Hi there. I'm not familiar with Linux and I do not understand technical wording at all. I was given this laptop as a favour and it is an ex-work Dell Latitude. I was given this to help me as a replacement when my Compaq working with Windows Vista stopped working. I do not understand the way Linux works much. I managed to upload photos before from my Ericsson K850i to my memory stick but this time when I tried it kept telling me that the path was invalid and such things which I did not understand. I created a folder for 2011 photos ready to go next year but the mouse pad is hard to control and even though I did nothing the 2010 folder went into the 2011. Sorry if I am not being very clear.

All I want to know is where did my whole years worth of digital photos go from my memory stick as I didn't delete anything. Would someone please help me understand all the different extensions or tell me what I need to do to try and retrieve them. I would be so grateful. I was nearly crying when it happened as when you right click in Linux there is no Undo/Redo button.

I have searched the board and I did see some other questions but I don't think they will help in this instance so I have started one. I hope I can get my photos back and also hope to hear from someone soon.

Jilly

Just going by what you wrote, the whole years worth of digital photos "went into the 2011" folder.

However, perhaps I'm misreading your post.

No that is not right. I checked the 2011 folder. There is now nothing in either of those folders. Hence my distress and frustration. I am hating Linux as I am not a technical person. I understand it is good for no viruses but you have to have the knowledge of how to install things in the Ubuntu software centre etc and I have tried to upload music to my phone and that won't work either. I don't know what version of Ubuntu I have or where I go to look. That is a minor thing in relation to my initial enquiry though. I didn't even know that someone had replied and had just logged out when this came up. Do you have any other suggestions please?

I don't understand where I look to find if someone's replied to me either as the only reason I found out that someone had was as I was logging out. Can you tell me how it notifies me please?

a good place to start would be to check your thread more often and not wait that all is given to you by itself..

as for your question .. are you sure you didn't open the 2010 folder and then you put only the photos in the 2011 folder and therefore all the files are there ... just that they are not in the folder

where did you make the "2011" and "2010" folder ?
in /home/YourUserName/2011 ?
or
/mnt/2011

the photos should still be on the thumb drive
seeing as it would be a different partition if you clicked and dragged them to the 2011 folder then a copy will still be on the thumb drive

can you inform us as to HOW you moved the photos . Did you click and drag ? or use some "photo album" program ?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/usercp.php

On the left side of the above link, click Edit Options
Look out for Default Thread Subscription Mode

At first I would look if a copy of your photos is still on your phone.
Then tell us please, where you created the 2011 folder. On you desktop? Or somewhere within your filemanager (window named Nautilus)?

Advices for the future: If you have problems to control the mousepad get yourself a mouse, that will make your life easier. Second, get yourself a second memorystick and make another copy of your photos, so that you doesn't loose all your photos if your other stick get lost or becomes faulty. Third, don't hate Linux because you don't know how it works. That will complicate things just because of wrong attitude (and by the way, I don't know how a microwave-oven works, but I hate it not therefore). And maybe, if you can't get used to Linux, go to the next computer vendor, buy a copy of Windows and let them install it for you.

I am sorry to all the above. I am not being rude. I don't understand how Linux works as I said. Also I don't find the patronising tone that Silvyus06 used very helpful at all!! Do I have to reply to each person individually? There will be a time delay as I am in the UK.

I am replying to all in this email.....

I attached my memory stick to one portal on my laptop along with my USB cable to my phone in the other portal. Once it had sorted itself out it showed that there was icons for both my memory stick and both my phone directories. Phone and Phone Card. The memory stick automatically opened up a file directory and I already had three years worth of digital photos on there. I created a fourth calling it 2011. Then I went into the phone directory and clicked on Phone Card and looked at the photos that I wanted to copy and then yes I did go into the memory stick drive and paste them. Is this what's called thumbnail? I wouldn't know how to set up packages that deal with photos etc. The folder was created on my memory stick. I double checked and neither 2010 0r 2011 has anything in them. Plus for some reason it won't allow 2010 to be before 2011! I don't need to check if the pictures are still on my phone as I used two phones and once your memory and/or phone space is used up you can't take any more photos so you have to delete some. That's why I bought a memory stick to store other months worth on. I don't even know how to back up. Like I said this was given to me to use as my old laptop died due to me using it everyday trying to find work. I was made redundant in January 2009 and my laptop died through overuse probably! I could not afford to buy another one straight away and this has been working fine for me to use it basically until now.

I have been advised that Windows would run incredibly slowly on here, plus it has a high risk for viruses and no free packages. Money is an issue for me right now. Also I don't have my computer on all the time so I wouldn't be able to check if my threads have been replied to. So does anyone have an answer as to why my photos have disappeared please?

Perhaps the reason the folder and/or pictures didn't appear is that the copying had not finished. Sometimes copying can take a bit of time. So, if, after plugging in both the phone and the memory stick into the laptop and initiating the copying, you removed either the phone or the memory stick before the copying was complete (or the power died in one of the devices), then that could have caused the erratic result that you described. Admittedly, I'm just guessing here. However, with older hardware, copying can be slow (especially with large files).

Otherwise, it sounds like you did everything right, and it really should work. Perhaps being less rushed in the future would be the ticket to successful copying of files unto your laptop in the future.

It is not all lost I think. Maybe the person that gave the laptop to you can help you with restoring your photos. At this time, don't use your memory stick any more, because chances are high that your photos can be overwritten, if they are on the stick, but not marked as existent in the filesystem. Same should be true for your phone, try to don't save any data on it (as long as possible). Maybe the person that gave you the laptop knows how to use photorec (a good file recovery software), and if not he can feel free to ask for help with that here.

Will I be able to find the photos at all? I have lost a whole years worth and have them nowhere now. I didn't rush to put them and I'm beginning to think that a disposable camera is a better idea! I can get them developed and then save them on a disk as well.

TobiSGD: I don't know how to back up I'm afraid. Where do I need to go or what directory do I need to select?

Thanks.

Just put another memory stick into your computer, together with your first one, and copy your data to it. Backup done.

While doing a backup now is a good thing, it will not bring you your photos back. Best would be to ask a person that knows more about Linux to help you get your photos back. I don't think that we can help you with that, because of your limited knowledge (no offense meant) and the lack of physical access to your memory stick.

Hi TobiSGD.

No offence taken, I unfortunately don't know anyone who knows anything about Linux so I guess I'm screwed for getting my photos back. Thanks for all the advice. I am trying a friend of a friend as a last resort. Other than that I've lost a whole years worth of photos apart from the ones that are still on my phones.

Jill

Out of interest, where abouts are in you in the UK Jillybeans? There is lots of linux user groups all around the UK, if we can find one near to you I'm sure they'd be willing to try and help you restore your photos.

If you let me know I'll see if I can find a usergroup near by for you. If this is something your interested in just reply here letting me know where abouts

I have the feeling your photos are safe, I think when you moved them they are still on the phone, but as it isn't in a folder the phone itself created it wont show you them without some searching.