JPEG Recovery - Help Needed

[damiane]

Hello,

I've had a problem and have lost everything on my hard drive. I'll get over losing MP3 files, games and applications - i can get those again - but i've lost over 1000 family photographs of my children at xmas, parties, school plays etc - and am desperate to seek help on how to get them back.

My hard drive played up, so windows asked me for the CD Rom to install and repair a file. Instead of repairing the file, it re-installed windows completely and took everything away.

i've downloaded the free trial of recover my files, but don't know which kind to attempt first as there are 4 different options on file recovery.

Can someone tell me which is best for me? My hard drive has absolutely nothing on it apart from windows. Everything has gone - but all i want is my JPG's back.

Will be eternally grateful for assistance offered. Please help if you can - my wife is in tears and very very upset. Thanks v much.

[GDH]

Hi,

Don't be worried, you should be able to get your data back.

You should try and limit the use of the computer until you have had the opportunity to try and recover all the data. The more you use the computer the more it will write to the hard drive and the more chance there is of overwriting and destroying important deleted files.

You need to run a "Complete Format Recover" using Recover My Files. In the drive selection window, put a tick next to the "0physical" drive. In the file type selection window, search ONLY for the default selected file types.

Let this search run to the end. At the end of the search it will rebuild your old file system and display the results to you in "Folder View" of the search results screen. You should be able to click on the files found and preview the jpeg photos in the preview window of the results screen.

If you can see your photos, then you can purchase a product activation key to save them. You MUST save them to a different drive - which can be another hard drive, USB, CD DVD, network drive etc.

Please let us know how it goes.

Thank you.

[damiane]

Thanks Graham,

I'll give it a go tonight. Am i right in thinking i dont put a tick next to the C drive - just the '0physical'?

I'll report back and let you know how i get on.

I greatly appreciate your reply.

damiane

[GDH]

The "physical" hard drive refers to the actual physical hard drive connected to your PC. I think you only have one logical partition on this drive (i.e. the C drive? so you should find that the physical disk and the C: drive are about the same size.

Searching the physical disk is way to make sure you are searching the entire disk.

[damiane]

Here's my update - I've ran the complete file recovery, it's found thousands of jpgs, many of them little windows icons etc, but i've managed to get about 10% of my photographs back - of which quite a few have distorted obliterated lines going across them, as though they have been damaged.

The other 90% just said "corrupt file - unable to preview" - but i've stored them anyway in the hope i can perhaps fix them.

I don't suppose you know if there is any way this can be done? ie are these damaged forever or can they be repaired?

Again - many thanks in anticipation for any help you may offer.

Regards.
D

[GDH]

Hi,

It seems strange that you only have recovered 10% of them.

Are you looking in "File View" or "Folder View" for your files?

I expect that the best results from a "Complete Format Recover" should come from "Folder View" - look at the search results here, including any folders starting with strange names (DIRXXX means that the original folder name cannot be recovered - but sub folders should still be intact).

If you still don't find any more JPEGS this way, then run a new search. Run a "Complete File Search", of the "C:\" drive, searching for the JPEG file types.

To see if the "corrupt" files will open, try irfanview.com - it is free and quite good at opening slightly corrupt photos.

[damiane]

Hi Graham.

I'm not sure what view i was looking at, i put the green tick in the boxes for jpg , then when results started to clock up, ie the number in the brackets of files found, i clicked on jpg and it listed them all. When i say i only recovered about 10% of them, let me clarify.

The software has indicated i have 'recovered' about 2000 jpeg files, but i am only able to preview about 10% of these - the other 90% said corrupt file - unable to preview. I only had about 800 - 1000 jpegs of photographs, so am sure they are included in the 2000 recoveries. It's just that i cant actually open any more than about 10% of them.

I've saved them all to a disc, so will try irfanview tonight. Even if i only get 10%, its better than nothing, which is what i had this time yesterday, so please don't think i am sounding ungrateful.

Many thanks.
D

[GDH]

Normally I would expect the results to be the other way around - i.e. recovered 90% and 10% were corrupted.

You should definitely recover more than you have. I would suggest you give both types of search I described earlier another go and check both "File View" and "Folder View" in the search results screen for your files.

As a general rule, files that have been found with their original file name are found using the old operating system records, and are usually less likely to be corrupt because it is possible to track fragmentation of the file.

Files with names that start with "Recovered..." are found by locating the unique header and footer. If you have large photos, your computer was nearly full, or if it is an older computer then files may be fragmented on the disk and it which may lead to a higher level of corruption (but definitely nowhere near 90%).

[damiane]

Hi Graham,

The latest update...........

My initial claim that only 10% of my files are working is wildly inaccurate.

Something strange must have happened.

When i tried to preview the lost jpgs during the scan, almost all of them said "corrupt file - preview not available". But being the stubborn sausage that i am, i still saved them after the scan was over in the hope of fixing them.

Alas, i don't need to. I've double-clicked on them as stand alone files and they are all opening. They didnt open with the preview facility on your software, but on their own they are opening and are working fine.

I've salvaged about 90% of the jpegs, as you indeed said i would - so i'll sign off with a HUGE thank-you for the assistance you've given me and i'll not hestiate to recommend 'recover my files' to anyone else i know who maybe stupid enough like me to make a mess of their PC.

Thanks again
D

[GDH]

Hi Damiane,

That is good news. I am glad you data recovery was successful.