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Question

Help fixing JPG issue

May 13, 2017 9:04PM PDT

Hi, I'm hoping to get some help in fixing .jpg files on my computer, which are currently messed up. I *think* I did it myself, by accident, but I'm not entirely sure. For reference, I'm using Windows 7 as my operating system.

I was getting ready to upload a .jpg file to a website, when after clicking it and getting the preview version of the image showing, I realized that I needed to make one final edit before uploading it. So, I tabbed into my paint program, made the edit to the file and then saved. Then I tabbed back over to my browser and clicked to confirm the transfer, but it wouldn't work. I went back to my paint program and I couldn't save the image anymore, so I copy pasted the graphic into a new file and was able to save that. I noticed at that time, that the original file was no longer in the folder.

I uploaded the new file, thinking "huh, that was odd", but now I have found out that all of my .jpg files are now unrecognized. Trying to open them in photo viewer gives me the following error message: "Windows Photo Viewer can't open this picture because either Photo Viewer doesn't support this file format, or you don't have the latest updates to Photo Viewer."

I tried opening them in browsers, in various paint programs, all to no avail. They simply aren't recognized. I tried it with the new file I had just made and it was perfectly fine. I have made new .jpg files and they are also just fine. I started looking at what is different between my original files and the new ones, and I notice that while the sizes of the files are there, in the details section of the properties for the images, they no longer show image dimensions, bit depth or anything else like that.

I did a little bit of googling, and based on the reading I did I think that maybe somehow the file headers for .jpg files got messed up or something. I tried copying the files to my laptop, but they are still the same there. Every .jpg prior to that file upload is "broken" while every .jpg made after is fine.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I might resolve this issue? It also affected my "backup" USB drive which was plugged into the computer at the time, so I've got like 7+ years of family images and such that are currently unviewable, and I'd really like to hope that they aren't gone forever.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I'm going another way.
May 13, 2017 10:18PM PDT

I think your machine's JPEG viewer has been broken. Try viewing a few images on say Imagur.com.

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can't be broken viewer, can it?
May 14, 2017 9:22PM PDT

I don't think the viewer being broken sounds correct. Newly created .jpg files and .jpg files online show up just fine. It's only the files that were there at the time of the incident that aren't showing.

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Sorry, had the wrong link.
May 14, 2017 9:55PM PDT

Try an image at http://imgur.com/

There is what we call malware that will wipe out files like this. Fix? Restore from backups. Given the global infection in the news, what more can we do but repeat over and over?

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imgur = no go
May 14, 2017 10:10PM PDT

I tried uploading one of the images to imgur to see if it would go through and display it, but no go. I browse and select the image and it closes the image select window and acts as if I didn't do anything.

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Sounds like malware and damage to me.
May 15, 2017 8:53AM PDT

I do not propose any "jpegrepair.com" or such sites. I find these to be spammed and after folk like you and they don't always work since the damage can be encrypted like we see in the Global infection today.

Look below and try a bootable Linux OS. It's not as if you have to learn Linux.

I hate to write this but this is how most folk learn that backups are not optional.

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Answer
file ending different than image format
May 14, 2017 10:27PM PDT

Several approaches you can take. Make copies of the file and put various common image file endings on them. Maybe then one of them will be "recognized". I suspect you somehow converted to some other image format, but assigned the wrong file ending on it.

You could also boot to a LIVE DVD of Linux (Mint, Ubuntu, Zorin, Kubuntu....) and remove the file ending, then open in GIMP which should tell you the correct image format it's in now.