# Cannot open jpeg files after burning to CD-RW



## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

I recently switched computers and in the process, I burned approximately 2,000 photos onto two discs for backup and to transport them into my new computer (old computer is long gone). The problem now is that I am unable to open more than half of the photos. Both discs contain missing photos; however, they usually are missing in huge chunks (one chunk is almost 400 photos thought some can be as small as four). The photos were taken with various cameras and some are scanned photos; there is no correlation between this and the ones, which are missing. The file names are in tact and the file size seems consistent with the non-missing photos (2 MB for jpg and 5 MB for tif files); however, the thumbnails appear just as enlarged icons. Furthermore, if I try to copy/paste or send the files from the CD to my computer, I get an error message stating, Cannot copy (file name): the parameter is incorrect. So far, I have tried to open the files using various photo editing programs and viewers, but nothing seems to work. Please help; these photos are my life...literally!!!!

Old Computer: Windows 98, Roxio CD Creator, Memorex CD-RW Discs

New Computer: Windows XP Home

*ERROR MESSAGES*

Windows Picture Viewer: No Preview Available

Canon ZoomBrowser EX: Not Responding and program freezes

Microsoft Paint 5.1: An unknown error occurred while accessing __jpg

Digital Print 1.0: PhotoAlbum has encountered a problem and needs to close...

Photoshop Elements 1.0: Could not open __jpg because a JPEG marker segment length is too short (the file may be truncated or incomplete).


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## Dreambringer (Jan 19, 2005)

what are the file names... I dont know if this makes a differnce.. but it seems like something is missing..

in the errors they are *__jpg* and there should be a *__.jpg* for the file extention.. but I see that in both the MS Paint and the Photoshop... so that could be a problem if they are not named correctly, and I do not know for sure.. but someone please correct me if I am wrong..


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Oh...I put the line there to represent any file name. In other words, depending on whatever file I try to open, it is that file's name which is substituted for the blank in the error message. Yes, you are correct it is the file name and then .jpg or .tif.

Thank you for your very, very quick response!


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## Dreambringer (Jan 19, 2005)

Oh ok.. hmm then I am not 100% sure.. have you read thru this post, may offer you some answers.. sounds very similar 

Cannot Open Image - Techguy.org


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Yes thanks, I actually did read it before I posted my question. His files were only 4KB, mine are 2MB-5MB. I was really hoping this was to my advantage and I would not have to go through what he went through.

Perhaps, the downloads they suggested could be of help, but I am not too familiar with such things.

http://www.irfanview.com/main_download_engl.htm

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcinspector.html


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

I suspect that the files really are corrupted.

Did you burn them in one session, or in groups? If in groups, then it is quite common to get errors in a group, as the entire TOC is rewritten each time, and CD-RW are the most unreliable media at the best of time.


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## xgerryx (May 16, 2003)

Drago1 
I would be quite happy to have a go at opening a sample if you like. If you are happy with this click on my profile send me a pm.


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Kiwiguy...That is the strange thing...I actually burned each CD-RW in one session. That is why I cannot understand why some files are okay and the others are not. It is frustrating because I can see that there is clearly MBs of info in each file, yet I have no way to access it.  

Right you are!...Through out my research I have also learned that CD-RWs are the worst media for storing photos; moreover, burning should be broken up into multiple sessions of that magnitude. (Monday Quarterback)


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Thanks for the offer. Im not sure if the missing files uploaded correctly. I uploaded a good file for comparison and it transferred differently. Okay, it seems that the files on one disc will upload, but the files on the other disc will not budge at all. Like I said in my original post...I cannot copy/paste or send to, hence I may not be able to upload either???? Lucky for me, 80% of the missing photos are on the will not budge disc


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## xgerryx (May 16, 2003)

Irfanview say:
Can't read file header !
Unknown file format !

As Kiwiguys says, they could well be corrupt. I don't know.

You mentioned some 2 MB jpg and 5 MB tif files. These are to big to be uploaded here (limit 200 KBs). So my offer still stands. Can you open some of them and not others.

Be a shame to lose them, they look like nice pics.
Just took a bit of the green out of this one for you.


