Vista - Can't view old photos in Windows Vista Photo Gallery

I tried a few more things, so I'll summarize where I'm at:

1) No viewers will see these jpg files from my external USB hard drive (I believe it is NTFS file format) on the Vista machine

2) XP and 2000 machine also do not see files

3) All other files seem to be fine (video, excel, etc) except for some wierd permission settings

4) Taking ownership of files allows me to copy files to new locations, but neither file works

5) When I look at properties in Windows 2000 for one of the jpg files, I noticed the "Archive" checkbox was checked

6) JPEG Recovery 2.0 said that "Image Header" was missing

All this seems very strange that only the jpg files would be effected and it seems like others have had the same issue when moving to a new Vista machine ... hopefully that means a fix is out there somewhere.

The only other thing I remember from the XP crash was that when I hooked up the external drive (which had a partition table error) to the Windows 2000 machine, I fixed the partition table, but I noticed the drive was going through every file like it was validating or re-writing each file.

However, I do remember looking at some photos after that point, and they looked OK (but honestly I could be mistaken ... it's all becoming a blur!)

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Michael

1 - 2 :When you say 'do not see' does that mean the files don't show in
explorer or just that no display program works with the files?
(I am assuming it just means will not show picture, but the file name shows
in explorer).


1 - 2 - 6 : You are hosed! I doubt that anything you can do will get your
pictures back.

5 : Ready for archiving checked is OK, simply means that the file has been
changed since last backed up by a backup program.

There were/are viruses that took great pleasure in destroying any jpg files
they could find.

Looking at the files under explorer (rather than Photo Gallery) and right
clicking, properties do you see the normal jpg items? (compare to a working
jpg file).
If not that would be confirmation of item -6-.

For a little bit of hope: could it have been possible that during the
Windows 2000 repair that the files were 'compressed' ? If so perhaps you can
go back to the 2000 machine and 'uncompress' them (I don't have 2000 so that
is a wild shot in the dark).

My condolences,
Michael


"Michael Thomas" wrote in message news:200773132351michael@mthom.com...
>I tried a few more things, so I'll summarize where I'm at:
>
> 1) No viewers will see these jpg files from my external USB hard drive (I
> believe it is NTFS file format) on the Vista machine
>
> 2) XP and 2000 machine also do not see files
>
> 3) All other files seem to be fine (video, excel, etc) except for some
> wierd permission settings
>
> 4) Taking ownership of files allows me to copy files to new locations, but
> neither file works
>
> 5) When I look at properties in Windows 2000 for one of the jpg files, I
> noticed the "Archive" checkbox was checked
>
> 6) JPEG Recovery 2.0 said that "Image Header" was missing
>
> All this seems very strange that only the jpg files would be effected and
> it seems like others have had the same issue when moving to a new Vista
> machine ... hopefully that means a fix is out there somewhere.
>
> The only other thing I remember from the XP crash was that when I hooked
> up the external drive (which had a partition table error) to the Windows
> 2000 machine, I fixed the partition table, but I noticed the drive was
> going through every file like it was validating or re-writing each file.
>
> However, I do remember looking at some photos after that point, and they
> looked OK (but honestly I could be mistaken ... it's all becoming a blur!)
>
> EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
> http://www.eggheadcafe.com

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:23:52 -0700, Michael Thomas wrote:

>I tried a few more things, so I'll summarize where I'm at:
>
>1) No viewers will see these jpg files from my external USB hard drive (I believe it is NTFS file format) on the Vista machine
>
>2) XP and 2000 machine also do not see files
>
>3) All other files seem to be fine (video, excel, etc) except for some wierd permission settings
>
>4) Taking ownership of files allows me to copy files to new locations, but neither file works
>
>5) When I look at properties in Windows 2000 for one of the jpg files, I noticed the "Archive" checkbox was checked
>
>6) JPEG Recovery 2.0 said that "Image Header" was missing
>
>All this seems very strange that only the jpg files would be effected and it seems like others have had the same issue when moving to a new Vista machine ... hopefully that means a fix is out there somewhere.
>
>The only other thing I remember from the XP crash was that when I hooked up the external drive (which had a partition table error) to the Windows 2000 machine, I fixed the partition table, but I noticed the drive was going through every file like it was validating or re-writing each file.
>
>However, I do remember looking at some photos after that point, and they looked OK (but honestly I could be mistaken ... it's all becoming a blur!)
>
>EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
>http://www.eggheadcafe.com

I wish you would upload a couple of jpeg images to the web that you
can't open so someone that has a system that is displaying JPEGs
correctly can take a look at them to rule out there is something wrong
with the files or if your problem lies elsewhere otherwise we're just
playing an electronic version of twenty questions.

Your external drive doesn't change it's file structure depending on
what computer it is hooked up to. We need to know what file system
your external drive is formatted to. When it is hooked up to ANY
computer, right click on it's drive letter, properties, general tab,
what does it say is the file system?

What permission setting?

If some tool is reporting that the image's header is missing, that
could be very serious.

