Dan821 Loc: Traveling........

Before you do anything to that external drive, you need to make sure that the files are indeed damaged or corrupted. It may just be a supported file viewer or something is missing from your rebuilt drive. You didn't say if whatever PP software you are using was giving the error, or if it is something like Windows Media viewer or whatever.
Try using the external drive on a different pc or make sure that whatever file viewer/support software that you are using can read that type of file.

Bill Emmett Loc: Bow, New Hampshire

Hello Ron, You are still not out of the woods, even though you wired your computer to a separate circuit. You need to use at least a power surge protector, or a uninteruptable power supply for full protection against line in filters. This is especally needed in areas of electrical storms, and power surges on the main line into your house. The starting of a large electrical motor on your house line in will cause a short power surge in your entire house wiring. This could be an A/C unit, power saw, or any electric motor.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm very, very lucky, I guess. I've never kept a machine more than four years, and then I get another and use the second as a - second. I use a surge protector and UPS. Even if we don't get a full power outage, we do get the occasional blip in the flow of current. The battery keep the machine running.

GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

I have a battery backup and surge protector by cyberpower that my computer is hooked through. The times when I had a failure is when there was a thunder and lighting storm or power failures. The addition of the backup power supply has stopped all that for me.

CanonFire Loc: Phoenixville, PA

I lost a usb drive and managed to recover, not all, but a good bit of my files with "PC Inspector File Recovery". It's a free program and it's non-destructive so you have nothing to lose by trying it if you choose too.

I feel your pain and hope you're able to recover your files.

outsider Loc: Antelope Valley, California

[quote=lockdown]Went to get my laptop fixed so thay said that thay saved my photos for me 2700 of them. To make a long story short. I had to give them my exturnal drive for thay could down load my pictures because thay couldn't down load them back on my laptop??? When I got my pictures back a pop up showed me that the files are unsupported damaged and or corrupted. Has this ever happened to any one and if it has. Is there a way I can get my pictures back. As a photographyer, I love my pictures and thay are priceless to me. Help me if you can cause i'm felling down:-([/quo


If the files are raw and they reformatted the hard drive on your laptop make sure you still have the codecs for the raw files. If not, redownload and reinstall the codecs. This happened to me years ago and solved the issue.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS). It goes into the wall, has a battery that kicks in if there's a power failure. The better UPS units smooth the power coming from the wall before it goes to the computer. You get several minutes (more if you pay for it) to do a normal shutdown, which prevents many problems. You can also run your phone/fax line through it and your internet cable. APC, Belkin and others make units. APC has a feature where you can tell it what equipment you have (computer, monitor, external hard drives, etc.) and how long you want power, and then they recommend a unit.

A company I consulted at had a lightning strike one weekend. Someone called me saying that his computer wouldn't boot up. The UPS was blown out. I plugged him directly into the wall socket temporarily and took the UPS. His computer worked fine. When I opened the UPS, the battery was swollen in the frame. I called APC, and they said not to even think about trying to remove the battery. I sent the unit to them, and they sent a replacement without waiting for the defective unit to reach them. Without the UPS, the computer would have been totally fried.

photo guy Loc: Chippewa Falls, WI

:thumbup:

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

An "ex" is a has-been; a "spurt" is a drip under pressure.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

And one of them plays with a polished two inch ball of ostrich scat!
http://www.maclife-digital.com/maclife/200909/m3/Page.action?pg=48

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I remember that show. That was one time when, "Do not try this at home," was not necessary - also, the show where they made a candle out of ear wax. Uck!

Burkard01 Loc: SW Michigan, USA

If you still have that old hard drive, put it in a zip lock bag, and put it in the freezer over night. Then in the morning put it back in your computer as a separate drive. Then try transferring the pictures from that drive to your new hard drive. When the old drive dies again, take it out and refreeze it. And start from where you left off. You may be able to recover your entire photo library.

Burkard01 Loc: SW Michigan, USA

If you still have the old hard drive, put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in the freezer over night. Then take it out of the freezer and put it in a desktop as a slave drive. Then try transferring your files from the slave drive to your master drive. Keep doing it until the hard drive fails, then bag it and freeze it again. Keep doing that until you get all your files, or it no longer works.

Bangee5 Loc: Louisiana

Wait a minute there... put your hard drive in the freezer over night? What dose that do for the drive. What is the idea behind that. Please, I would really like to know.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I think that's a left-over post from April 1.