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## uly7 (Jan 27, 2004)

Do you have Roxio in the new computer?
For some reason I have a problem with Roxio as default CD burner, because in the past, some of my pictures that were burned using Roxio, cannot be opened in some computers. The only way to open them was by using Roxio as a picture viewer, then I copied the pictures back in my computer and burned them with XP drag and drop default burner. 
Roxio is long gone out of my PC.
Can this be the problem, or is this only my imagination?  
One more question, Do you format your CDs?
Uly7


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## johnni (Dec 16, 2003)

Drago1 - I think you wrong in saying CD-RWs are the worst medium for storing photos as in fact they are probably the worst medium for storing ANY data. That said, I have been using formatted CD-RWs for storing photos for years but only as backup media. They do tend to suffer problems but I have always received warnings in the form of 'backup your data and reformat' which I have done until it happens too often and I replace the disk. The lesson is to use a cd-RW, 'burnt' or 'formatted', as backup only, and not as sole storage.

johnni


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## theseif (Jul 5, 2004)

I tried to open one of them with PSP9, no go. Looks like they've been corrupted. That's a shame, I guess you can rescan the photos but the dig. one's are probably lost. If you've sent some to other people you may be able to get copies from them.
I never use RW's, had problems with them way back when and placed them all in the round file. I buy the 100 stacks of R's and back up at least once a week, that way I have many copies of all of my files accept the recent ones, but it perpetrates. I never burn at the full speed of the burner, always cut it in half, less chance of file corruption. Been using Easy CD creator since version 3 (Adaptec then) and had problems with the early versions but the program has been pretty stable since version 5. With the program you can chose to leave the CD open to further sessions or close it so nothing else can be written to it. I've never had any problems reading or copying from the CD to another PC either way. The latest version of Roxio (Media Creator 7) has a CD repair feature which may or may not work, I've never had much luck with it. I believe there are other programs available which attempt to repair a CD, but I don't know if they work or not. Good luck, I know how it feels to lose files that are irreplaceable, that's why I started my current back-up 
policy.
Edit: Sorry just read the part in your first post about the Canon Zoombrowser. I had this problem with my Zoombrowser after I installed XP's SP2 on my PC. You have to go to the Canon site and download and install a patch/update to get the program to work in SP2 although the update info does not specifically say that, it just say's it's an update for the program.


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

You might try the free version of IsoBuster to see if you can get the files off the CD. If you formatted the RWs you will have to use the pay version, but it is reasonable for a recovery program: http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/

It is all one download. The page explains that the entire older version functions are free but UDF requires registration. Formatted RW writes in UDF.

If you checked them on the old computer and they were all reading OK, you might try reading the CD on another computer. If you formatted the RWs you will have to use a computer with Roxio software or the free Roxio UDF reader.

There are also quite a few programs you have to pay for that purport to extract corrupted files from a CD. This is just the first I ran across. You might look around for another free one if IsoBuster doesnt work. http://www.008soft.com/products/cd-data-recovery.htm


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## islandguy (Mar 3, 2002)

You could try the evualation version of Photo rescue pro
http://www.objectrescue.com/download/?PHPSESSID=638c27ceaae0db8131b1c1a2412829fa#photorescuepro


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Wow...gone a day and so many replies!

*Xgerrx:* 90% of the files are over 1.5 MB so I had to fish around for some smaller ones. Yes, I can open some, but not others. As for the files that I cant open, I cannot cut, copy, move, send or attach them. However, on the first CD there are some missing files that I can cut, copy, move, send and attach. That is how I uploaded the jpegs earlier. All files were all burned in the same session and they all have retained their previous size.

*uly7:* I do not have Roxio on my new computer, but I was thinking like you, so I did try to open the files on a computer that had the exact version of Roxio that I used to burn the photos...unfortunately my luck was no different.

_Do you format your CDs?_ -- If it is something that I have to do deliberately, than NO, I dont think so.????

*johnni:* Thanks for the advice. I did not realize how unreliable CD-RWs were until now. What is this formatted disc? I know my DVD burner does it automatically when I insert a new DVD, but should I be doing something more to safeguard my data on CD-RWs?

*theseif, slipe & islandguy:* Thanks for the suggestions, I will try them out and get back to you. But tell me, if my disc is not formatted is this avenue pointless? As far as checking the photos on the old computer...I DIDNT.  I usually do, because there has been a few times I have burned photos onto a CD to print only to discover that they were corrupt when I picked them up from the lab. I suppose with 2,000 photos and no visual thumbnails that would have been a chore...nevertheless, I wish I had now.


