lost file path??

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Discussion

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
I was trying to post some pics of one of my cars up on a post,unfortunately Windows 7 says the original file path could not be found,
The thing is,I can look at the pictures I want but can not do anything with them,either with Adobe photo or Windows picture viewer.

I can not move,copy,post or print them and there seems no rhyme or reason to it.
for instance a batch of say 15 pictures added all showing the same date and time and obviously taken at the same time will yield around 12 working and 3 saying no file path.
any ideas??
All the pictures were copied onto my laptop via memory card/stick from another laptop(no longer working)which itself received them via our home network from our old pc(long gone but I still have the h/d,which failed),which received them originally from a memory card from the camera if that helps.

mmm-five

11,227 posts

283 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
My guess is that there was an error copying and the amount of info copied on those files was 0kb. I've had it with some MP3/MP4s that look fine until you try to open them.

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
mmm-five said:
My guess is that there was an error copying and the amount of info copied on those files was 0kb. I've had it with some MP3/MP4s that look fine until you try to open them.
I looked blankly at that for 5 minutes thinking WTF does okb mean? before realising it was 0kbsmile
The worst part is that I can view the pictures but the computer says it cant find them,
So in essence my photos are going to be stuck on a never ending loop of pc`s and laptops and with every transfer more will be imprisoned forever,look but don`t touch.
It beggers the question of how do these specialists retrieve deleted pictures from perverts and scumbags computers when I cant get my pictures off while they are still on there.
Wheres that bd bill gates?

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
shoehorn said:
I looked blankly at that for 5 minutes thinking WTF does okb mean? before realising it was 0kbsmile
The worst part is that I can view the pictures but the computer says it cant find them,
So in essence my photos are going to be stuck on a never ending loop of pc`s and laptops and with every transfer more will be imprisoned forever,look but don`t touch.
It beggers the question of how do these specialists retrieve deleted pictures from perverts and scumbags computers when I cant get my pictures off while they are still on there.
Wheres that bd bill gates?
We've had a lot more practice than you have.

grumbledoak

31,499 posts

232 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
Can you be more specific?

Which application is saying "No file path"? Is that the exact message? Is it only when you try to upload?

Can you see all the files in Explorer? Can you enable Width, Height, and/or Dimensions columns, what do they say?

Edited by grumbledoak on Tuesday 19th August 20:45

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
grumbledoak said:
Can you be more specific?

Which application is saying "No file path"? Is that the exact message?

Can you see all the files in Explorer? Can you enable Width, Height, and/or Dimensions columns, what do they say?
Windows I assume,when trying to transfer the pictures will seem to send them and then throw up the message in one of those little boxes with the yellow triangle symbol it says the original file path cant be found.
I was speaking to a couple of guys in a computer shop and they said much the same as the poster above that with the constant file transfers windows has lost bits here and there,one added that with the swap from windows files to adobe and then back again it is inevitable that whole pictures will be lost as well.
It shows the pictures that are there but I cant do anything apart from view them,while other, consecutive pictures are fine.

He also bked me for not keeping them on a good old fashioned disc which I always thought was the least safe way,you live and learn.

I do have the original pc ide hard drive for which I bought a cable to try to transfer all our stuff over with but it just drew a blank,it died in use after being noisy for ever and it contained the first copies but it has been unused for at least 10-15 years and sadly sat in flood water for a few hours 2 years back.

grumbledoak

31,499 posts

232 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
rofl Windows does not "lose bits here and there".

It isn't clear where these files are / should be. From what you have said I am guessing C: - try checking your disk:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2641432


shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
grumbledoak said:
rofl Windows does not "lose bits here and there".

It isn't clear where these files are / should be. From what you have said I am guessing C: - try checking your disk:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2641432
I can see the destination files,I can see the pictures and even the file names,addresses etc.
the problem is when I try to do anything it just says no,I dont know what system or programme has lost whatever information,all I know is that they are there and I cant get them.

Also besides your rofl and knowledge of this stuff I would not be so sure it wasn`t Windows at fault,
Apart from the fact windows is hardly the bye word for reliability
And with mind of the fact that Windows has controlled every transfer,stored and managed every task ever undertaken concerning the pictures,or has had direct control over whatever software controls the pictures I can hardly blame my number plate software.

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
shoehorn said:
I can see the destination files,I can see the pictures and even the file names,addresses etc.
the problem is when I try to do anything it just says no,I dont know what system or programme has lost whatever information,all I know is that they are there and I cant get them.

Also besides your rofl and knowledge of this stuff I would not be so sure it wasn`t Windows at fault,
Apart from the fact windows is hardly the bye word for reliability
And with mind of the fact that Windows has controlled every transfer,stored and managed every task ever undertaken concerning the pictures,or has had direct control over whatever software controls the pictures I can hardly blame my number plate software.
What happens if you right click on them and open them with a different program ?

(I'm guessing there may be something odd in the file associations and there's a missing prog. associated with those files for some reason).

littleredrooster

5,523 posts

195 months

Tuesday 19th August 2014
quotequote all
shoehorn said:
I can see the destination files,I can see the pictures and even the file names,addresses etc.
Do you mean you can see them in Windows Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer!) and Windows Picture Manager?
shoehorn said:
the problem is when I try to do anything it just says no
Sorry, but you need to much more accurate here.
shoehorn said:
When I try to do anything
What are you doing, specifically?
shoehorn said:
It just says no
What says no? What is the exact error message?


southendpier

5,254 posts

228 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Are you viewing a cached image? Is the storage drive holding the original image correctly connected?

maffski

1,866 posts

158 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
Are they shortcuts? (links to the image, rather than the image itself. They may have a small arrow on the icon.)

