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These files are mostly JPG, PDF, PSD and AI files and I can't view most of them; whether it's directly from the DVD or the copy on my desktop.
If JPG/PDF on Preview: "The file can't be opened. It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize."
If PSD in Photoshop: "Could not complete your request because it's not a valid photoshop document"
If AI in Illustrator: it first asks for Text Import Options and on opening with the default options, it opens the file but shows a blank page with what seems to be a text box with nothing in it.
What's odd to me is that even though most of these files are like this, some of the older ones can actually be opened fine. For example a few AI files from 1999 that still have the AI8 application icon on it open just fine in my CS6 whereas the newer ones dated 2004 show blank page.
Because of that, I think that the DVD disc is fine, just a lot of these files got corrupted somehow maybe? Would anyone be able to advise if it's possible to open the files in some way other than going back to the original OS, or even to just to see what's in there like a preview?
Hope I'm clear.. please ask if not. I'm on Yosemite with Adobe CS6. Thanks!
adriooo
Posted 2019-09-06T21:09:17.530
Reputation: 1
Was any checksum information included with the files, in case the physical archive medium has deteriorated? I have heard that dye CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are not good ways to archive data, due to sensitivity to light, heat, and physical separation of the recording layer from the poly layer. Do the files open successfully in Notepad? If so, compare them to a reference (actual reference, not any random one) jpg. Try opening the files in other apps. – Christopher Hostage – 2019-09-06T21:35:30.040
I had tried both opening with other softwares (Preview, browsers, etc) and in TextEdit, nothing worked. When trying to open AI files in TextEdit to see the coding (I read somewhere about that), it shows blank. – adriooo – 2019-09-06T23:17:41.020
Perhaps an obvious question, but do all the files have regular .psd .jpg extensions etc? Macs didn't used to use them, they used a resource fork embedded in the file. That could have been lost in translation & may not even be recognised by a modern OS even if still present. The 'dot three' is the primary recognition method these days. – Tetsujin – 2019-09-07T07:51:49.390
Yes, Tetsujin, they all have extensions.. so names looking very normal. I can also easily tell which ones are good by looking at them in Cover Flow which shows content whereas ones can't be opened show just the software icon. – adriooo – 2019-09-07T19:04:14.890
I'd have a look at this - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/300441/how-to-rescue-a-scratched-cd-dvd-on-mac-osx - & try pulling the data again with dd rescue. You're potentially at end-of-life on an optical disk that old, so I'd give it some 'tough love' with dd & see how it works.
– Tetsujin – 2019-09-08T08:48:32.073