Help. lost photos whilst trying to make backup

Dollardog

Hope someone can help. I bought a memory stick a while ago and the other day, decided to make back up copy of some of my files off the pc.
My pictures was one of the files. The instructions with the memory stick (Verbatim USB drive) said to make a copy you synchronise the files, which I did. Just looked for a picture I wanted to send someone from my pc hard drive and it seems that synchronising them has wiped the picture. The title is still there, but when I scroll over them, they say '0 bytes'. The photos which were in folders are ok.

I looked at the memory stick to see if the copies on there were ok, but it says the file in encrypted and the file ends in 'ENC' . According to the instructions for the memory stick, if I go into the synchronisation page and 'Decrypt and open' the files, its supposed to open them, but it doesn't.
I even tried doing a 'Restore', but this did not restore the 'My Documents' folder.

Anyone any ideas as to how I can get these photos back or am I fighting a lost cause?
Some of them I don't have a copy of anymore and some were of a close friend who has since died, so I am devastated.


Thanks in advance - if you are answering me after Tues, I'm going to be away until Sunday, so not being rude if I don't answer straight away.

RussJK

Sorry to hear of your loss. If you've lost data, then try not to download anything big onto your computer as it may prevent you from restoring your photos. Of course, you may have to download an Undelete tool, but I'll see if I can find a 'portable' program that you can download to your USB stick and run from that.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean though - you say 'My pictures was one of the files' but that sounds like a folder/directory and not a file. Do you mean that the folder had a thumbnail picture and its now gone? Or do you mean that all the photos in the 'My Pictures' folder are gone? And you say that 'photos which were in folders are ok', do you mean in subfolders within the 'My Pictures' folder?

RussJK

There are Undelete programs that you should be able to download straight to your USB drive and run from the USB drive:

1. Recover Files - right click on it and select 'Save Target As' or 'Save Link As' and put it on your USB stick. It is a trial program, but it'll let you get your files.
http://www.undeleteunerase.com/files/recover_files.exe

2. Roadkil Undelete (make sure you choose your version of Windows if you know it)
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=28
(is in zip form, so you'll have to unzip)

Run either one and follow what they say. It'll search for recoverable files - just wait for it to finish, then select the files that were deleted. Make sure you recover them to the USB stick if possible, as you don't want to overwrite them on the hard drive. Deleted data is not really deleted until it is overwritten, and then after that you'd need better software to recover it.

Dollardog

Hi, thanks for your reply. Sorry, bit upset and trying to do too many things before I go away. Didn't make myself very clear.
My Pictures diectory which is My Documents was what I was trying to copy.
I was actually trying to copy all of My Documents folder, but the stick got too full.
The My Pictures directory? had thumbnail photos which if you clicked on them came up on the screen. Now the thumbnail pics are not showing, there is just a little box with the title of what was there, which when I scroll over it, says 'JPEG image 0 bytes' . When I click on it, it comes up with a blank screen with a box in the middle which has a hazard sign and says 'Can't determine type'.
Won't be downloading anything as I am going away tomorrow until Sunday.

Thanks again for your help. Hope I've made it a bit clearer.

MadTechie

RussJK wrote: »

There are Undelete programs that you should be able to download straight to your USB drive and run from the USB drive:

NO WAY.. last thing you want to do it add data to a drive you wish to recover from!

if you want to recover from a drive DO NOT add data to it, when a file it delete the sectors are marked as free any data added to that drive may write to that sector and thus overwrite the data you are intending to recover!,

put the recovery program on a drive that didn't have the photos and try to recover from the system, and then if the photos where also on the USB drive, try to recover from that

Dollardog

The stick says its full, so I'll need to delete some stuff off it until there's room.

Dollardog

What about the pictures that are listed on the USB drive that say ENC?
The decrype and open on the USB doesn't open them, is there anyway to salvage them?

What if I try to copy those onto my hard drive, or will that overwrite what I am trying to recover? Or onto a CD/DVD?

RussJK

MadTechie wrote: »

NO WAY.. last thing you want to do it add data to a drive you wish to recover from!

Except that it is the OP's hard drive that has lost the data, not the USB stick. My instructions are correct. The USB stick already has a partial backup of the 'My Pictures' folder. There is no hint that the data is 'lost' on the USB stick. Please read more carefully before muddying the waters and adding confusion.

Since the data is missing from the hard drive, then as I already stated in my posts it is best to avoid writing any more data to the hard drive (as much as possible/reasonable).

Dollardog

Could it still overwrite if I put it in another partition?
I don't have another drive to write anything to. Could get another memory stick though when I get back.

RussJK

Dollardog wrote: »

My Pictures diectory which is My Documents was what I was trying to copy.I was actually trying to copy all of My Documents folder, but the stick got too full. [...] Thanks again for your help. Hope I've made it a bit clearer.

Yes you've been a lot clearer, I just wanted to make sure I knew what you meant in case I told you something completely irrelevent.

It may be worth checking that you haven't accidentally lost more than just the pictures. Before you delete any of the 'My Documents' folder from the USB stick - make sure that those same files are still on the hard disk. Just do a random sampling of a few files and that will give you an idea. If there are files on the USB stick that aren't on the hard drive, then the files may have been moved rather than just copied.

As for the encrypted JPEGs, I'm not sure to be perfectly honest. It may even be that the verbatim program has encrypted them on your hard drive, and so made them appear as no data. The main thing is that you know not to write any more data to the hard drive, so if you need to you may be able to recover the files with the undelete tool.

Anyway, I hope you recover your files and I hope things will be okay for you.

Dollardog

RussJK wrote: »

Except that it is the OP's hard drive that has lost the data, not the USB stick. My instructions are correct. The USB stick already has a partial backup of the 'My Pictures' folder. There is no hint that the data is 'lost' on the USB stick. Please read more carefully before muddying the waters and adding confusion.

Since the data is missing from the hard drive, then as I already stated in my posts it is best to avoid writing any more data to the hard drive (as much as possible/reasonable).

As there is no room on the USB drive to download a program. What might be best is if I copy the contents of the USB stick onto a DVD. Then clear the USB stick so I can download the recovery program onto it. Might have to give up on this until I get back.