canon RAW files degrading

[manneca]

I have a number of canon raw files that have simply degraded. The images are either totally black or have simply disappeared. The really mystifying thing is that even if I have the files on several different hard drives they seem to disappear at the same time. I just opened a set of images that I took about a year ago and they are gone. The thumbnail appears to be fine, but when I open them the images are either extremely dark or completely black. What am I doing wrong? Thanks

[charleski]

I have a number of canon raw files that have simply degraded. The images are either totally black or have simply disappeared. The really mystifying thing is that even if I have the files on several different hard drives they seem to disappear at the same time. I just opened a set of images that I took about a year ago and they are gone. The thumbnail appears to be fine, but when I open them the images are either extremely dark or completely black. What am I doing wrong? Thanks
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I'm stoically resisting the temptation to ask about temperature and humidity  

What RAW converter are you using to decode the files? The same as the one you used earlier? It could be that the settings have become corrupted rather than the files themselves (possibly a problem with the Camera Raw database since it affects files on different drives). Have you tried just loading them into ACR and clicking 'Auto' to recalculate the exposure settings?

[nemophoto]

Are the images stored on hard disk? CD? DVD? What camera where these shot with?

I have images that date back six years to teh original D30 and open them without a problem. However, I've occasionally run into problems with images on older CD's. If that's the case, download ISObuster. It's a great utility for recovering files from corrupt CD's and DVD's.

[Tim Lookingbill]

Boy this is new to me.

Makes you think about archiving everything to film.

[AJSJones]

... The really mystifying thing is that even if I have the files on several different hard drives they seem to disappear at the same time. ...[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=122674\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

That would seem to indicate the failure of the software you are using to open them - it's the common element in the scenario!  How likely is it that several copies of the same image would suddenly just degrade at the same time, or even if they're different files from the same era, how likely is it that the separate hard drives would fail in the same (unusual ) way at the same time ??  The other possibility is that the software you used to save them back then was faulty  

As suggested, try to find some other software that should be able to open them (or ask a buddy?)

Please let us know what you find - some of us are worriers!

Andy