Archive Corrupt

[yourmn]

Hey Guys

Wonder if anyone could help. I recently Archived my iPhoto library into a zip along with the other contents of my iPhoto library and transferred the archive to a new external hard drive. I've re-installed a copy of Mountain Lion, copied the Archive across to my Desktop and it failed within the last few seconds. I now get a message saying "Unable to expand. Error 2 - No such file or Directory.

As I chose to move the archive rather than copy, it has also disappeared from my external hard drive so I can't get another copy.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could recover some of my photos? I regrettably did not use Time Machine

 

[justperry]

You could also get that error if it is password protected, and it doesn't stop there, I would try it on a PC if I were you, you might get lucky and it unzips there.
Oh, and if you don't have permissions on the file or where it is expanded to it also errors.

Or, try with stuffit expander.

 

[yourmn]

I know the original archive was fine as I opened it after I originally transfered it to the external drive to check.

I will try the windows route tho. Thank you

 

[benwiggy]

Can I check that I understand the sequence of event.
1. You created an archive of your photos.
2. You then copied the zip file to an external drive.
3. You then reinstalled OS X -- was it a clean install? (Why?)
4. You moved the zip file back to your internal drive.
5. The zip file could not be expanded.

OK. But you still have the zip file, right? Or did the move fail?

If the zip file is intact, you may want to try using another zip app. The Unarchiver is very good. Free on the Mac App Store, I think.

If the zip file is not intact, then you need to run Data Recovery software on the External to get the zip back (or the photos if you unzipped the archive on the external). There's little chance of the photos being recovered on the internal if you reinstalled the OS.

For the future:
1. Zipping JPEGs doesn't save that much space, as JPEG is a compressed format. Best just to copy the files.
2. Use Time Machine. If you don't have a backup, you will lose files.

 

[yourmn]

Can I check that I understand the sequence of event.
1. You created an archive of your photos.
2. You then copied the zip file to an external drive.
3. You then reinstalled OS X -- was it a clean install? (Why?)
4. You moved the zip file back to your internal drive.
5. The zip file could not be expanded.

OK. But you still have the zip file, right? Or did the move fail?

If the zip file is intact, you may want to try using another zip app. The Unarchiver is very good. Free on the Mac App Store, I think.

If the zip file is not intact, then you need to run Data Recovery software on the External to get the zip back (or the photos if you unzipped the archive on the external). There's little chance of the photos being recovered on the internal if you reinstalled the OS.

For the future:
1. Zipping JPEGs doesn't save that much space, as JPEG is a compressed format. Best just to copy the files.
2. Use Time Machine. If you don't have a backup, you will lose files.

Hey,

Your sequence is correct. I performed a clean install as my Mac has been randomly turning itself off over the last week - when it would come back on I would get a grey screen saying that the system had restarted due to an error? Thought that maybe a clean install could solve the problem?

I no longer have the original zip. The move failed in the last 2 seconds. I would have thought that it would have stayed on the external drive if it failed? But it didn't

I will give the unarchiver a go as you suggest!

I have set up Time Machine now!!