If so then right click on the icon and select Properties - there should be an entry called Target, which is where it thinks the actual image is.


Edited by maffski on Wednesday 20th August 09:53

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
marshalla said:
What happens if you right click on them and open them with a different program ?

(I'm guessing there may be something odd in the file associations and there's a missing prog. associated with those files for some reason).
If I right click and try opening with anything other than `preview` it sort of starts to do something,the pointer turns into the blue spinning circle for a few seconds then just returns to a pointer.
The picture files show up in an Adobe photo suite programme,when I try to view them from there it shows a screen with thumb-snaps but the same ones that I cant retrieve with Windows are all blank grey pictures with a white border.
If I hover over the viewable ones the pointer turns to a hand and hovering over the title/info beneath the picture brings up a little box with more info.
If I do the same to the non working pictures,the mouse pointer wont change and hovering over the title produces nothing.
underneath will be something like jpg.00064 with a date and nothing else.
what is puzzling me the most is how some from a batch are fine but others not.
I don`t know if this makes any difference but all my music has taken the same course,from computer to computer via sticks and cards etc. they all work fine.
The guy who does the computers for my wifes office is going to take a look later,he seems to think there is some conflict between adobe and windows.
I dread to look at all our childrens pictures that are on there as well.

I see from you profile that this is your thing,I know without seeing its impossible to tell but what are the chances that someone in your field would be able to retrieve these from my old hard drive considering its age,it stopped working in the pc,I removed it and placed it in the packaging the new one came from but 2 years back it sat in flood water for several hours?
Is it always possible,likely?or as I suspect,Ive held on to a lump of rubbish for 15 years.

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Wednesday 20th August 2014
quotequote all
shoehorn said:
I see from you profile that this is your thing,I know without seeing its impossible to tell but what are the chances that someone in your field would be able to retrieve these from my old hard drive considering its age,it stopped working in the pc,I removed it and placed it in the packaging the new one came from but 2 years back it sat in flood water for several hours?
Is it always possible,likely?or as I suspect,Ive held on to a lump of rubbish for 15 years.
TBH - the old drive is probably dead, but I can have a look at it for a PHer. I might have some spare parts which could resurrect it. Time is is the issue just now - too many crims. taking up my time!

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
quotequote all
marshalla said:
TBH - the old drive is probably dead, but I can have a look at it for a PHer. I might have some spare parts which could resurrect it. Time is is the issue just now - too many crims. taking up my time!
My wifes computer guy,whom when I mentioned this thread and Piston heads in particular,visibly slumped and let out a little sigh biglaugh,has put me on to a data retriever,who has got my H/D,all my memory sticks and cards and what remains of the older laptop that I thought I no longer had.

While drinking this evening one guy who knows bugger all said that they take out the disc and fit them to a special hard drive or replicator as he called it and that sometimes only bits of data are savable.
I accept the latter but is the removal bit true and is there such a machine that reads all h/d discs or would you need to find a similar design and fit the discs to that?

P.s.just out of curiosity (and something that`s been sort of itching me for some years now,ever since youthful curiosity,small screwdrivers and a broken hard drive revealed a very very shiny disc).
When/if you have to remove and physically clean a H/D disc how do you do it with out damaging it and have you ever found something on a computer that made you laugh yourself stupid?


Who me ?

7,455 posts

211 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
quotequote all
A thought, which the computer wizards might /might not disagree with. You say you can view the photo.So why not use the printscreen key(PrtScr)to copy the screen image and paste into photoshop? Then save.

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
quotequote all
[quote=Who me ?]A thought, which the computer wizards might /might not disagree with. You say you can view the photo.So why not use the printscreen key(PrtScr)to copy the screen image and paste into photoshop? Then save.
[/quote]
Same result,if I click anything other than view or preview,its starts its magic then stops after a few seconds.

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
quotequote all
graphene said:
Have you got a security/AV program which is moving/quarantining the files?
No,I have tried that but I have remembered one critical bit of info that had completely slipped my mind and maybe of some importance,
when my current laptop.the one holding the pictures was 9 months old the hard drive crashed,it was shipped under warranty to Toshiba in Dusseldorf and returned with a new hard drive but with all my stuff still on it,pictures,software,music etc.
They must have transferred my data from old to new,is it possible that this is where the problem lies?

Funk

26,254 posts

208 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
quotequote all
Shoehorn, I'd be happy to take a look for you via Teamviewer if you like. It sounds like you're seeing cached copies of the images, not the actual files themselves and it's possible those files aren't actually on your PC.

Edit: just read what Graphene said and I concur; if the files were copied from a dying disk it's entirely possible the original data is indeed not on the new drive. The other option is corruption of the current disk where those files are stored, rendering them inaccessible. A chkdsk may be able to fix that if that is the problem.

If the above it the case, recovery of the old disk is the only real option.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 23 August 13:03

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Saturday 23rd August 2014
quotequote all
I have spoken this morning with the guy who`s looking at the hard drive and he loaded the pictures to his computer from the same stick that I used to load them to my laptop,
He called me with good the news that all the pictures work from his computer.
Upon closer inspection it seems that he was right,all the pictures do work but all the ones that don`t work on my laptop are not even showing on his computer or the usb stick.
Which means either the stick did not get the correct info in the first place form the poorly H/D or is corrupted in some way,he made an offhand comment about people not using the safe to remove hardware button and just pulling sticks and cards out,I used to do that all the time.

He will look at the hard drive and the old laptop next week,it seems like they are my last chance,
It also looks like I will be spending a few hours next week copying everything I can on to disc.
Fortunately my wife was forward thinking and all the pictures and videos of our kids are on cd`s in our firesafe.