I recently formatted a hard drive but before doing so backed up important stuff (my docs etc...) on 1 cd. Now I have a problem. When I put the cd into the drive it shows up all the folders and files I backep up but when I try to open any of them they dont seem to work. Even when I look at the properties of any file, they seem ok. Are these gone forever or is there any way of extracting them off the cd???

Seeing you just formatted your drive, and your docs wont open, are they by chance Microsoft word docs? If so having a version of microsoft office installed might help. Whatever those files are, make sure you have the right software associated with it.

"They don't seem to work" - sorry to be flippant, but in what way? any errors? can you copy the docs from the cd to the newly formatted HD?

Cheers, T.

Sorry for being vague!! The files range from documents and mp3's to pictures. All the files seem valid and I have no problem copying them to hard drive. But for instance when i try to open a simple text file using notepad, the notepad program opens up fine but just stays blank. Opening a picture using internet explorer or imaging again opens up the program but no picture shows. And using winamp will bring up the name of the song i try to play but no more. It wont play it... Really weird...

Hi again,

A few thoughts.....

A change of OS or file system perhaps. Also the software used to backup your data maybe the cause, have you got it installed now, or did your just copy the data using Nero etc.

Also I have seen the following but not for all types of data files.... Now and again the file type is set to open using the correct application but opens empty as yours. I have fixed a few of these by looking at the File Type options in Windows Explorer. Go to, say, .txt files, and check the properties of what they OPEN with. If there are any DDE setting in there, make sure it doesn't have some string after it like /E as this can often be the problem. If so, just remove it.

Other than that I haven't got a clue.

Cheers, T.

I have a friend who should know what to do, i'll contact him and let you know.

thanks for the help... Wont be able to look at it again for a few days...

It would help,if you told us what program you used to backup! Some have a RESTORE setting.

It was Nero Burning Rom. One of the most recent versions... Just burnt a Data cd...

Stackc, try a program called Isobuster. It's a great recovery tool for retrieving corrupt data from CD and DVD discs.

Get it here - http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/

Cheers Roger and everyone else...
I'll try it tomorrow and see what happens...