Pictures vanished from My Pictures in XP; what next?

They didn't vanish without a trace. There are 24 blank slots where they were, as you can see in the screenshot. At first I wasn't alarmed because I'd had pictures in My Picture go blank before and then revive when I clicked on them. But they're not reviving. They all say 181 bytes.

Should I do a System Restore? I've added a number of programs. Will it get rid of them?

Any other alternatives for recovery? I don't have external backup yet, unfortunately.

What do you think was the possible culprit and what should I do about it?

Also, why does Thumbs.db appear in My Pictures from time to time? I sense it's usurping the place of pictures, but I don't have my pictures memorized. I've never been able to open Thumbs.db.


Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
32-bit
Service Pack 3

Dell DIMENSION DIM2400
Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz
x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
2.05 GB of RAM
Graphics Card: Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV
Graphics Controller, 64 Mb
Hard Drive Size 114.4GB
Free Space 35.8 GB
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp., 0G1548
Antivirus : avast!

 

He buddy, go ahead and do the System Restore to right before your problem started.

 

conceptualclarity...

Just a little bit of knowledge. Thumbs.db will be in any folder that contains pictures, but it is typically hidden. It is harmeless and normal that it is there. Sounds like you have your folder options in Windows XP set so that you can see hidden files and system files.

To change the settings back and forth, so that you can see or not see hidden and system files, follow this:

1. Open any folder
2. On the folder menu top click on Tools->Folder Options...
3. Click on View tab
4. Uncheck "Display the contents of system folders"
5. Tick "Do not show hidden files and folders"
6. Click apply and Thumbs.db should be out of view during normal operation

If you need to see the hidden files, you can just revert these settings any time. I find myself looking for things in hidden areas occasionally. It's normal as many program files are hidden down in the Documents and Settings tree in normally hidden folders...

By the way, even if your hidden files and folders are set to be hidden, you can still can still include them in search returns on your PC with the XP search client. Below "Look in" on the search interface there is a drop down titled "More advanced options". Expand this menu and then select "Search system folders", "Search hidden files and folders", and "Search subdirectories". Now your searches will be searching the entirety of each folder (including all contained directories (folders) within the search) and will be showing all of the files and folders, hidden or otherwise. This setting will stay in place, and I just leave it this way...

 

Thanks, AtlBo, it's a relief and really good to know that.

I would prefer to keep things as they are on hidden files and folders. I just prefer to be in the know as much as possible on my system (given the limitations of my knowledge).

Do you have any advice about how this deletion may have happened, what can be done, and how can I prevent a recurrence?

Once again I forgot the screenshot above. So here it is.

 

conceptualclarity...

Given the age of the PC and so on, I would say you could have failing hardware, most likely the hard drive or RAM memory. This is not a certainty, but you are in the right time frame for these issues to occur...

The thumbnails you see in the pics folder are just small copies of the pics which are created by Windows. They will stay in RAM memory for some time after you have referenced your pics folder. Eventually, they will be replaced, but if you open the folder again, they should go right back into RAM. If your PC is having difficulty pulling them from RAM, this could also be a power supply problem. If it's having trouble creating them, this would more likely be a hard drive problem I would think, although it could be a power supply problem too I guess.

With these types of problems, all of this is speculation. You are on an old PC, and eventually the hardware will fail. I would say 5 years of normal use is a good amount time to budget for replacing the power supply, hard drive, and RAM. If this is too expensive, the only althernative is to get another PC...

There are tests you can run, but I think you are looking at a decision on whether to replace parts or to buy a new (or relatively new used) PC. The tests take hours to complete, and you have to hunt down the software and install it. For the RAM test, you have to make a boot disk. Pretty big ordeal for a P4 PC.

I know it's distressing. Unfortunately, you will sooner or later have to replace hardware or get a different PC. Happens to all of us. I will say you could get a good solid used PC right now that would be much more worth the investment of replacing parts as time goes by and probably for around $100. This is what I would be considering...

Lots of options...

