Recovered Files Not Opening?

DowntonMini

DowntonMini

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Mark Gameson
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I recently had a hard drive fail on me so sent it off to a data recovery firm who have recovered the data the trouble I'm having is that although the files are visible on the hard drive when I try to open any of them Jpeg or NEF both photoshop and lightroom say the files aren't compatible.

I've emailed the company but thought I'd ask if anyone has any ideas on here.

Thanks
 
Downton Mini said:
I recently had a hard drive fail on me so sent it off to a data recovery firm who have recovered the data the trouble I'm having is that although the files are visible on the hard drive when I try to open any of them Jpeg or NEF both photoshop and lightroom say the files aren't compatible.

I've emailed the company but thought I'd ask if anyone has any ideas on here.

Thanks
Click to expand...
try posting one to here
 
also right click check file size should give you .jpg if it's not then they may need converting?
 
Well it won't upload any of the files :-(

Trying to upload a couple of screen shots but the app won't allow me to so will get them on to the computer and do it that way
 
Downton Mini said:
Well it won't upload any of the files :-(

Trying to upload a couple of screen shots but the app won't allow me to so will get them on to the computer and do it that way
Click to expand...
mind if i try dopbox me 1 image?
 
My idea isn't very helpful or comforting - had the files been recovered with the data intact and as it was, they would be readable. The fact that you can't access them means that you have the names (and possibly even the sizes) but not the same contents.

I assume that since you've paid for recovery, you don't have a backup? :(
 
Can you open any with another programme e.g irfanview?
 
StephenM said:
My idea isn't very helpful or comforting - had the files been recovered with the data intact and as it was, they would be readable. The fact that you can't access them means that you have the names (and possibly even the sizes) but not the same contents.

I assume that since you've paid for recovery, you don't have a backup? :(
Click to expand...

This is my worry I've emailed the company to see what they say
 
Copy and paste one somewhere else (desktop perhaps), rename it abc.jpg and then see if it opens. I'm a bit supprised the data company didn't check they'd open ok
 
swanseamale47 said:
Copy and paste one somewhere else (desktop perhaps), rename it abc.jpg and then see if it opens. I'm a bit supprised the data company didn't check they'd open ok
Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea but sadly it made no difference.

I would have thought they would have tried opening them too I guess I'll have to wait until at least Wednesday to see what they say.
 
dropped both files into lightroom and ps no joy both programmes say file is corrupt sorry
 
i have tried ps,lightroom,vivezza,dxo pro optics flash and vlc all say the file is corrupt or not readable?
 
I'm not sure what they are one may be a car but not sure.

Thank you for trying for me
 
Try a Windows PC?

EDIT: just seen you tried paint
 
This might not be much comfort to you, but here goes.....
I deleted by mistake some files from one of my cards. I had the card recovery programme and ran that. The files were all recovered but, like you, I couldn't open them or read them or do anything with them.
I spent ages trying and got nowhere. Gave up in the end.
I tried a couple of different on line programmes with the same result.
Consensus was that files had been corrupted somewhere along the line.

Might not help you but at least you are not alone.
 
Do any of them have thumbnails when viewed in your file manager? If so, it might be possible to extract a (very low resolution) image from the jpegs and a (medium resolution) image from the raw files, if all else fails.
 
Retune said:
Do any of them have thumbnails when viewed in your file manager? If so, it might be possible to extract a (very low resolution) image from the jpegs and a (medium resolution) image from the raw files, if all else fails.
Click to expand...
Sadly not. I'm fearing the worst to be honest
 
There are several levels of recovery these firms offer - from a basic through to ultra sophisticated - the latter costing many thousands of pounds.

Do you know what the nature of the hard disk failure was? and can I ask how much you paid - that may give an indication as to what they may have done to recover the data.

Fundamentally though, unless you've gone for the top end of the service, they won't have tried to recover the actual data from corrupt platters, at most they may have rebuilt the file allocation table and tried to pull the data off that the FAT table thinks belongs to each file.
 
Also looking at your screenshot, perhaps the file starting with an underscore '_DSC2957.jpg' are perhaps not jpg files - unless you remember naming them in that way - they may be some form of sidecar file created by an editing app. That said some camera use the '_' as the leading char when saving in different colour spaces, so that may be a red herring.
 
Furtim said:
Also looking at your screenshot, perhaps the file starting with an underscore '_DSC2957.jpg' are perhaps not jpg files - unless you remember naming them in that way - they may be some form of sidecar file created by an editing app. That said some camera use the '_' as the leading char when saving in different colour spaces, so that may be a red herring.
Click to expand...

Also, some recovering programs use the Underscore ( _ ) as a prefix to simply indicate that it has been recovered :(
 
chuckles said:
Also, some recovering programs use the Underscore ( _ ) as a prefix to simply indicate that it has been recovered :(
Click to expand...

Good point - back in my DOS days, it usually indicated the file had been previously deleted and then recovered.

OP - Might these be files you had deleted prior to the crash - in which case there's a fair chance elements of the file were overwritten prior to the recovery.
 
Furtim said:
There are several levels of recovery these firms offer - from a basic through to ultra sophisticated - the latter costing many thousands of pounds.

Do you know what the nature of the hard disk failure was? and can I ask how much you paid - that may give an indication as to what they may have done to recover the data.

Fundamentally though, unless you've gone for the top end of the service, they won't have tried to recover the actual data from corrupt platters, at most they may have rebuilt the file allocation table and tried to pull the data off that the FAT table thinks belongs to each file.
Click to expand...
I paid just under £700 including the data being put on to a 2tb hard drive.
 
Downton Mini said:
I paid just under £700 including the data being put on to a 2tb hard drive.
Click to expand...

I would expect results for that unless there was some 'get-out' clause I agreed to on purchasing the service.
 
Do you have a raw file that you can upload somewhere< I have an idea I want to try out. (needs to be raw)
 
Downton Mini said:
I paid just under £700 including the data being put on to a 2tb hard drive.
Click to expand...

Some more questions to help us understand.
Are all files ‘corrupt’ or just some?
Is there a pattern to those that are? For example only those that start with an underscore.
What happened to the hard disk? Read errors increasing over time, just would not power up one day, got slower and slower etc.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Do you have a raw file that you can upload somewhere< I have an idea I want to try out. (needs to be raw)
Click to expand...

I have a NEF file on drop box

Furtim said:
Some more questions to help us understand.
Are all files ‘corrupt’ or just some?
Is there a pattern to those that are? For example only those that start with an underscore.
What happened to the hard disk? Read errors increasing over time, just would not power up one day, got slower and slower etc.
Click to expand...

I've tried a few files but not all of them all the ones I've tried are the same.

It just stopped working one day, then the computer was saying the hard drive needed formatting
 
Downton Mini said:
It just stopped working one day, then the computer was saying the hard drive needed formatting
Click to expand...

Stopped while the system was in use, or never started when the computer was turned on? Was the operating system on it?

One trick that I've heard that sometimes works is to cool the drive in the fridge and try again; but I expect we're long past trying such things. Did you get the original drive back intact, and was the extraction non-destructive - i.e. is there anything for anyone else to work on?

I've had a similar message caused by a simple dodgy connection in the PC.
 
Downton Mini said:
I have a NEF file on drop box



I've tried a few files but not all of them all the ones I've tried are the same.

It just stopped working one day, then the computer was saying the hard drive needed formatting
Click to expand...
I meant one of the dodgy ones.
 
Sorry I meant I have one of the dodgy NEF files on drop box
 
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