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Why did all my old photos turn grey and what can I do about it?
Almost all of my several-years-old photos and videos, which I had taken with a digital camera, turned into grey squares on iPhoto 3 or 4 years ago, and I don't know how to make them become pictures again. I know the pictures must still be there because the videos I took, even though they're just grey squares on the computer screen now, still show the length of the video on the bottom right corner of the square. What happened that made all those photos turn into grey squares in the first place, and how do I get my photos and videos to show up again?
I should mention that my recently-taken photos show up on iPhoto just fine. It's the photos I took before 2012 that now just show up as grey squares. Someone told me that they thought the problem had to do with an 'app'--but I don't know what that means, and what do I do about it anyway?
If it matters, the computer these photos are on is a Mac.
3 Answers
- keerokLv 73 months ago
Grey squares? In the computer? They're probably corrupted. That means the complete files are no longer there. I hope you made backups somewhere or better yet, made prints.
- Anonymous3 months ago
Use finder to locate the original files. On one that you know for sure was OK: File > Export > Export Unmodified Original" to a new folder. Now try to open it in a picture editor. If this doesn't work then they are probably corrupt and unreadable. Hopefully a backup went to the Cloud?
- ?Lv 73 months ago
The cause is either due to corrupt image files or possibly an incompatible program you're using to view the images and videos.
I would start by uninstalling and reinstalling the program you're using to view the files. Or, maybe find a different one. It could be that your current program can't read the old files, but that should not be the case since they're likely JPEGs. They are JPEGs right? What format are the videos? MP4? If your program can't read specific files, then usually it's going to give an error message and not just a bunch of squares. This is why I'm thinking that it's likely that your files have become corrupt. Plus, the program can play/display current files just fine. So it would seem that the files themselves are the problem. Do you have a backup? If not, why not? This is the kind of situation where a backup would be priceless. So if you don't have a backup, use this situation as motivation to go out and buy a hard drive (external or internal, it doesn't really matter) and store your files on a totally separate physical drive.
How are you storing your digital files? On a hard drive or solid state drive? Or are you storing them on the original memory card, which is NOT advised specifically because of the files becoming corrupted on this type of medium. Memory cards were never designed for long-term storage.
If your files are corrupt, there's nothing you can do, and they're lost forever.