Now you tell us your external drive had a partition table error, IF
true, and you saw it rewriting files you could have a bunch of
corrupted files nothing is going to get back for you. That's why it is
so important to have and USE a backup plan.

Adam - my external USB hard drive is NTFS

As far as the partition table error ... it's happened several times in the past (I think due to a bad USB hub in the old computer) but the partition table was always easily recovered without losing any files.

The strange thing in this case is that ONLY jpg files are an issue ... all other files open normally (even video files in the same folders).

When I view the properties for these jog files, I can see the created date, file size (which looks normal), modified date, accessed date. All look OK. But nothing can view them.

Here's the wierder part. I saved two of these jpg files to a flash drive and took them to work (Windows 2000 machine). Niether file opened in Photo Editor ... BUT one file had the correct thumbnail of the image.

I'll try to upload a couple files so you guys can review.


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http://www.mthom.com/IMG_1076.jpg
http://www.mthom.com/IMG_1887.jpg

The second one is the one where I can see the thumbnail on a Windows 2000 machine.

I viewed the files in notepad and a hex editor and compared to good jpeg files. The front-end data is definitely missing or corrupt ... you can clearly see some of the metadata on the good files, but not these corrupted ones.

The only other thought I had was whether my work laptop (the computer I used to recover the partition table to the external HD and saw doing a "file check or re-write" of some kind) ... I wonder if it could be some kind of encryption. Just a long shot.

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<Michael Thomas> wrote in message news:2007811161michael@mthom.com...
> http://www.mthom.com/IMG_1076.jpg
> http://www.mthom.com/IMG_1887.jpg
>
> The second one is the one where I can see the thumbnail on a Windows 2000
> machine.
>
> I viewed the files in notepad and a hex editor and compared to good jpeg
> files. The front-end data is definitely missing or corrupt ... you can
> clearly see some of the metadata on the good files, but not these
> corrupted ones.

Nicest pix of a red X I've seen all week! 8^)

Tom Lake

But you don't have to rub it in!

Does anyone know why I can see the thumbnail of the second image, but it still not show up in any viewer? Is the thumbnail information identified in a specific part of the file, that may not be corrupted?

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Well, I finally know what the issue is, and will hopefully have a solution.

It wasn't:
1) Vista
2) XP or its crash
3) File corruption at all

It was encryption! When I restored the partition table of my external drive (while hooked up to my business laptop ... thanks to the timing of the XP machine crash), my laptop restored the partition table (Partition Table Doctor - a program well worth the price) and the laptop "assumed" I had written the enitre hard drive from my business laptop.

So the encryption policy of my laptop proceeded to encrypt all of my files of a particular type (which jpeg was one) but the files looked fine to me on that machine when I checked the photos.

Hooking the external drive to the other computers ... corrupted files. All the other files that I'd added later from my own machines could be accessed fine, which is why only the jpeg files were a problem.

Good news is when I go back to the laptop I can see all of the photos again ... the bad news is I have to have my IT department figure out a way to get encryption free versions of them that I can view on any computer.

Apologies to Vista, and the developers of Photo Gallery for the initial blame ... it was all an issue of Data Security.

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
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On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:26:43 -0700, Michael Thomas wrote:

>Well, I finally know what the issue is, and will hopefully have a solution.
>
>It wasn't:
>1) Vista
>2) XP or its crash
>3) File corruption at all
>
>It was encryption! When I restored the partition table of my external drive (while hooked up to my business laptop ... thanks to the timing of the XP machine crash), my laptop restored the partition table (Partition Table Doctor - a program well worth the price) and the laptop "assumed" I had written the enitre hard drive from my business laptop.
>
>So the encryption policy of my laptop proceeded to encrypt all of my files of a particular type (which jpeg was one) but the files looked fine to me on that machine when I checked the photos.
>
>Hooking the external drive to the other computers ... corrupted files. All the other files that I'd added later from my own machines could be accessed fine, which is why only the jpeg files were a problem.
>
>Good news is when I go back to the laptop I can see all of the photos again ... the bad news is I have to have my IT department figure out a way to get encryption free versions of them that I can view on any computer.
>
>Apologies to Vista, and the developers of Photo Gallery for the initial blame ... it was all an issue of Data Security.
>
>EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
>http://www.eggheadcafe.com

Don't encrypted file names show as a different color when viewed in
Windows Explorer so you KNOWN they were encrypted?

If they are encrypted, that doesn't mean they are corrupted. They
simply are encrypted. On a system that doesn't understand the
encryption key, they can't be opened and that just shows the
encryption scheme is working.

ALWAYS decrypt encrypted files before moving them to another system.

All you should have to do is copy the encrypted files to a new folder
on the system you can see them. Then BE SURE that folder isn't
encrypted, then copy them to the new system.

LOL!! oh well that's good... at least you didn't lose them so it will be ok
:-)

properties of the drive/folder/files (ultimately), button "advanced options"
in general tab, and uncheck the encryption, that should do it

or another method (if you want to let them encrypted) is to export the
security certificate and load it into the new machine, that would allow you
to see the files again, though encrypted