Vista - Files copied from previous XP PC won't open

I copied all my filess from previous PC to a DVD and then copied from that to
my new PC w/Vista.

My Excel files get the following error:
"This file is not in a recognizable format."
If I click for it to go ahead, it will "open" the file with proper header
but no date (same for Word files).

None of my old pictures will open in Photo Editor, or Paint, or IrfanView.
I get the following error:
"Photo Gallery can't open this picture or video. This file format is not
supported, or you don't have the latest updates to Photo Gallery."

BTW, my music and text files that were copied open OK.

Hi Bob...

By no means certain of the applicability of this to your issue, but I too
had trouble moving files from XP to Vista over a network, though "corruption"
wasn't one of them (they either would, or would not, go).

Turned out to be due to NTFS & ADS ("Alternate Data Streams") - which I
*think* is data belonging to the file but beyond the Logical End of File and
for "special purposes" <g>

If you are confident you have no burning issues (can you read the files back
on the source PC?) then the following might be relevant.

I got round my problem by taking the files from my Freecom NAS device,
which, not having an MS OS knows nothing about ADS and throws it away.

If you have anything similar you could try that... or (just speculating)...

Maybe zip the files before writing to DVD? (don't want you to make too many
coasters though... I keep one R/W disc for just such tests).

Or, if you have Steganos Safe, copy the files there - Steganos Safes report
themselves as FAT32 drives, and FAT32 doesn't support ADS (AFAIK)... so any
FAT32 intermediate would do actually!

All somewhat speculative I'm afraid, but I get help here and occasionally
try to give a little back I hope it's of some value.

Julian

"BobDD" wrote:

> I copied all my filess from previous PC to a DVD and then copied from that to
> my new PC w/Vista.
>
> My Excel files get the following error:
> "This file is not in a recognizable format."
> If I click for it to go ahead, it will "open" the file with proper header
> but no date (same for Word files).
>
> None of my old pictures will open in Photo Editor, or Paint, or IrfanView.
> I get the following error:
> "Photo Gallery can't open this picture or video. This file format is not
> supported, or you don't have the latest updates to Photo Gallery."
>
> BTW, my music and text files that were copied open OK.