JPG files corrupted by zip.

[Traveller]

Hi All.

W98SE
IrfanView
IZArc

I created a zip file from a number of jpg images. All the images were fine prior to this. When I tried unzipping the file, some of the files won't open in IrfanView anymore. It is saying "can't read file header" and "unknown file format or file not found".

Are my images lost forever?

I have tried to repair the archive in IZArc, however, the files which won't open have the word "corrupted" next to them.

Please can anyone help????

How do I avoid this happening in future? Is zipping files not a good idea to store files then?

Thanks!

[Mark H]

Zipping should be fine in the future, but the best way to protect data is to make regular backups. Your files may be gone and I really don't have any suggestions at this time that might help beyond trying to use some different zip programs or move the zip file to another machine and try unzipping it there.

Mark H

[Traveller]

Thanks for the advice Mark H. I don't have another machine, but I do have other hard disks, so I'll give that a try. The correct sizes of the corrupted files still appear, so I'm hoping that maybe the image is lurking somewhere in there. I have also tried opening them in Paint, but no luck. I'm VERY reluctant to zip anything from now on!

[Traveller]

Hi JA.

I deleted the originals. I usually do that to save space.

I've just tried a trial of BadCopy Pro, which doesn't let you save the image again but does let you preview it if it managed to fix the image, however, even this gave me the following error "Invalid or corrupted image, unable to preview".

I've also tried a hex editor and have noticed that there is a huge difference in the characters between the corrupted files and similar working files; at least the first twelve rows in fact! The corrupted files also do not start with the characters FFD8, whereas the working ones do.