JPG pictures damaged when saved on hard drive.

[eriksen]

The file is only around 50kb, and I know that I saved it much larger.

 

[astroNikon]

The file is only around 50kb, and I know that I saved it much larger.

That would be the Thumbnail preview image for a larger file.
You'll have to find the larger file.

Edit: back when I first started using LightRoom I also installed some application that support thumbnail files on the disk. It created Thumbnails for all my images so I can quickly review them on with just File Explorer. It was a major PITA if you like to Edit images. I removed it fairly soon after installing it.

 

[photo1x1.com]

I don´t know how well the search function on windows works nowadays - it didn´t work well back when I used it. But on a mac I could copy the filename of the image into the search box and the finder (windows explorer) would show me all the files with that name of all the currently available harddrives within a second.
Did you try to find another file with the same name using the search function?

Sorry, I know these tips might sound easy for you, but I know many people that wouldn´t have used the search function. That´s why I thought it might be helpful.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Could it also be some sort of thumbnail from a smartphone, etc. that was stored on your harddrive during synching? Just guessing.

 

[dennybeall]

One thing that can happen is if you save thumbnails somewhere and the original file somewhere else, it's possible to copy the thumbnails to the location of the originals and Overwrite the full size versions.
The fact that you have a 50kb file says it's a thumbnail or a shot from a cheap older cellphone.
Also if you don't update file names, the new files may have the same names as older files.......