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External HD Problem

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PAUL161

PAUL161

Great Pumpkin
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My external HD has all my photos stored on it which I update around once a month, it also has quite a bit of other information stored on it. The problem is, I can access everything on the drive but my photos. Not sure why this happened as it was fine about three weeks ago. For some reason I'm being told that I don't have permission to access this folder, meaning my photos. I have finally got into the files and they will display on the screen, but will not open as a photo, nothing I have tried works. Any ideas? I've run antivirus programs, defragged and optimized the drive but to no prevail. Open to all suggestions. PJ
 
Are you trying to access the photos from the same computer you created the photos folder with?
 
GregW said:
Are you trying to access the photos from the same computer you created the photos folder with?
Click to expand...

Yes Greg, the photos come up in a box as if they would open, but there are no graphics displayed. Crazy as I never experienced this before. I'll keep working on it. Other folders open with no issues, just the photos. PJ
 
Paul - could you attach a screen capture of what you see?

Would be helpful to better understand "the photos come up in a box as if they would open, but there are no graphics displayed."

Thanks.

 
Paul, do you have access to any other computers? If so, try it one another computer.
 
Well fellas, I got it sorted out. I had two problems, maybe three, not sure if one caused the other but all is well now and I have full access to my photos and all programs. I first ran an anti virus program, then a malware program and then ran a driver update. I have a tendency to believe it was a malicious file of some sort coming through my email. Took all day of running various programs to solve it. After everything started to return to normal, I ran a deep scan of the HD and it picked up some more bad files. Amazing how fast this thing got corrupted. What ever it was actually shut my firewall off in the process. Thanks for all the interest in helping solve this problem, much appreciated. :encouragement:. PJ
 
Paul - good to hear you've got it cranking again.

It's an external hard drive. Was it connected via USB cable?

Many external USB devices can get "corrupted" if removed/unplugged while the computer is running, if they were removed without choosing "Eject" from the File Manager (File Explorer). There's also an external USB device tool in the tool bar. It's called "Safely Remove Hardware" and looks like this when the device is plugged in:

safely-remove-hardware.jpg


It's the icon with the green arrow. Click to safely remove an external device.

Tom M.
 
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I helped a friend with his ailing computer. Malware had done just what you describe. It changes the permissions of the folder so you can't see where the file is. By shutting all programs down that didn't need to be running, I was able to change the permissions and delete the files. Took a bunch of time.
 
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