Damaged jpg pictures from RAID1 array

Hi. I would like some help, if even possible, recovering some pictures. It's so odd how it happened. I had a bunch of pictures on a RAID1 array. I then accidentally deleted that RAID1 array and created another one on top of it. I quickly relized my error and was able to restore pretty much ALL my files (I think I used the program get data back NTFS) except for most of my pictures. Only pictures seemed to be effected. My executable where fine. About 80% of those pictures where unviewable with all picture programs that I tried. No thumbnails either. I've tried MANY different programs to try to open them (at least 7) and was hoping to resave them as a jpg to repair the header (I assume it's the header that's damaged) but I was unsuccessful. I can't remember all the programs I tried because this was many months ago. I just now decided to tackle this issue again and try to get it resolved. These are some important pictures.

I've also inculded a link to a sample picture below.

Thank you folks!

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Have you tried to use any Raid Recovery Software? You can search and download Raid Recovery software, which is the first tool to automatically detect the type of the original RAID array while still allowing for fully manual operation. Raid Recovery is no doubt a highly valuable tool for users of all types of RAID arrays.

Yes, the data has already been recovered. I just need to figure out how to open the pictures I recovered. The sample pic is above.

I have heard that most damaged JPEGs will still preview OK even when the main high quality image has been completely trashed. It usually takes a catastrophic failure to damage the header preview. You could try one or other of the media recovery programs on it, but from your description the images are already well beyond all hope of economic recovery. Try ZIP encoding a few of these files. If they will compress by more than 10% it is almost certain that they are totally wrecked.

I noticed the site took down my link to the sample picture. I tried to upload it to my post but it says 'invalid picture type.'

Do you have any suggestions for media recovery programs? I've tried a lot but I'll try more. And maybe some of those programs that I used had special features in them that I didn't try/know about.

I zipped them up w/ Winrar and it barley compressed them. Size before: 322,732 Size after: 320,724.

Also, this may or may not be relivant: When right click on a damaged pic and go to properties > and then click on the details tab, I see very little. When I do the same for a good pic, I see a lot more information. Maybe that will tip someone off as to what is going on. It seems Windows doesn't know the details of the picture to open it. It would be nice to find a way to modify that. Even with bogus info would be worth a try. Maybe I could use some info from a good pic and use it in the details section of a damaged pic.

I just tried to replace the header on one of them using a header from a good jpg I know I took using the same camera and there was no change.

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Well, you can download the PhotoRescue software which is not free though. PhotoRescue supports the recovery of all file types but its algorithms are particularly optimized for JPG/JPEG files, TIFF files, GIFs and BMPs. It also offers a constantly updated support for most camera's RAW file formats. Hope that it helps sort out the things.

I know I tried that program. I think it's the program that scans a folder or drive for pictures, and when I did that, it couldn't detect any pictures. So that didn't work.

Is there a way I can take the hex data out of one of the bad pictures and put it into a good picture? I don't know what part of the hex is the actual picture though so I would need help from someone.

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Well, If you can post or upload one of the jpg files somewhere or here, it would help. From your description of how the files look, I wouldn't say definitively that recovery is possible. I am sorry to say that you will find that the images on those drive recoverable but unless the bad drive can be "repaired" and re-inserted into the RAID without any adjustments.

I tried to post a link but it was taken down. Then I tried to attach one and it said 'invalid picture type.' I'll try again soon or tonight.

Ok, attached is a zip file of one good picture and one corrupt picture. Let me know what you think.

Well, have you tried the Mac photo recovery software that can recover some lost pictures. The JPG file extension begins with the "jiff". It follows the header that even includes additional information about the file, such as its length. This tool can scan starts in the group of photos with "jiff". Download its free trial version from here and see if it is of any help.

I don't have a MAC (and wouldn't want one).. lol But, seriously, thanks for the suggestion. I will see if I can find someone with a Mac and give them one of the pictures to try and recover it.

I the mean time, if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm listening. I appreciate the help thus far.

EDIT:

That program looks like it's for recovering pictures on a device. Not a picture that has been damaged. I'll still look into it.

Can you see if the same issue occurs when not saved to any of the RAID array configruation. Try to check for general system stability by running prime95 torture test overnight as well as memtest86 overnight, if prime95 doesn't crash your PC and memtest86 doesn't report any errors then your system is probably fine and you could have a driver, controller, or disk issues.

This issue occurs on multiple computers if that answers your question, Mastermind.

This happened to 80% of the pictures and none of the hundreds of exe's and other files on the array. So I don't think my memory is at fault, a driver or the array hardware. I have a lot of experience with computers (10 years) so I don't think these things are the issue. But, I could be wrong. I've seen some weird things over the years. I don't think my system is unstable to any degree.

For some reason, I think this has to do with me not restoring the desktop.ini or thumbs file when I did the restore but I'm reaching for straws here.