den4b Forum

qaz

Member

Registered: 2023-05-10

Posts: 2

Messed up photo filenames

Hi, please maybe somebody know if this can be helped.

I was using ReNamer Lite 7.2 to rename NEF (RAWs) files (they were photos). I messed up naming it the first time, so I decided to rename them completely different. I made the rule to delete the existing name files, and the next rule was supposed to add date created and a suffix. I run it through over 1,000 files, the names changed as I wanted.

Then I go back to photos and the files are broken. The file type doesn't say "NEF" anymore, it only says "file". It is as if the photos don't exist anymore, going to "properties" there is also no other versions of the files. It is as if they were empty, no program opens it. Some program says there are no photos but are diffrents files but i only get errors on every app the computer suggests to open it with.

Is there any way to get them back? And what in the world happend, I was just renaming files why did they broke? Desperately asking for help for those beacuse sadly there are no backups of them, 1,700 photos just wanished.

Last edited by qaz (2023-05-10 01:09)

den4b

Administrator

From: den4b.com

Registered: 2006-04-06

Posts: 3,440

Re: Messed up photo filenames

Your photos should be safe, don't worry. It sounds like you messed up the filenames and removed all file extensions, which may cause some applications to not recognise these files anymore.

One thing to keep in mind is that ReNamer does not modify the content of files. It simply renames/moves them around the file system using the official Windows API, same as the integrated File Exporer would be using when you rename a file.

First thing to try is to restore original file extensions. Try to apply the "Detect using binary signature" option of the Extension rule. It supports a limited set of file formats, so if you don't good results (not all file extensions detected), then proceed to a more advanced mechanism. You will need use the Pascal Script rule in combination with the TrID library, as documented in ReNamer:Scripts:TrID article. Alternatively, you can use the TrID utility directly.

Last but not least, if all of your photos had the same file extension (e.g. *.NEF or *.RAW), you can simply add that file extension via the Extension rule, without using any detection mechanisms, and then try to open them with your favourite photo viewer app.

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qaz

Member

Registered: 2023-05-10

Posts: 2

Re: Messed up photo filenames

What a relief, it worked. I was scared out of my mind. Just putting "NEF" in the extention rule worked. Thank you very much for the help.

Last edited by qaz (2023-05-10 18:23)