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Question

Corrupted JPEG

Nov 7, 2013 8:26AM PST

I am in desperate need of help.

I had all my jpeg files on an old external hard drive. But its been acting funny and so I decided the transfer them to my Dell Laptop so that I could save them in a new hard drive I bought.

I moved the files from the old hard drive to my laptop but now the files are corrupted and I cant view them.

I unfortunately dont have a copy on the old hard drive as I cut and pasted the files(did not copy) !!!

I tried many recovery software already like picture doctor etc but nothing is working.

Please help me !!!

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
"moved". Please folk. COPY!!!
Nov 7, 2013 9:23AM PST

By moving you delete your last good copy or make recovery much hard than it needs to be.

There are titles from free, free to try and data recovery houses at the Lost and Found post in the CNET Storage forum.
Bob

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Answer
There are programs that will recover deleted files.
Nov 7, 2013 8:44AM PST

It's been a while since I've used any of the "undelete" programs, but they're out there. Do a Google search. I know Easeus has some, and I can vouch that Easeus is a first rate outfit whose programmers really know what they're doing. There used to be some Norton programs of this type as well, but I haven't used any of them in years.
Whatever you get, try it on that external drive you had the files on and see if you can't recover the originals. In the future be sure to remember that you need to have at least TWO copies of anything you don't want to lose.
`
Good luck.

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There are programs that will recover deleted files.
Nov 7, 2013 9:12AM PST

So if I use Easeus will it recover the files on my external hard drive ? I dint delete the files off the external hard drive, I used cut and paste to copy the files from the external hard drive to my laptop.

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Cut & paste deletes the original.
Nov 7, 2013 10:09AM PST

If you haven't done anything to rewrite over the freed space when you did the cut & paste, the data will still be on that drive. Deleting (& that includes CUT) doesn't remove the data, it just marks the space where the data was as free space, so undelete programs can come along and find the files - as long as that space hasn't been written over. Of course if the data was corrupt before you did the cut & paste, you'll just be restoring the corrupt files. So no guarantees, but it's your best chance.
`
Good luck.

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THANK YOU !!
Nov 7, 2013 11:13AM PST

I did what you suggested and was able to retrieve the files from the hard drive !!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH !!

But what Im noticing now is that, some new files are getting corrupted. The folder opened fine when I first transferred it but now when I went back to make sure all the pics open fine, I dont see the thumbnails anymore and when I go to open them they dont open. Why do you think this is happening? Are all the files corrupted you think?

Will this keep happening if I transfer from my laptop to a new hard drive?

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Here's what I used when I wanted to be sure.
Nov 7, 2013 11:34AM PST

I used SyncBack (free version) to sync old and new folders.
Bob

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Will try it
Nov 7, 2013 11:35AM PST

I will try it... Im getting real paranoid that every time I open the folder more files are getting corrupted.. You know why this is happening?? Im curious so I can avoid this in the future..

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Can't tell given the clues so far.
Nov 7, 2013 11:37AM PST

Until there are more clues the list is too long.

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Some things I'd do
Nov 7, 2013 11:57PM PST

The first thing I'd do would be to run chkdsk and let it scan for and attempt to correct bad sectors. The next thing I'd do would be to download MalwareBytes and get it up to date. Then I'd boot to Safe Mode and have both MalwareBytes and my antivirus program do full system scans. This is because it sounds like you either have some bad sectors or some form of malware.
`
Good luck.

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Do I do this on the external Hard drive?
Nov 8, 2013 1:38AM PST

I did have some issues with the external hard drive(it was old and I shud have never used it)... Everytime I plugged it in, I would gt a message saying I needed to fix some stuff and I went ahead and did that option. It said it will check all files and fix system errors etc... I think thats what corrupted the jpegs on that hard drive...

Are you suggesting I do chkdsk on the same external hard drive? Coz all my other pics on my laptop and new hard drive seem fine.. I checked every one of them..

Also are pics from the old external hard drive prone to getting corrupted even after I transfer them to a new hard drive? There are my kids pics and I dont hv the RAW files anymore so I cant afford to lost any of them.

Thanks for all your help !!! I really appreciate it !!!

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(NT) Wherever the files are getting corrupted, do chkdsk.
Nov 8, 2013 2:04AM PST
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JPG Extension
Nov 8, 2013 7:39AM PST

As R. Proffitt stated above, there can be a long list of reasons why your photos won't open, but is there a chance that the ".jpg" extension got deleted from the end of the file name during your file transfer process? If the jpg extension is deleted, it will disable the file. If so, simply retype the extension. Just another thought.