Help please -images 'lost' from My Pictures

[davenfield]

Chronology of events;

-pics from IXUS 400 downloaded into My Pictures (xp Professional) in folders according to day taken

-stored in My Docs/My Pics

-all the images were available to view within the folders

-but now, whilst the Folders are there and pictured on the front of each folder are the images that should lie behind and when you put the cursor over each folder it tells you the size of it (ie how many images should be in it) but all that is found when you double click to open the Folder is no images at all but something called a zb thumbnail (an INFO file)

-when I then try to open the thumbnail a Microsoft Photoeditor window appears that says “unknown file format”

The folders can also be seen in Recycle bin again with preview images -but again when you double click, a General tab appears confirming the size of the folder but no images



Given I haven’t deleted these images and have no idea why they have disappeared they have got to be retrievable from somewhere


Help! please

[stopbath]

Since they are visable in the Recycle bin, they must have been sent there some how.

The little thumbnail file allows XP to quickly show the contents, and this is likely used to display the thumnails in the drawer. This file is not updated for deletions if I recall correctly.

Go to the recylce bin and 'restore' one directory. This should return all those pictures. If this works, continue with the others, until you've restored all.

I did this same thing when deleting some bad photos I had. I had accidently unselected a photo, and tried deleting it. It defaulted to the parent directory, which included several other directories. Natually, I just confirmed to delete without actually reading the message (oops!). At the end, I had many restores, but never lost a shot.