[SOLVED] Help with restoring Images on an old IDE hard drive with Windows XP installed on it

[terminator123]

Hello,

I have recently purchased an IDE to USB recovery dock so I can recover information from my old Windows XP installed hard drive and open it up on Windows 10.
I managed to use recovery software to recover all my pictures which are in JPG format. However, whenever I try to open it up in any program, or converting it using an online tool it says the file cannot be opened or may be corrupted, or in paint it says 'Paint cannot read this file, this is not a valid bitmap file or its format is not currently supported'.

I hope the hard drive isn't completely corrupted and it's due to the format not being supported on a Windows 10 machine as these pictures were recovered from XP.. or if its something much worse.

NOTE: Whenever I connected the hard drive to my PC using the docking device, I could never open it up in File Explorer because it would crash and wouldn't show up in Virtual Disk drive (partitions), so that's why I tried using the recovery software which meant I didn't have to try open up the hard drive but I was able to target it in the recovery software <--- this alone is proably why the image is corrupted and/or wont open.. but if so do you have any ideas why my hard drive is doing this and how I could fix this?

I look forward to any responses.

 

[me 1]

If you try to see the file extension of one of the files,(by looking at detail or right click and properties) does it actually apear to be as jpg or not ?
What file system does your old hard drive have?
Have you tried Photorec software to get them?

 

[USAFRet]

Did you copy whatever you found to some other drive?

 

[terminator123]

Did you copy whatever you found to some other drive?

I recovered use 'EaseUS Data Recovery' a single .jpg image to see if I could actually open it up, and the issue happens. When I'm trying to open it up yes I recovered it and copied it to my SATA HDD with windows 10 on.

 

[terminator123]

If you try to see the file extension of one of the files,(by looking at detail or right click and properties) does it actually apear to be as jpg or not ?
What file system does your old hard drive have?
Have you tried Photorec software to get them?

The file system is RAW which is the issue. I haven't tried photorec yet..? and yes it does appear to be jpg in properties of the image.

 

[USAFRet]

I recovered use 'EaseUS Data Recovery' a single .jpg image to see if I could actually open it up, and the issue happens. When I'm trying to open it up yes I recovered it and copied it to my SATA HDD with windows 10 on.

Right.
It found the file name, and some fragments of the actual file.
Not being the whole thing...it is corrupt and does not open.

 

[terminator123]

Right.
It found the file name, and some fragments of the actual file.
Not being the whole thing...it is corrupt and does not open.

Are you telling me it might not be unrecoverable?
The images have the right set of KB I am to believe.

 

[USAFRet]

Are you telling me it might not be unrecoverable?
The images have the right set of KB I am to believe.

Having done a few tests with recovery software...it might be totally unrecoverable.
If some parts of it have been overwritten...it is gone gone gone.

 

[DSzymborski]

Are you telling me it might not be unrecoverable?
The images have the right set of KB I am to believe.

Yes, it might be unrecoverable, that the file size looks right doesn't really mean much here.

There's also the possibility that a data recovery firm could do more than you, if these photos are important. Though be warned that this can go over $1000 depending on the job.

Unfortunately, the only dependable way to recover lost files is to not lose them in the first place by having a proper backup scheme.

 

[terminator123]

Yes, it might be unrecoverable, that the file size looks right doesn't really mean much here.

There's also the possibility that a data recovery firm could do more than you, if these photos are important. Though be warned that this can go over $1000 depending on the job.

Unfortunately, the only dependable way to recover lost files is to not lose them in the first place by having a proper backup scheme.

Okay it's because they were on an OLD PC we stopped using long ago.
But I know that the image files wouldn't or shouldn't have been overwritten so it what instance would they be overwritten during the process of me trying to recover them?

NOTE: I'll give photorec a go and see what I can get. If not I will take your advice on board.

 

[terminator123]

Having done a few tests with recovery software...it might be totally unrecoverable.
If some parts of it have been overwritten...it is gone gone gone.

Hmm okay it shouldn't have been overwritten tho
also if EaseUs didn't have any luck recovering the files then is there any luck in Photorec working?

 

[USAFRet]

Hmm okay it shouldn't have been overwritten tho
also if EaseUs didn't have any luck recovering the files then is there any luck in Photorec working?

How do you figure isn't not been overwritten?

This is a 15(?) year old drive.
File system now reports as RAW.
What you've tried with general consumer level tools hasn't worked.

Multiple levels of "gone".

Might PhotoRec or some other tool work? Maybe, probably not.
But the more you mess with it, the less likely it is that you or anyone else can recover something

 

[terminator123]

How do you figure isn't not been overwritten?

This is a 15(?) year old drive.
File system now reports as RAW.
What you've tried with general consumer level tools hasn't worked.

Multiple levels of "gone".

Might PhotoRec or some other tool work? Maybe, probably not.
But the more you mess with it, the less likely it is that you or anyone else can recover something

Bummer, so even if i recover them with Photorec (which'll be in the same format .jpg it's likely i still wont be able to open it up on my windows 10 OS?

 

[USAFRet]

Bummer, so even if i recover them with Photorec (which'll be in the same format .jpg it's likely i still wont be able to open it up on my windows 10 OS?

A corrupted or incomplete file is broken, no matter what OS you're working with.

 

[terminator123]

A corrupted or incomplete file is broken, no matter what OS you're working with.

Okay I will finish this scan and inform of the outcome.

 

[onespeedbiker]

Did you use the Raw to NTFS utility that is included with the EASEUS data recovery software? https://www.easeus.com/resource/raw-file-system-to-ntfs.htm