Gaming All of my photos have corruped :(

[moozxy]

I keep all my photos I take on my external harddrive and I went to look at some just now but they wont open and I get an error msg of:
"The archive is either in unknown format or damaged" and also the Winrar alert telling me to buy it after the 40day trial pops up...

The whole of my summer photos have gone

Is there a way to recover them?

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Shot in the dark, but what's the extension of your archives? I'm presuming that after 40 days, WinRAR semi-locks down, and you'll only be able to open .ZIP and .RAR files with it. I could be wrong.

If you are using .ZIP or .RAR for your archives, I'd try opening the file elsewhere on another computer if possible. Or, try to get the full version of WinRAR and try again.

Apart from that...well, I have no idea, honestly. =\

 

[moozxy]

They're all jpgs :/

Posts merged

Also I can see them all as thumbnails but cant open them.

 

[BiscuitBee]

There are some rar repair programs out there... actually, I think WinRAR has one built-in...

Also, try opening them with the free 7zip program (which is pretty comparable to in winRAR these days).

 

[BiscuitBee]

They're all jpgs :/

Posts merged

Also I can see them all as thumbnails but cant open them.

...Well, that's odd....

Try dragging a file into Firefox/Internet Explorer or opening them with an image editing program (paint, photoshop, paintshop pro, picasa)

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Hmm...the fact that you can still see them in thumbnail form is odd. What all do you have in terms of graphics programs that can open .jpgs? Paint, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, Nero PhotoSnap, hell, maybe even Firefox could do it. I'm assuming you're trying to open them and your computer defaults to using Windows Picture and Fax viewer or whatever. Try it in any or all of those above, and if nothing works, then I have absolutely no idea what you can do. =\

Edit: Damn you BiscuitBee! ;_;

 

[BiscuitBee]

Edit: Damn you BiscuitBee! ;_;

Jinx! You owe me a coke

 

[moozxy]

Ok, wtf they open with Firefox..
I'll try on paint and photoshop now.

EDIT:
Works...

Eh soo it's just something to do with Windows Photo Gallery? :/

 

[Doomsday Forte]

Edit: Damn you BiscuitBee! ;_;

Jinx! You owe me a coke

Yeah yeah...;P Make your way south a bit and perhaps I'll do just that. Ahaha.

If the pictures are opening in anything but WinPFViewer, either the program is screwed up, or it could be your external drive. To be safe, move your pictures temporarily and see if anything else screws up on the drive. You can never be too sure, you know?

 

[moozxy]

Might not have anything to do with this but I think the photos wouldn't open after I had defragged the HDD.

 

[BiscuitBee]

Maybe the default program changed for opening .jpg?

Reset the Default Program
http://ask-leo.com/what_if_i_want_windows_...fax_viewer.html

 

[moozxy]

Eh weeeeiiirrrdd
I put the default to Windows Photo viewer and they're working now..
Looks like it got changed to Winrar to some strange reason >_>

 

[BiscuitBee]

Yay! Glad it's all working again!

... now, burn some DVDs so you have two copies of your photos ALL THE TIME

I try to do this every month.

EDIT:

I try to do this every month.

... and I usually fail due to being lazy. My last backup is from the beginning of the summer.