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## johnni (Dec 16, 2003)

Drago1 - to format a CD-RW you need packet-writing software such as Nero InCD (which I use without problem) or Roxio EasyCD. It takes about 30 minutes to format a disk and you lose about 100mb of space on it, but when done you can use the disk just like a large floppy or small hard drive. Best for backups only. I certainly keep a lot of photos on mine, again as backups, and haven't lost one yet, but they are not very large in size - about 200kb each on average.

johnni


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

If you dragged or copied the images into the EZ CD Creator window you didnt format and made the CD with regular mastering software. IsoBuster was a completely free program at one time and highly thought of. All of the functions of the old program are still free. It isnt free if you formatted the RW but is free the way you appear to have burned it. Free is not pointless  it is a good program and worth a try.


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Hey Johnni: Tell me; is Roxio Direct CD like formatting? Are there additional benefits to formatting a CD besides convenience? Can you see past sessions this way? For fuirture reference, in your opinion, what would you say is best way to backup photos on a disc...besides to do it more than once? 

	Formatted, unformatted
	Drag/drop, select files from folders, direct CD
	CD-R, Data CD-R, CD-RW
	Speed 2x, 4x, 8x
	Single session, multiple sessions etc


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

I downloaded and installed IsoBuster. http://www.isobuster.com 

I only received the below error messages though it did produce files that could now be cut/paste etc. Files were extracted in original size too.

*Extract (Both Types) * 
_Sector ##### couldnt be read
Error: (File Name)_

_RETRY
IGNORE this sector or
QUIT_

*Sector View*
_Device reported Error Code: (File Name)

The primary Volume Descripter is unreadable
Read error at address 16_

After this I downloaded and installed CD/DVD Data Recovery. However, again I received an error message.
http://www.008soft.com/products/cd-data-recovery.htm

Lastly I tried ObjectRescue. After six long hours it retrieved one third of one photo.
http://www.objectrescue.com/downloa...#photorescuepro

Im going to seek out the Media Creator 7 repair function. If this doesnt work should I just assume they are gone? Does anyone know what might have caused this? What is the explanation for the jpegs large file size?


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## johnni (Dec 16, 2003)

A lot of points you have raised, many of which I cannot answer!

As far as I know Roxio Easy CD is the formatting program but I have only ever used Nero (for burning) and Nero InCD (for formatting); perhaps a Roxio user will advise.

Why are your photos so large? They needn't be unless you want enormous detail for A4 printing purposes. I always limit my photos, whether from digicam or downloaded or scanned to anywhere between 50kb to 200kb which allows fast writing/reading and I don't print very often. I believe your very large images might put a strain on writing (burning) facilities, but I don't know. Any photo can be reduced in size with an imaging program; I use Arcsoft Photo Studio but you can play around with sizes (and have a slide show if you want) with the free Irfanview from www.irfanview.com

Going back to burning, the slower the write speed the more dependable the result; I have an old, slow, but extremely reliable CD writer which I use to burn at 2X or sometimes 4X. Obviously it takes longer but so what? As I said before I format disks (CD-RWs) with Nero InCD and you really can read, write, rename etc just like with a hard disk; if you delete something then it is gone but if you confine yourself to backups only then you have the chance to replace. You can add/delete folders/files as many times as you like, until the dreaded 'backup and reformat' message appears - which you ignore at your peril! I have found that it is best to insert and delete CD-RWs while the PC is on - I mean do not leave the disk in the drive when off. Incidentally, if you did decide to format you can eject a disk only by right-clicking the taskbar icon (showing red when empty, green when a disk is inserted), or from My Computer, drive letter, eject. Speed does not apply with a formatted disk as you are not 'burning', only 'copying'.

Sorry I can't advise on how to recover your images but I think you should look into reducing file size and burning speed if you want better reliability when burning data (which photos are, normally).

Just re-read your post: when 'burning' DATA I find with Nero Express (nice and easy) that single or multiple sessions are quite OK.
The main object of formatted disks is convenience.
I use an external hard disk (USB1) for main storage and formatted CD-RWs for the backup. Obviously using an internal hard disk is just as good, and even better for backups. As always don't keep everything on one disk, whatever its type.
If you have a series of photos that you want to preserve indefinitely then use 'burning' to a little used CD and look after it carefully - scratches will eventually shorten its life (and hard disks can suddenly fail!) so maybe have a carefully selected CD (or two or three) of little used permanent storage.

