.PVD files

N

NRD

Active member
Hi guy's,
I am in dire need of you clever chaps to help me with my Boo Boo.

A while ago now I had a mass of photo's on my hard drive and decided to do the right thing and transfer them to a CD.
I wanted to file to be named " OURPHOTOS.jpg" to do this I simply held down the shift key as I have just done, but, I kept my finger on the shift key too long so instead of as above my file is named "[email protected]" The computer gave it this extension for whatever reason and now the file cannot be opened at all. I have tried re-naming the file but it makes no difference what you call it, the answer is the same " cannot open the file it may damaged or corrupt ". I have been all around asking questions to no avail, Googled it, same answer. Some places say give us £15 or £20 and you can use our software, but none give any promises of success ( bit much I think ). So here I am, you chaps are my last hope to save all my long kept Pictures.
Please can anyone help..........
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
What tool/application were you using to transfer the pictures to CD?

I notice you mention "mass of photos" and "file to be named ourphotos.jpg" so I'm guessing you were trying to compress all the pictures into a single archive file?

Is the .prv file on the CD or on your hard disk?

I assume you have now deleted the "mass of photos" from your hard disk? Do you not have a backup of your user data somewhere?

If the file is on a CD you might try the free CD Recovery Tool from http://download.cnet.com/CD-Recovery-Toolbox-Free/3000-2352_4-10646814.html, I've never used it though.

If the photos have only recently been deleted from your hard disk you might try the free file recovery tool at http://www.piriform.com/recuva.

It would really help if you could give us a lot more detail about exactly how you went about this transfer and exactly what happened.

:)
 
N

NRD

Active member
Hi Bright Spark, wish I was on a yacht miles from anywhere at present.

However, there is little more that I can add to my question as above other than to say that I was in the process of making this file with the intention of burning to disk. The tool / app. used was I believe Windows, it might have been Nero which I also use, I really don't remember. The hard drive in question has since died, although I still have it. The file " OURPHOTOS.pvd is on a CD which I have in my draw. If you put this into the drive to run it, then you get the message as above. That's about all I can tell you at present other than I have around several hundred important pic's that I cannot retrieve.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Ok, thanks. You might try the CD Recovery Tool I mentioned on the CD, see whether that helps. I've not used that tool so I don't know how effective it's likely to be, it's worth a try though.

Also, how dead is the old hard drive? You'd be surprised at how easy it often is to read data off so-called dead drives, if it still spins when powered-on there's a very good chance the data on there can be recovered.

First download the Recuva tool I mentioned, it's free. Install it and have a quick play around with it so you get a feel for how it works. Basically it will scan any drive you select and list those files it finds with an indicator for each whether they are recoverable or not. Then get hold of a USB caddy for your "dead" drive, they're not expensive, and plug your "dead" drive into it. Now plug it in to a USB port on your PC/laptop and run Recvua on the drive, you may well find that your pictures are recoverable, if they are copy them to your new hard disk.

If that doesn't work you may need to seek professional help (for which you'll have to pay) to get the pictures off the hard drive. Sorry I can't help more.
 
N

NRD

Active member
I have already had a go with Recuva but need more time to play. The old drive just would not boot that's why it was replaced, if it will run now or not I'm not sure but will do as you suggest and get the caddy to give it a go. I have already got a caddy but it uses SATA connection perhaps it might be usable?? However, you have been most helpful and I now have more to play with. I do not intend loosing my pic's just yet. Many, many thanks for trying anyway.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
SATA is the interface to the hard drive so the caddy you have will do fine. If Recuva doesn't work let me know, I also use another (more thorough) recovery tool, but you have to buy that one, it's worth the money though. I'll let you know about it if Recuva doesn't do the job.

:)
 
N

NRD

Active member
Hi again, here we are with yet another tale.
I have tried Recuva and as yet it does not seem to help much, however, I will continue to play. In the meantime I have dug out the old drive and opened the lid. I find that with the necessary connections in place the drive does in fact spin, the pickup arm clicks back and forth across the disc like a banshee (click-click-click-click). Using my poor knowledge of such things and thinking of a phonograph surely the arm should start outside and slowly work across to the inside in doing so picking up the data or whatever. Does any of this make any sense to you and can you come up with any other suggestions please??????
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Hmmm, opening the drive up might not have been a smart move, you may do more harm than good! Still it sounds to be working. It's not like a phonograph at all, there vis a system file on there (the Master File Table) that contains the file "directory" so a normal drive will seek back and forth quite often.

If you get no joy with Recuva the other (more thorough) tool I use is called Get Data Back, I have the NFS version of course. It's not free and it's not cheap either, but it does work - usually. ;)

Instead of paying for Get Data Back you might do better taking the drive to a repair shop and seeing whether they can recover your data, that might be cheaper?

Sorry I can't help more.

:)
 
N

NRD

Active member
Well my friend you have been much more than helpful and I thank you sincerely for what you have tried to do. With regards to my opening the old drive, I thought that if it isn't working then in my mind I could do no harm. I'm am an old retired farmer you see and if a cow couldn't crap then you put your arm in to find out why and do something about it.
Perhaps now I might play some more with Recuva now that I know the drive at least try's to work, failing that a visit to my local shop before spending more of my pension. If I do come up with any success at all in the not too distant future I will let you know.
Many, many thanks once more for your help.
Regards............
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
NRD said:
Well my friend you have been much more than helpful and I thank you sincerely for what you have tried to do. With regards to my opening the old drive, I thought that if it isn't working then in my mind I could do no harm. I'm am an old retired farmer you see and if a cow couldn't crap then you put your arm in to find out why and do something about it.
Perhaps now I might play some more with Recuva now that I know the drive at least try's to work, failing that a visit to my local shop before spending more of my pension. If I do come up with any success at all in the not too distant future I will let you know.
Many, many thanks once more for your help.
Regards............
Click to expand...

Well I hope you manage to get your stuff back. In my (longish) experience drives are seldom quite as dead as they appear and more often than not the data can be recovered. Of course, once you've put the drive up a cow's bottom all bets are off. Or did I misunderstand there? ;)

+rep for saying thank you, even though I didn't help much. :)
 
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