just over a month ago i defrag'd my drive, before which i saved all my pic's to CD. After, i found that i could no longer view my pic's with message showing no preview available, even though the thumbs show the information for size and that the image is Jpeg, (the thumbs show no pic either). Also now a 'Data Base File' thumb is showing in each of the folders that contain the photo's. I have tried data recovery -no luck, have also put more photos in a different folder which shows the pics, and have tried to see if a new data base file has appeared in the 'Program Files', 'Windows', and other parts of the O/S that i can think of but still with no luck. Can i retrieve these pic's or are they corrupt? PS. the CD's i put my pic's on must be duff as they can not be read, have tried on a couple of other pc's as well. not having much luck. Any help please as i've run out of idea's

Did you ever view files on this CD after burning them to the disk? CDR can't get corrupted, only damaged. Sounds like you have a codec issue. If a thumpnail is showing then I would say the files are there. Have you installed new programs or software lately? The default viewer may have gotten changed.

So, you can see the filenames on the CD? Have you tried copying the files to your local drive? "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

sorry for delay in reply. Didn't check CD's which i should of done, although one of them is showing signs of the pics being there, it shows only part of the pic in preview, but if i single click the thumb, in the details pane it shows the full pic, only as a thumb though. Have not installed anything else since this has happened but being a codec issue sounds as if it could be the case. As for trying to copy them back to the drive, at the mo it wont let me. giving me a headache. If it is the codec, what can i do to find this out and fix it. Have tried system restore but has not worked

If you select Details, can you view the filenames? What happens if you then try and copy the files? What errors are you getting if any? "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown