Recover photos on external hard drive: from xml files?

[dangriggs]

<p>I backed up about 500 jpeg photos onto an external hard drive. I use Windows 7 and both Picasa 3 and Photoshop Elements 11. The xml files are all still there, but I tried to move (drag) the photos themselves into a different folder, and the photos have disappeared, or are in no folder. Anyway, I can't find them, although I know they are/were on the external hard drive. How do I recover the lost photos? Can the xml files be of any help?<br>

-Daniel</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>The XML files are probably sidecar files (XMP files, which are a type of XML files). They're of no use in this sutuation most likely, to be honest. How did you try to move the photos, and which program do you now use to find them? Windows Explorer, or from either Picasa or PS Elements?</p>

[howard_m]

<p>xml's are useless for that. have you tried plugging the drive into a different computer? Do you have a backup? Have you looked into any number of file recovery software tools? (I dont do PCs so I cant recommend any).</p>

<p>It may well be a damaged directory table or something like that. But, stop using the disk until you can apply recovery tools to it. The last thing you want to do is possibly start overwriting contents of the disk.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>If you are <em>really lucky</em>, the files simply went into a wrong folder somewhere. If you can search your whole directory and subdirectories on the hard drive for one of the files by name, you might find it, and the others, safely tucked away in some place where you'd never <em>mean</em> to put them.</p>

<p>That's one of the drawbacks of the GUI; you can accidentally drag things to a place that you don't mean for them to be. </p>

<p>When I go through my files (like a librarian 'reading the shelves'), I often find a file(s) which I dragged into a folder by mistake.</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>If you know any of the file names: open Windows Explorer and search for the name. You can use * (wild card) for extension, or partial name. Start your search while at the root of the drive. If JDM's hunch is right, you might have a pleasant suprise. Good luck.</p>

[dangriggs]

<p>Wouter, Howard & JDM, thank you all. <br>

Trying to find the lost pix I used Windows Word, Picasa 3 and PS Elements--all with the same results.<br>

I think I copied the pix to a CD, but having recently moved, I will have to dig to find the CD. I don't have another computer that I can use for a search. I googled "recover lost photo from external hard drive" and a couple of other phrases, and got the software ads for recovery, but I wanted to hear from somebody who knows them whether they're legitimate or a ripoff. <br>

I have searched all the folders on the hard disk--3 times. All I have visible are the XMLs in two different places. <br>

At least I now know not to drag pix in backup! But I sure did want that damselfly shot. <br>

Again, thank you.</p>

[dangriggs]

<p>Thanks, Mendel. I'll see if I have names instead of just file numbers.</p>

 

[ali_baba2]

you should check places like the recycle bin first, Also be sure to have all your folders and files visible and search for a recycle.bin folder on your external drive... this if they have been deleted (not likely without you realizing it but...) You should also try the "restore previous version" option on the drive (right click on drive letter).

Any data on the drive is still there until overwritten so, whatever method you use, be sure to select the folder your recovered files will be written on a different drive until you recovered all the pictures you need. For the same reason disable any backup or sync software you might have that could run as soon the external drive is detected. Even the free recovery software should be able to pull up everything that has been deleted since its not too difficult of a job, There are plenty of free ones and sometimes using a couple of them does the trick. Obviously it wont recover the pictures if they arent deleted but just moved in another folder. From the sidecar files you should be able to see the name of the original file it refers to and windows search is often the simplest tool you can use... (you can also select to find all the files modified at a certain date so ...) and at the worst have it searching for every sort of picture file (will be a long list but you can filter it by date)

In any case make sure to not write on that drive until you recovered everything.

Loosing files sucks so... good luck.

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>+1 for Ali Baba: check the recycle bin. Picasa, Word or Elements are not the best programs to search for files, use Microsoft's Explorer or a similar 3rd party program and customize it so you can see all files, also hidden etc. ones.<br>

Otherwise, try one of the many file recovery programs. I had PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery installed on previous PCs but never needed it. Recuva is another freeware alternative. Or start looking for your CDs :-)</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Indeed the recycle bin, and using Windows Explorer to look in folders; the programs you used are not designed to search for files; especially programs like Elements, which uses a catalog is not what you need now. Moving files confuses PS Elements organiser enough to make it seem like you lost files, while they're actually there. When things go wrong, use the basic tools provided in Windows itself (explorer, search).<br>

For file recovery programs, I've use <a href="http://www.piriform.com/recuva">Recuva </a>on a few occassions; it's free and it works as good as can be expected. The main thing is to stop using the external hard disk until you use this tool, and avoid writing any files to it.</p>

[craig_forrester]

<p>"I backed up about 500 jpeg photos onto an external hard drive."</p>

<p>So this would mean that the original files are still somewhere else? If you meant to say 'transferred' then I can't really add to the advice given above (not a windows guy), but "backed up" means that you lost your second copies of the files.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

While Picasa isn't ideal for file management it

does one thing better than any other program I've

found: It can find photos anywhere on the drive.

 

Set up Picasa to search every drive, folder,

directory, etc. If it's on the drive, Picasa

will find it.

 

To narrow the search you can tell Picasa to

ignore GIFs and other image file formats that are

mainly associated with web browsing, videos, etc.

 

After Picasa searches the entire drive the

browser is quick for scrolling through thousands

of image files.

[T. R. Tinker]

Don't use drag-and-drop to move important files.  Copy and paste is nearly foolproof.  Use Windows Explorer to search for files, not an add-on program.

And try a google search on lost or misplaced files.  I found a bunch of emails that had disappeared after searching the Interwebs.

Files don't get erased, they just get marked to no linger display or be searchable until they're eventually written over. 

[Alfred_Pennyworth]

Use the search function in Windows Explorer to search for image file extensions (e.g., ".jpg", ".jpeg") on the entire external hard drive. This might help you locate the photos even if they are not organized in folders. Whereas, the XML files you mentioned are likely metadata files associated with your photos. While they might not directly contain the image data, they could still be useful. Some photo management software uses XML files to store information about the location of photos. If you still can't find them, then you might want to consider using photo recovery software like Stellar or Recoverit.