Help me recover my photos

[wcurry]

I recently had to replace my hard drive. Prior to this procedure I backed up

my photo files to CD using Roxio Creator as the burning program. When

installing everything back on to my machine and transferring my photo files

back into "My Pictures," I found that I can no longer view my pics with

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. To make matters worse, I can't view them with

the Roxio software either. Upon checking the properties of these files, it

still shows them as being jpeg files around 1. 08 Mb each in size. I read up

on the picture and fax viewer to discover that it will not be able to display

files that have been compressed. I guess Roxio compressed them during the

burning process. Does anyone know of a program or any way to handle these

files so they can once again be used? Any possibility of coverting them back?

Thanks for any input.

[james_hardin]

Hello James,

First of all, thank you for responding to my plea for help. Now then, I had several folders of photos. Enough that they wouldn't fit on one CD. Using Creator Classic, I dragged all the folders into the Burn List. Creator then informed me that this would be a 3 disc session. No problem, I labelled and burned all 3 discs and then proceded with the hardware swap. Upon getting my system up and running again, I inserted one of the CDs. I was prompted that I would have to use Roxio "Retrieve" in order to get my files back as they were. Again, no problem. I transferred the files back on to my system using the Retrieve program. Only now, I can't view the photos using Windows picture and fax viewer or Roxio Photosuite. When looking at the properties of these files, they are all listed as jpegs and they are at least 1.08 MB in size, but I'm not able to do anything with them beyond that. I've discarded the CDs since then (prior to realizing I had this problem) although the files still exist on my machine. What's your thought on this? Are my memories just that? Or is there hope?

Thanks again, Bill

 

Most strange! If the file sizes were all the same and small I would have suspected you had shortcuts rather than the actual files.

 

Since you discarded the CDs you have probably lost any chance of recovery. (hindsight says that was a very careless move)

 

All you can do now is try them in another editor and hope some are salvageable.

 

IFran is a popular one: Here

[REDWAGON]

"I will now burn them to CDs without the roxio program so I may be able to use them in the future."

If you use a blank media that is large enough to hold all of the photos (i.e. a 4.7GB DVD+/- R or a DL disc) you should be able to use Roxio's "Creator Classic" and burn a "Data" disc that would be all O.K. Not knowing how many of the 1+ Mb photos you had, but I would guess that you could put most of them on a 4.7GB disc.

 

Frank...

[james_hardin]

Need to know the specifics of how you backed them up to the CD as well as how you retrieved them?

[wcurry]

Mr. Hardin,

I can't thank you enough. Irfanview was the answer to my problems. Not only can I now view my photo files, but also have the ability to convert them back to being useable by Windows pic and fax viewer. I will now burn them to CDs without the roxio program so I may be able to use them in the future. Thanks again. Bill

 

 

Most strange! If the file sizes were all the same and small I would have suspected you had shortcuts rather than the actual files.

 

Since you discarded the CDs you have probably lost any chance of recovery. (hindsight says that was a very careless move)

 

All you can do now is try them in another editor and hope some are salvageable.

 

IFran is a popular one: Here