God luck in the future.

johnni


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## theseif (Jul 5, 2004)

Direct CD is supposed to format a CD-R ( and I guess RW, I don't use them) so that you can use them like a floppy (cut -n-paste / drag-n-drop). Of course with a CD-R you can only use it until it's filled up. It's a good idea but I never used it much because it didn't work reliably. I'm not sure what the others are talking about when saying they "format" a CD. I think possibly that different burning programs use different "terminology" for things. I always thought "format" just meant that the program writes certain data and files to the CD to make it readable in all optical drives. In some programs like Easy CD Creator you have a couple of choices when you burn. Media Creator 7 has something similar to Direct CD called "Drag to Disc". I haven't use it much but it seems to work better than the former "Direct CD". I've found that if you only want to use the CD on the same PC that you burned it on Direct CD works okay, but if you want to use the CD in any PC then burn it using the regular program window. I have 3 PC's sitting here so I always use the last method. A little info, Media Creator 7 is not just a burning program but a suite of interacting media programs (image editor, video editor, sound editor, etc,) so it's fairly expensive ($90) I think Roxio makes a new stand alone burning program but I'm not sure and I don't know if it comes with the repair feature.
If you are using a 3 or more mega pixel digital camera and have it set to the finest (best) setting the files will be over a meg. . How much content or detail there is in the picture will determine the size. Example: A picture file of many trees will be larger in file size (more data) than a picture of one tree shot with the same camera settings. If you are scanning the pictures and using a higher resolution (say 300 dpi instead of the standard 200) then of course you will get a much larger file size. Scanning is a little tricky, a higher dpi is not always better depending on the size of the hard photo. Wallet sized photos scanned at a high dpi may look weird. You have to experiment with the dpi.
What you want to use the pictures for should be the determining factor. If you may want to print it, bigger is better. I always shoot and scan pictures at the highest settings just in case I want to print it later, I can always copy them and resize the copy down if I want to Email it. If I know I'm scanning a photo in order to print it I will also save it in a non-compressed file format such as .png or .bmp. or .tif , so as not to lose data. With a digital camera you can use the .raw format for this if you have an editor that supports it. If not then you have to use the .jpg, I don't know what compression ratio or type that cameras use but I'd imagine it's low.
Hope this was helpful, sorry about your lost data.


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## danreese (Jul 15, 2004)

R dics, CD-R etc, do not have to be formatted, only RW, CD-RW etc. If you have more than 1 packet writing program on your computer, InCD and Drag to Disc fro example, they will literally fight with each other and cause lots of problems. I agree with others, do not use RW anythings, they cause the most problems with home players, both stand-alone and computer. Discs are so cheap now, better to end up with a few coasters than risk using RWs! Good luck.


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## Drago1 (Mar 17, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the valuable info. I still have not been able to retrieve my photos, but at least I gained a lot of valuable knowledge of what NOT to do next time. Im going through old discs trying to extract some files from past sessions. I have also located some chucks of photos here and there, which I had sent copies to friends and families. In the end hopefully, not much will remain at large. Thanks Again!


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## acorns (Apr 25, 2005)

I have been having exactly the same problems but fortunatly had the burner that I used to burn the photo files laying around (a Cheap LG, CD/RRW).

At a last ditch attempt I hooked it up and and low and behold the pictures are now available for preview. 

It is as if the last few nights trying magically make them appear was a complete waste of time.

Also when trying to look at pictures before they had small 'thumb.db' attached in each folder. In the CD/RW the 'thumbs.db' have all gone and everything is back to normal. Panic over, if you can give it a try you might get lucky!!


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## 911 (Mar 26, 2003)

There are a couple of programs that could help. One is PC inspector (Smart Recovery) that I have used to recover damaged photos. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcinspector.html You will need another drive or partition, because the recovered images cannot go onto the drive with the original images.

The other is IrfanView which can open many different filetypes, and can recognize and correct improperly named formats. This is not a big help if the images are damaged. 
http://www.irfanview.com


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