I may have lost all of my photos!

[spiralstairs]

I recently bought a new computer and needed to transfer all of my photos over to the new one. Instead of copying and pasting my files to the memory stick, I foolishly cut and pasted them, and dumped them into my new computer.

However, something went wrong in the transfer and now 80% are my photos are screwed up. Most of the pictures are now 50%+ solid grey with only a sliver or portion of the remaining picture visible. I have a feeling that the pictures are ruined for good, but I just wanted to check here to see if there is any way to salvage them. I'd also like to know why this happened or if this is a common occurrence.

Thanks in advance,
ss.

 

[Mr_Bester]

If you haven't done anything on the computer you "Cut" them from, you may be able to "undelete" them. There are services that will do this for you if money isn't a concern. Or there are several different software packages that will undelete files. Just don't install onto the same drive the images were on, run from CD if necessary.
dug

 

[spiralstairs]

I've actually already gotten rid of the computer that they were previously on. So, technically I have the pictures on my new computer - they're just how they were before. I'm hoping to find a solution to get them back to their normal state, if possible.

 

[chrisk121]

PC inspector smart recovery (free) will get the pictures back from your card if you haven't taken any more pictures after you deleted them. Even if you did, its worth a try.

 

[spiralstairs]

I meant in my early response that I have the pictures on my new drive, they're just NOT how they were before.

So, the problem is: The original pictures are gone - all I have are the ones that are corrupted (?) and the only option I have is to some how un-corrupt these files. I have since taken them off my memory stick because they were corrupted on there as well. Something happened in the transfer of files from my old computer to the memory stick to the new computer.

Thank you very much for your help so far!

 

[Johnboy2978]

If you don't have access to the original drive, I think you're pretty much outta luck. The files sound like they got corrupted in the transfer, and like others have said, you could probably use recovery software if you had the original drive, but otherwise, they are long gone.

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

If the images are corrupt on the new drive, then you have lost them. You will have to look at either, the old drive where they were fine, and even if removed should still leave traces of themselves which MAY be recoverable. As you say you no longer have this then the options (and allied chances for success are somewhat shorter. The only other place where thay will be, is on the memory stick that you used to transfer them. Hope that thay were not corrupted in the transfer onto the memory stick, and that they haven't been written over. Give it a try (I have a freeware programm called "Zero Assumption" it is a little hard going but has saved me on one occasion.