 

Ok conceptualclarity, I would still try the System restore because I had this problem my self and it worked on the 1st try, you can even try the Last Best Known Configuration option and see if it works before trying the Sys. Restore.

 

I have definitely seen that before. But where do you go for it?

 

Conceptualclarity, here how to get there. Restart your computer and soon as it restarts, start pressing the f8 button repeatedly until a black screen with white writing appears. It's the same as trying to get to Safe Mode. Once that screen appears use the up and down arrows to move up the Last Best Known Configuration and press Enter, you may have to press Enter twice, then just wait and see if it works. Please let us know if it does or doesn't work. If it doesn't work try System Restore.

 

Looking at your screenshot it appears all these files (images) are actually there; just no thumbnails. Can you open these files, e.g. in Paint or another imaging program?

 

Hi,

I am Shuchi from the Dell Social Media outreach team.

In order to resolve this issue you can proceed with the system restore. Please visit the following link for more information regarding the same:

http://dell.to/18S8Y5o

Also visit following link for more information on Thumbs.db:

http://dell.to/GApwGA

In case you have any further doubts or queries, Please feel free to contact me directly by sending a reply to this blog.

We would recommend you do not post your private information on a public forum.

Thanks & Regards
Shuchi S
#iworkfordell
(You can now follow us on you tube for online video support http://dell.to/13ijS47)

 

I have tried Paint and Windows Live and everything else that comes up in my right-click menu, and nothing produces any results.

Hi, Shuchi. Thanks very much for showing up.

Thanks for providing those links.

I assume you are referring to the Discussion page at the YouTube channel?

I don't know what here would count as private information. I am quite loathe to give out anything that would compromise my Internet anonymity.

 

Greetings, conceptualclarity.

Just use common sense - post nothing on an online forum or social site that you would not say to a stranger you meet on the street. I don't mind that anyone knows that I'm right-handed, am 6'2" 185 lbs., or that I have blue eyes - but I'm not gonna tell anyone my street address, my SSN and bank account numbers, etc.

As far as the images problem - if the aforementioned System Restore and other suggestions don't pan out, you might try booting the machine to a live Linux distro to see if you can open the images. If so, you could transfer them to a flash drive temporarily until you get the Windows issues resolved.

 

In response to this deletion, I finally activated my latent Google Drive account, 15GB free. I was thinking in terms of backup, but I believe it's moving my My Documents rather than copying it. Yea, I need to get backup facilitation software like more experienced users.

 

That comment reinforces the suggestion to re-hide them. Hidden Files/Folders are hidden for a few different reasons. One being to keep users with limited knowledge from doing something they shouldn't and crashing the OS or change something that they shouldn't that results in strange things happening (hint hint). They are very easy to unhide if you need to for whatever reason but you should always re-hide them when you are done.

I'm on a mobile right now and can't see the image too well but they may be referring to the screen shot. People often reveal more than they intend to when posting screen shots. But that's just my guess.

 

OK, I've pretty much exhausted options with programs I have with data recovery features. I never would have dreamed I had so much capacity for recovering photos I'm not interested in recovering and never downloaded in the first place. So if I go the System Restore route will that eliminate the programs I've added in the last week?

I am very inhibited about doing or changing things I don't understand, being aware of the possibility of very unpleasant unforeseen consequences. But thanks for the suggestion.

I'm very aware of what is revealed by screenshots I post. I've sometimes used erasers before posting them.

It appears to me that after uploading My Documents to Google Drive I still have it on C.

 

Google Drive is a nightmare for my XP. Its googledrivesync.exe is a Godzilla on both memory and CPU Usage. Probably the worst program I've encountered on the latter. I will have to find different online backup options as soon as possible. I should've known from my experiences with the heaviness of Google Chrome.

 

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply. Please let me know if you experience any difficulty. You can also visit the support videos on you tube for troubleshooting steps.

Please do not share your contact details as well as your system specific information like a service tag or order number on a public forum as someone can misuse it.

Thanks & Regards
Shuchi S
#iworkfordell