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Question

Suddenly all my jpeg , video,rar, 3dsmax files got corrupted

Aug 18, 2017 4:50AM PDT

Hi guys ,

So one of my bad days that suddenly all my files got corrupted and getting an error message that i cant open them , their size is till there but they dont open ,

i have formated windows , tried several recovery softwares but they still corrupted , installed antimalware and no use and am really confused what should i do

can u plz help me ?

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Answer
do this
Aug 18, 2017 5:01AM PDT

copy some of the jpg and jpeg files you believe are corrupted to a flashdrive, take to another computer, and see if they can be opened by it.

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tried this
Aug 18, 2017 5:07AM PDT

i did copy them to several computers and also to my android phone and still they dont open ,

i dont know how to search for this type of problem its really new to many people as i told them

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Re: corrupted
Aug 18, 2017 6:18AM PDT

Do a byte-by-byte compare with the uncorrupted ones from your backup to see what changed. That doesn't mean, by the way, that you know what changed them. Could be malware or a hardware failure as most likely candidates.

Then copy them back from your backup and all is fine again (as long as it lasts). To be very sure, make a copy of your backup on another PC and use that.

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tried that
Aug 18, 2017 12:23PM PDT

i have tried comparing them with some of the uncorrupted jpegs i have the main difference that i think could be a the reason is that the corrupted ones are missing the main basic information in the Discription,Origin,Image sections they are empty in the corrupted jpegs

and when i try to edit them manually its not possible ,

so does that mean that some kind of a malware deleted these infos and if yes is it possible to restore this information so it can work

thanks

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Re: tried that
Aug 18, 2017 12:27PM PDT

That's not exactly a comparison with some hex-editor, but it's a start.

If the information is overwritten, it's gone. If you don't have a good copy somewhere else (that's called a 'backup') it's lost. Things happen.

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indeed
Aug 18, 2017 12:32PM PDT

belive it or not this is an infection that hit almost 90% of my 2 hard disk including 3dsmax files of work for almost 10 years , rar files , video files , pdf and hundreds of family pictures ,
bad news is i never made a backup of such huge data , i never thought that such a thing could happen ,

but am still trying to find out how did this happen so ican at least find a way to resolve it ,,, the jpegs are the main clear status in terms of the erased information but how can i rewrite the information even if i have to do it one by one

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something you can try
Aug 18, 2017 12:35PM PDT

Kees mentioned a hex editor.

In distant past I had some jpegs that failed to show anymore. What I did was get a good jpeg file and opened it in a hex editor, then I opened the bad file in a second window. I copied the entire second window and pasted into the middle of the first jpeg that was good, made sure the lines of characters matched up in number between the two. I then was able to open in a graphics program and crop out the middle image and save as a good jpeg file again. The reason it worked is the header and footer of the other good file allowed the extra image material to work in it. I've not had to do that in years, but maybe it will still work.

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Answer
The awful truth is without backup
Aug 18, 2017 12:45PM PDT

These are likely gone. I'm sure you know about ransomware, malware and hardware failures. You seem you think you can recover these files if you rewrite "headers."

The problem with that is the header information is rarely all that is damaged. And you'll have to fix a few before any automatic repair tool is considered.

The most common reason I run into is ransomware. Most often installed by the owner as they crack some security suite.

More at https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/its-almost-2017-and-users-are-still-getting-infected-with-malware-via-fake-av-software/

" More incredible is that people are downloading crack files for antivirus software, sabotaging their computer despite their best intentions of keeping it secure."

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There are studies about BER on HDDs and more.
Aug 18, 2017 12:50PM PDT
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should i gave up
Aug 18, 2017 12:58PM PDT

yes but does that men that there is no solution for such a fast spreader problem , this happened in less the one hour and i have only discovered that the next days when i tried opening some files , theres got be a solution for such a problem

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The solution is well known
Aug 18, 2017 2:02PM PDT
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VLC is on Linux distros too
Aug 18, 2017 3:53PM PDT

You can boot to LIVE LINUX DVD and keep from continuing the infection that's in windows, and run it without installing. I use Linux Mint MATE version 17.3