of JPEG's off of my XTi. When I tried to open it in Windows viewer it gave me the same "No preview available." I then tried to open it in Photoshop CS3 and it said the file was corrupt. I was grateful they weren't prized shots, and just deleted them.

[Wes]

Are you only having problems with previewing them? What happens if you try to actually open the image in an application like Photoshop?

If you're using Windows Picture/Fax Viewer to preview your images there may be nothing wrong with the actual files. I also experience the same problem but the images always open okay in Photoshop.

[boxofrocks]

She sent me one, and I tried to open them with every image viewer I had. Somehow, the jpeg tag got corrupted.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't have any ideas.

I posted it here if someone else wants to try.

[Wes]

Yup... I'm at a loss, too.

[Arnor]

Hi Trisha,

What I would do right now is take some photos on that camera, download them and see if new photos behave like this. If they do, then either your card is gone really bad or your camera is not saving correctly. The image that Tom posted is missing the JPEG headers so no image viewer is going to be able to view or open them. Just to make sure I virus scanned the file and it's _not_ infected.

If your camera images are fine, then check what program(s) are associated with the .jpg extension. In windows you open Explorer and select "Tools | Folder Options" from the main menu, then go to the "File Types" tab and scroll down until you find the JPG in the extension column on the left. If it says "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" in the "Opens with" section, then you should be ok. If not, then it may be that this got messed up somehow in the registry.

Best regards,

[veritus]

Originally Posted by boxofrocks

She sent me one, and I tried to open them with every image viewer I had. Somehow, the jpeg tag got corrupted.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I don't have any ideas.

I posted it here if someone else wants to try.

That's the same thing that was happening to me. It's only done it on 2 images out of 500 that I shot this weekend. I wasn't too worried about it, but I thought it was interesting that someone else had the same problem.

Trisha, what camera are you shooting with? I'm shooting on a Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

[Dazed]

Arnor, thanks for the advice. I did have some other photos on the memory card and they are fine. I've downloaded them to my PC at home (not the laptop) and have no problems with them. I had also previously been able to open the files that got corrupted so they weren't corrupted in the camera or on the memory card. It was after they were downloaded to the laptop for a few days. I was able to open them at one time, but then after trying to copy them to a CD somehow they were corrupted. Very strange.

I really appreciate everyone's advice and willingness to help me.

Trisha

[Dazed]

Veritus, I'm shooting with a Nikon D50.

[kenw]

the header files are gone on the one sent to me as well. can't open in anything, can't rename it to anything that works.

it shows 920kb as file size but won't preview, thumbnail or open. PSP won't show the file in PSP browser either which tells me it isn't recognizing the file, hence the file headers gone.

if you still have the original file on the PC card, download and try this:
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
(it is free)

it will specifically find lost header file data.

[Dazed]

Ken, thanks so much for the advice. I will try downloading and fixing the files. Will let you know if it works.

A friend of mine told me that he had the same problem with some photos he tried to copy to a CD using Microsoft/Roxio that comes with Windows XP. Hmmmmm.....that's what I was using as well.