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brianw79828710
brianw79828710
Inspiring
May 19, 2023
Question

repair damaged cr2 and tiff files

  • May 19, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1566 views

I copied a folder of images from a failing mechanical drive and the files appear intact - the right sort of file size reported etc. However Lightroom, whilst displaying thumbnails often refuses to open them, or if exported for edit in Photoshop, PS reports damaged file. A few will open in LR Develop but show sections missing. Mostly cr2 and tiff formats.

 

Also, Fast Raw Viwer is sometimes able to open a TIFF file that PS says is damaged, and then I can sometimes successfully save it under a new name and import it into LR. But inconsistent.

 

All this leads me to hope that these "damaged" images simply have an EOF or similar missing and are recoverable. However, Googling found a limited number of image repair programs, many being rebadged versions of Solar (?) and the trial version failed anyway!

 

So. Has anyone any suggestions for image file repair apps that might work, hopefully free as funds are limited. Or maybe a way to manually edit such files myself in a hex editor?

2 replies

A
alan_7530
Participating Frequently
March 11, 2025

Although some open partially in Lightroom but function in Fast Raw Viewer after re-saving, it may be a metadata issue rather than full corruption.

For TIFFs, have you tried re-saving them in IrfanView or XnView? For CR2 files, Canon’s Digital Photo Professional might handle them better.

Also, when copying from the failing drive, did you use regular copy-paste or a tool like RoboCopy? Sometimes, files don’t transfer fully, causing these issues. If you're comfortable with hex editing, comparing a working TIFF’s structure to a broken one could reveal missing EOF markers or header corruption.

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
March 11, 2025

They function in Fast Raw Viewer because it is working with the (much smaller) embedded previews in the file, which can be uncorrupted while the actual image itself is corrupted. In this case, the best you can do is try to save the (much smaller) emdedded preview. Or as I said, use a backup of the file.

    A
    alan_7530
    Participating Frequently
    March 20, 2025

    Got it, that explains why they open there but not elsewhere. If the embedded preview is intact, extracting it might be an option, though obviously not ideal. Have you checked if any hex corruption is visible in the file headers? Also, when copying from the failing drive, did you use any recovery tools or just a standard file transfer? Sometimes, specialized recovery software can pull more intact data than a regular copy-paste

    K
    krzysztof_5866
    Participant
    August 19, 2024

    Hi, I have stumble upon the same problem today. Part of the "Tif" files (the old Tiff version I presume) I have downloaded from a client's drive are ok, but the greater part of the files appear damaged. Did you ever find a solution? All best

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    August 19, 2024

    In general, damaged files cannot be repaired or fixed. The solution is to maintain good backups so that if a file ever gets damaged, you still have a good copy you can use.

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