Problems after computer crash...help!

[squidbitz]

After my computer crashed I was able to reboot and restore most all of my items except for my photos. Now all of my photos are colleted in these 5X5 thumbnail type proof sheets that can not be broken down into single pictures without losing image quality?
Any ideas would be very much appreciated...
I can email an example proof sheet if anyone has any ideas, thanks

[RioRico]

What computer?
What OS?
How did it crash?
Did a drive fail?

If you have a WinDozePC and a drive failed, all the files can probably be restored -- but that means ALL the files that can be found on that drive, even (especially) deleted files, old versions of edits, etc. If you have thousands of pictures that you've worked on, sorting them out can be a nightmare.

One expensive nightmare was enough for me; now my pictures go onto a Raid I system, automatically backed up across two drives. If one drive fails, the other remains intact. Now I don't worry about losing pictures. And I erase 'unused' drive space every couple days, so if it WAS necessary to do another all-file restore, I don't have all those deleted fragments hanging around.

[musket]

There are a lot of file recovery programs available online if you Google for them

[squidbitz]

Dell System, WinXP, total blue screen recovered by TechHeads (company in D.C., but they were unable to find original files with full isze pics).

Musket: I searched through some of the google links but did not see one that would restore files the way that they are (proof sheets) and I can't find them after they were recovered by the Tech people.

[JimC]

Same types of questions...

Operating System?

Exactly how did it crash?

What do you mean by "I was able to reboot and restore most all of my items..."?

Restore how (from backup, if so, what kind of backup)?

Did you run any utilities to try and fix the problem (chkdsk, etc.), which is usually a *very* bad idea unless you have a good disk image of the problem drive first?

You'll need to give more details for better responses.

[JimC]

Sorry... I see you were responding at the same time I posted my questions.

But, I don't understand what these guys actually did to your PC. Did they make a disk image backup of the drive before they started messing around with it? If not, I'd be very upset.

Was it a software problem or a drive issue?

Is it the same drive you had to begin with?

Do you have any idea of exactly what steps they performed to get it to where it is now?

[squidbitz]

JimC:
they did create a backup and then reloaded everything back on to the computer.
It was a drive issue, but the only thing that was not recovered, or at least recoved in the correct format was the pictures.
Yes it is the same drive
No idea what the actual steps were

[JimC]

Do you have access to that backup, and do you know what they used to create it?

A "sector by sector" disk image backup is one thing (an exact backup of the original drive), whereas a file by file backup is something else entirely (may not have backed up everything on the drive that was recoverable).

Have you done anything like a defragment the drive or use utilities to scan and correct errors since they installed the backup on a new drive?

[squidbitz]

I have the disc they created as a backup, the pics appear the same way on the disc.

Sector by sector vs file by file...no idea

They did a defrag and scan b4 I got the computer back so everything from simple word files to mp3 to well everything else was recovered...except the pics.

I have looked on the disc that they gave me and tried to restore the pics directly from that but no help

[JimC]

What kind of "disc" (DVD, hard drive....)?