Camera/ computer savy, help?

[Bradley G]

I got a memory stick that can not be read by the computer.
I can see the little pictures as thumbnails?
But when I try to open them bigger, they are cut off .
Thier are some precious wedding Pics and WFC2005 on there.
The error messege I get is "The following problem occured while copying pics.
The File or directory is corupted and unreadable.
I had my daughter help me, I asked if I could at least save it to another File/format.
We got;
The error message Parameter is incorrect.
Is it a lost cause?
Can I take the chip to a retal photo place, to be copied ?
I may have even asked this before:stupid:

[Breadfan]

What kind of chip is it? SD, CompactFlash, etc?

How are you trying to get them off? Are you using an image editor for the camera that fetches them? Or are you using a card reader attached to a USB port that shows up as a "Removable Drive" in Explorer?

(I'm assuming you're using Windows.)

If the chip is bad and the pictures are corrupt that would be a shame and difficult to recover them. You could try one of the instore photo printers, but often times they use Windows and if the chip itself is bad they will have similar difficulties.

The thumbnails may show up because the actual thumbnail info is cached into a hidden file called Thumbs.db - once built it will read from that file to recreate the thumbnail images on your computer - so they may show up complete even if the portion of the chip that holds the actual images is corrupted.

If you cannot pull them off you can try to run a "chkdsk" from explorer on the removable drive. Most of them in Windows format using FAT. Not sure that'll help much, but it's worth a shot.

Are all the pictures like this or just some?

[Bradley G]

Thanks for the reply
They are memory sticks.
we tried the picture program and the widows option.
a couple pics I was able to download.the rest won't copy.
What kind of chip is it? SD, CompactFlash, etc?

How are you trying to get them off? Are you using an image editor for the camera that fetches them? Or are you using a card reader attached to a USB port that shows up as a "Removable Drive" in Explorer?

(I'm assuming you're using Windows.)

If the chip is bad and the pictures are corrupt that would be a shame and difficult to recover them. You could try one of the instore photo printers, but often times they use Windows and if the chip itself is bad they will have similar difficulties.

The thumbnails may show up because the actual thumbnail info is cached into a hidden file called Thumbs.db - once built it will read from that file to recreate the thumbnail images on your computer - so they may show up complete even if the portion of the chip that holds the actual images is corrupted.

If you cannot pull them off you can try to run a "chkdsk" from explorer on the removable drive. Most of them in Windows format using FAT. Not sure that'll help much, but it's worth a shot.

Are all the pictures like this or just some?

[MENINBLK]

I got a memory stick that can not be read by the computer.
I can see the little pictures as thumbnails?
But when I try to open them bigger, they are cut off .
Thier are some precious wedding Pics and WFC2005 on there.
The error messege I get is "The following problem occured while copying pics.
The File or directory is corupted and unreadable.
I had my daughter help me, I asked if I could at least save it to another File/format.
We got;
The error message Parameter is incorrect.
Is it a lost cause?
Can I take the chip to a retal photo place, to be copied ?
I may have even asked this before:stupid:

Brad,

I believe this free application can retrieve media
from damaged Flash Memory cards.
Look here.....
http://www.download.com/3000-20-10345832.html?part=undefined&subj=dl&tag=button



Pete...

[ckadiddle]

Yhat looks like it's worth a try. I have never used it though. You might try googling for "data recovery". I do know there are businesses that specialize in such things.

[Bradley G]

Thanks a bunch!:bows:
I loaded the file I will try and use it to recover the pics!

[mtenderenda]

Sometimes the Windows based program that views pictures like these are flaky...You can try the program that came with the USB flash card....I'm a Computer tech, just letting you know.....Don't trust Windows based applications...Because i don't....