Jpeg files to dat file

Hi-

I'm finally at the end of my rope on this one. The problem is somehow all my JPEG/JPG files have been converted to hpothb07.dat files. Each folder that had jpgs now has one dat file. I can't find any information on this anywhere and I don't know what to do. I know the files contain the pictures, at least I think they do because when I read them in wordpad, the names of the pictures were in the code, but I have no idea how to get my pictures back and I can't find anything, anywhere on this. The only big change to the system was the installation of an HP 2100. I have removed a few programs to make room on my old drive and this morning I installed a second hard drive. I scanned both drives for viruses.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks

Laura

 

Don't think I can really help you with this but do you by any chance have a HP camera and their software? The reason I ask is I did a search in the Google groups for hpothb07.dat and got only one hit returned. The person that had the problem has a HP camera and the file you mentioned is mentioned in the thread. This persons problem isn't the same as your's and it won't really help you much but it makes me wonder if you shoudn't be contacting HP about this. The name of the file you mentioned begins with hp and with what I found about the HP camera it would lead me to believe that the file is somehow related to something from them. Won't help much but if you want to look at the thread you can see it here . Sorry I can't help more but it's a place to start.

 

I may be one the wrong path here but have you done a online virus scan? I once got a virus (I believe it was a loveletter.vbs) that changed my .jpg files to some different format I don't believe it was a .dat file though, anyways I ended losing all the pictures I had stored on the box. Just a thought.

Bubba169

 

Hi and thank you for your replies-

I just installed the HP printer with photo software, and I was pretty sure it was an hp file, but can't find any information. It doesn't seem to be a problem any one else has run into. I haven't done the online scan, but will be doing that tonight. Thanks again, and I'll keep trying.

Laura

 

It looks like your HP software has taken possesion of all your jpeg files. Somwhere during the setup it may have prompted you about file association and most programs will do this by default if you miss or ignore the prompt. Normally the procedure would be to right click on the file name and use the Open With option and select the program which you normally use to view jpeg files with..I don't know whether this would work in your case, but it's worth a try..

 

Don't waste your time, go to HP tech support via phone. Their photo software (probably a low end Adobe) has a conflict and will more than likely require renaming a couple of system files - this is not all that uncommon with HP printers and accompanying software but it's not something that you are going to find a lot of info on either. HP should be able to get you back to normal in a couple of minutes.