Corrupted files with black background and big red line
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Hi,
My boyfriend uses my second Adobe login on his Windows 10 desktop (I use mine on a mac and have no idea how to use PCs.) Apparently he's still using Photoshop 2019 CC.
I introduced him to Photoshop because he wanted to try his hand at drawing digitally, and back then I didn't have Illustrator. However he's become insanely good and he's created some really amazing illustrations.
But tonight when he opened Photoshop, I guess it had updated (still 2019 CC, but maybe they released a new version?) because he says the opening screen was different, and all his preferences were gone, including his presets. And when he tried to open his drawings, they were all just corrupted files with a fat red line on a black background.
He sent me one and I tried to open it in my Photoshop (2022, on mac) and it's the same, even though I do see the image in the preview icon of the file.
From what I've read in past posts, it sounds like the files are corrupted. I don't know why or how, and he swears than unlike the other cases we found here on the forums, his computer didn't shut down or freeze – all this just happened when he turned on the app as usual, and instead of loading his files, he got the black background and red lines.
If someone can explain what could have happened, it would be helpful, but really, the main question is: are his drawings gone for good? Is there nothing we can do to recover them? I'd appreciate any advice because he's seriously gutted right now. It's 3 years of work, just gone. (And no, he had no backups...)
Thanks in advance!
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Three years of work and no back ups - your boy friend is bonkers!
And to be honest, it sounds like you were breaking your Adobe licensing agreement by sharing with another user.
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I thought you could use it on two computers in the same household?
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Not at the same time ...
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I use my pro account – which has the entire Adobe suite – since I started working from home at the beginning of covid, and I don't think I've turned on my own macbook pro in at least a year because my work macbook air is easier to lug around the house. In effect, even though he's using my account, he's the only one using my personal license. So I appreciate your concern but I'm pretty sure we're in the clear.
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The license is strictly personal and valid for one user on two machines - typically work/home or desktop/laptop.
Now, I don't think you will get men in black suits at your door, but those are the terms, and if you want to be entirely in the green he needs his own license.
File corruption is always caused by failing hardware, or crash/shutdown during a save. A crash can't affect files already on disk. The most common cause is a hard drive about to fail, and it sounds like that's the case here.
Try file recovery software, but don't expect miracles. Just google it.
As for no backup, I assume you've learned the lesson now.
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