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A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?

Thanks
Mike

In article <>,
..au says...
>
>A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
>The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
>would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
>but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
>to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?
>
>Thanks
>Mike

Mike,

A little more detail might help. What OS, what file format on this separate
HDD (NTFS, Fat32, other?), what format are the files in, and what programs do
you have at your disposal?

As you state, you SHOULD be able to extract/view the files on the other HDD.
Might just be a matter of having the right program.

Hunt

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:26:02 GMT, MikeM <> wrote:

>A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
>The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
>would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
>but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
>to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?
>
>Thanks
>Mike

First - DON'T write to that disk!

Get the program Isobuster and try to read the files... it will search the
drive or disc for any file it can find.

It won't restore until you buy it (about $30) but you will be able to see if it
recovered anything you wanted...

I used it on a deleted CDRW that no other program could recover, and it found
4000 pictures!

W2k at time of crash, XP pro after replacing the mother board. NTFS,
now used as USB drive. Mostly JJGs and a few quicktimes. I tried
opwning them with PSE 3, Photo Impression, Thumbs Plus and KeyView
Pro.

Mike

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:26:02 GMT, MikeM <>
wrote:

>A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
>The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
>would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
>but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
>to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?
>
>Thanks
>Mike

In article <>,
..au says...
>
>W2k at time of crash, XP pro after replacing the mother board. NTFS,
>now used as USB drive. Mostly JJGs and a few quicktimes. I tried
>opwning them with PSE 3, Photo Impression, Thumbs Plus and KeyView
>Pro.
>
>Mike
>
>On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:26:02 GMT, MikeM <>
>wrote:
>
>>A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
>>The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
>>would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
>>but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
>>to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?
>>
>>Thanks
>>Mike

OK, sounds like you have already tried some of the programs, that I was going
to suggest without luck.

Question: do you see files on the disk in WinExplorer? Are they showing with
their file extensions (check View>Show File Extensions, incase it is not
checked)? If yes, then you are most of the way home. If the disk shows empty,
then several recovery programs are possibilities. I've never tried Isobuster
(mentioned earlier, but will get a copy and keep it around), but a Google
Search should yield a ton of these. I've used SanDisk's Rescue Pro (designed
for CF, and similar, media, but will work on HDDs, as well in Pro ver). I've
also had good recovery luck at machine-level with Gibson Research's SpinRite,
even when nothing else could see the files.

If you have the files visible, but they will not open, immediately copy them
to another drive/device. Once safely copied, began working with the copies
with some of the "rescue" programs.

As stated earlier - DO NOT WRITE TO THE DISK, or run any utilities on it,
until you have exhausted all other means. If you get a good copy, running
Norton on that directory (folder) of "copies," might correct errors. This
would be a last resort on your HDD with the images on it - only after you have
done all else.

Good luck, and let us know if you stumble on a program that does it all for
you. As I said, there are dozens, and each of us can't try them all. I learned
about Isobuster from this thread, and hope to learn some more.

Hunt

"MikeM" <> wrote in message
news:...
> W2k at time of crash, XP pro after replacing the mother board. NTFS,
> now used as USB drive. Mostly JJGs and a few quicktimes. I tried
> opwning them with PSE 3, Photo Impression, Thumbs Plus and KeyView
> Pro.
>
> Mike

Sounds almost like a virus wiped them out but left the file names. Try
moving one somehow to a different PC, via email or ??

Explorer gives them the correct names and JPEG extensions. Some of the
error messages I got with the various programs were <unknown
format><JPG file has (unknown tag?)><either unrecognised format or
file cirrupt>.

Mike

On 25 Oct 2005 15:19:22 GMT, (Hunt) wrote:

>In article <>,
>.au says...
>>
>>W2k at time of crash, XP pro after replacing the mother board. NTFS,
>>now used as USB drive. Mostly JJGs and a few quicktimes. I tried
>>opwning them with PSE 3, Photo Impression, Thumbs Plus and KeyView
>>Pro.
>>
>>Mike
>>
>>On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:26:02 GMT, MikeM <>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>A few days after I tried my first digital camera my computer crashed.
>>>The shots from that day were not yet backed up, but I thought they
>>>would be ok because they were on a separate HD. They are still there
>>>but none of my programs can read the files. Is there anything I can do
>>>to try to recover them in a form that can be viewed?
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>Mike
>
>OK, sounds like you have already tried some of the programs, that I was going
>to suggest without luck.
>
>Question: do you see files on the disk in WinExplorer? Are they showing with
>their file extensions (check View>Show File Extensions, incase it is not
>checked)? If yes, then you are most of the way home. If the disk shows empty,
>then several recovery programs are possibilities. I've never tried Isobuster
>(mentioned earlier, but will get a copy and keep it around), but a Google
>Search should yield a ton of these. I've used SanDisk's Rescue Pro (designed
>for CF, and similar, media, but will work on HDDs, as well in Pro ver). I've
>also had good recovery luck at machine-level with Gibson Research's SpinRite,
>even when nothing else could see the files.
>
>If you have the files visible, but they will not open, immediately copy them
>to another drive/device. Once safely copied, began working with the copies
>with some of the "rescue" programs.
>
>As stated earlier - DO NOT WRITE TO THE DISK, or run any utilities on it,
>until you have exhausted all other means. If you get a good copy, running
>Norton on that directory (folder) of "copies," might correct errors. This
>would be a last resort on your HDD with the images on it - only after you have
>done all else.
>
>Good luck, and let us know if you stumble on a program that does it all for
>you. As I said, there are dozens, and each of us can't try them all. I learned
>about Isobuster from this thread, and hope to learn some more.
>
>Hunt