Computer techies help!

[Ron]

I have a bunch of pictures saved on my hard drive.

One of the folders that has around twenty pics has "changed". Don't know how.

All the information for the pics is still there, still called JPEGs, still has how big a file each pic is.

They just will not open and cannot be seen in any of my programs.

The error that comes up in Elements is  "The JPEG marker segment length is too short (the file may be truncated or incomplete)"

Also a new file is in the folder with the JPEGs called "Thumbs.db"

It seems information from the pics is now in this file.

WTF? is there any hope of repairing these files in this folder?

I was actually going to burn a disk of these pics just to have a back up and now it is too late.

[Gewehr98]

You must be using ThumbsPlus software as your graphics manager and viewer. I use the same software myself. If not, somebody else is, and the Thumbs Database file (thumbs.db) has been created in the folder where the graphics reside.

Upon installation, sometimes ThumbsPlus will make itself the default graphic file viewer by changing file associations away from other programs like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Photo Editor, or whichever default graphics viewer software you had running before ThumbsPlus took over.

It should be easy to fix.  Under Windows XP and most earlier versions, simply go to the folder the images are stored, then use the TOOLS/FOLDER OPTIONS/FILE TYPES menu to reset the file type associations of your .jpg and other graphics formats back to what it was before ThumbsPlus was installed. 

[Ron]

Thanks, but it must be something else.

In properties the file is told to be opened in windows pic and fax viewer.

Nothing will open these JPEGs. I've tried Paint, Irfan View, Windows, Adobe Elements etc...

Adobe is the one that gave me the error clue.

[Gewehr98]

Thanks, but it must be something else.

Maybe, but somewhere ThumbsPlus got added to the software mix, intentionally or otherwise.  You did say you found a Thumbs.db file in the graphics folder, nicht wahr?  Care to guess what created that particular file?

[Marnoot]

Thumbs.db is just the file Windows itself uses to store the thumbnail images of all the image files in the directory. You'll find thumbs.db on a fresh, new clean install of Windows if you've ever used the thumbnail folder view. It's hidden by default, so you might not normally see it, but it is definitely a Windows file.
Sounds like some corruption problems with the files. You may want to run checkdisk. Click Start-->Run, type in "cmd" (if windows 2000/xp, "command" if 95/98/me). At the dos prompt, type in "chkdsk c:" (replacing "c" with whatever drive the images are on. It will tell you if it finds disk problems, at which point you'd run "chkdsk c: /f". This will require rebooting if you're doing this on the C: drive. I'd give that a try to rule out disk corruption.

[InfidelSerf]

don't worry about the "Thumbs.db" file.  That is a cache file windows creates whenever you view the contents of a folder of pics as thumbnails.
You can delete it.. it will come back if you view the folder as thumbnails.

Have you checked on some of the most obvious causes? i.e. done a complete up to date virus scan and spyware scan.  Since many viral files have been known to attack specific file types.

Which leads to the next check. Are all .jpgs affected? or just those in the folder of question?

Have you tried viewing any of the questionable files in a different image viewer than you usually use?*NM just noticed the post about the other apps*
Personally I prefer ACDSee for image management. But it's not freeware.

[Ron]

Which leads to the next check. Are all .jpgs affected? or just those in the folder of question?

Just this one folder.

I compared it to other folders and cannot see anything different in the properties or any other places I normally fear to tread.

I haven't done any scans but I will tonight. My virus and spyware run every night anyway.

I did do a defrag hoping something missing would be put where it belongs.

[Ron]

check disk came up with some issues.

Do I do a fix (/f) from that same dos window or do I have to reboot and run in dos?

[Marnoot]

from the dos prompt, type "chkdsk c: /f", it will then ask if you want chkdsk to run on next boot, answer Y for yes, type "exit" to leave the dos prompt, then reboot the computer. Then during boot, chkdsk should run and fix what if found wrong.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

chkdsk /R will also work; it assumes /f and will repair any bad sectors.

in the command window run chkdsk /? to see these options.

You will need to restart your computer to let it run chkdsk. It will give you a timed option to abort the chkdsk on restart if you decide against running it.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[lee n. field]

Do I do a fix (/f) from that same dos window or do I have to reboot and run in dos?

Depends.  What version of RedmondOS are you running? 

For Windows 2000 or any variant of XP you do that somewhat differently than W95/98/ME.   Boot into the recovery console not "dos".  Run "Chkdsk c: /p" (scan and fix file system problem) until it runs clean.  For good measure, you might also run "chkdsk c: /r" (all that and attempt to "fix" (copy data off and mark bad) bad sectors)).

For W2k or XP, check your system event log for disk errors.  If any show bad block errors, the hard disk needs replacing.

[Ron]

Thanks folks, nothing I've done has helped.

I did burn copies of these pics for a friend a while back. I'll see if I can get the disk and re copy them.