33 Replies Latest reply: Jan 6, 2009 8:20 AM by RWSP RSS

    THM extension not recognized

    George Austin Community Member
      I recovered some 600 jpg files inadvertently erased from a flash card, but they all have the extension THM. Since THM is not recognized by PS CS3 nor by Bridge, I can't Batch Rename them to show jpg extensions. It will take me 2-3 hours to rename them one-by-one. Any better suggestions?
        • 1. Re: THM extension not recognized
          Community Member
          Just a suggestion for search results; you should be able to find something that'll work, and probably even for free.

          http://www.google.com/search?q=Batch+renaming+utility+Windows

          (I have a batch renamer for Mac. Easy, fast, nicely featured, and it comes in really handy)
          • 2. Re: THM extension not recognized
            Community Member
            This thread at StevesDigicams might help, too:

            http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=53735&forum_id=31
            • 3. Re: THM extension not recognized
              George Austin Community Member
              Phos,

              Thank you so much for those references. They seem to have the same problem not recognizing THM files, but I have only superficially explored them. If I have this problem again (God forbid) I'll look more seriously at them. Frustrated by the ineffective tools I did try, I resorted to changing the file extensions individually. It went faster than I thought---an hour and a half. BTW, the recovery program I used that produced THM files was "Image Rescue" by Lexar. Perhaps there are other recovery programs out there producing more generally readable extensions, maybe even jpg. Thanks again for responding and for all your pertinent responses to my posts and to others as well during the whole 2008 year.

              George
              • 4. Re: THM extension not recognized
                Community Member
                You're welcome, for, umm...whatever help I can offer, George.

                I don't know anything, really, about file recovery utilities. Fortunately I haven't had a problem with my camera cards yet. But...did you even have a little poke around the Google results for a free batch-renaming utility?

                Like I said, I have one for my Mac ( A Better Finder Rename), and something like that could rename many hundreds of filesaccording to naming conventions I setin just a few seconds.

                Seems to me it would have been worth your time to investigate.
                • 5. Re: THM extension not recognized
                  Trez.Hane Community Member
                  I know the command prompt is not a modern-day solution, but it is often a
                  very effective one. Next time, try opening a command window in the directory
                  where the files are located and type "ren *.thm *.jpg" (without the quotes)
                  followed by the enter key. This should promptly fix things. You can also
                  select all in Explorer and choose rename, but this often results in an odd
                  sequence of file numbers.

                  For more help, type "rename/?" at the command prompt.

                  Trez
                  • 6. Re: THM extension not recognized
                    George Austin Community Member
                    A number of responses in the referenced thread at Stevesforum.com suggest that the THM extension indicates only the thumbnails have been recovered. That I was able to get the full image simply by replacing the .THM extension with .jpg disproves that contention.

                    Now that I have recovered all the erased flash card images in readable format, albeit after tediously replacing each file's extension individually, I can't work up a head of steam to take even more time finding out how I could have done it faster. But I remain curious about the whole thing and expect to toy with other methods at my leisure. Not the least of my curiosity is why THM is used at all by Image Rescue.
                    • 7. Re: THM extension not recognized
                      George Austin Community Member
                      TREZ

                      That seems like a great idea. When I try it, however I get a message saying "the system cannot find the file specified", despite having added THM to the registerd file types, having called for hidden files to be shown, and seeing the THM files explicitly listed at the drive/path specified in the REN command.

                      George
                      • 8. Re: THM extension not recognized
                        George Austin Community Member
                        TREZ

                        Trying your alternative approach, when I select all files and then right click expecting to invoke "Rename" for all highlighted files, all but the last file gray out leaving only that last file highlighted and affected by the rename action. Close but no cigar!

                        George
                        • 9. Re: THM extension not recognized
                          Trez.Hane Community Member
                          George, I just checked and the command prompt worked to perfection on a list
                          of 100+ jpegs that I renamed to *.THM (and then reversed the process with no
                          problem.) I'll have to apologize for recommending the explorer method as I
                          forgot that I had installed a shell extension from a utility package. In any
                          case, I always prefer the command line: it's faster and you have assurance
                          of the exact results you desire. You don't have to register a file type or
                          do anything special.

                          Couple of thoughts: 1) I'm using XP Pro; if you're using Vista there a slim,
                          unlikely chance that the command syntax has changed; and 2) If your command
                          window is not open in the actual folder/directory where your target is
                          located and there are spaces involved, you will have to use quotes, thusly:
                          ren "e:\foo bar\*.thm" *.jpg
                          But it is generally better to navigate to the desired folder or use the free
                          extension from Microsoft that adds "Open Command Window Here" to your
                          right-click menu.

                          Let me know if this helps,

                          Trez
                          • 10. Re: THM extension not recognized
                            George Austin Community Member
                            Trez,

                            Wow! It worked. the quotation marks made the difference. Thank you!!

                            Where can I brush up on the syntax for other DOS commands---relics I have long forgotten.

                            George
                            • 11. Re: THM extension not recognized
                              George Austin Community Member
                              Trez,

                              Sorry to have asked the obvious. I Googled "DOS Command Prompt" and the first site had all the commands laid out. Again, I am much obliged to you for resurrecting for me this beautifully simple tool.

                              George
                              • 12. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                dave milbut Community Member
                                >Where can I brush up on the syntax for other DOS commands

                                command widnow. type: help :)

                                (without the smiley face!)
                                • 13. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                  Trez.Hane Community Member
                                  George--glad it all worked out & that it has revived your interest in the
                                  command prompt. I have always found it to be very fast and handy, probably
                                  because my first PC was the original IBM-PC and the command shell was the
                                  only interface. I still find batch files incredibly useful for things like
                                  intermediate backups of new/modified files using the handy xcopy command.

                                  Trez
                                  • 14. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                    dave milbut Community Member
                                    >my first PC was the original IBM-PC

                                    amber or green?!! :)
                                    • 15. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                      Trez.Hane Community Member
                                      Amber or green? Hey, my memory is not that good! :^)
                                      I recall using both--and I still remember how sharp and easy to read the
                                      text was. And I recall marveling at the screen when I got my first Hercules
                                      Graphics card. And it was all down hill from there...
                                      • 16. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                        dave milbut Community Member
                                        > And I recall marveling at the screen when I got my first Hercules
                                        Graphics card

                                        yea, 4 colors was da bomb back then!

                                        my 1st home system was green, work was amber.
                                        • 17. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                          Trez.Hane Community Member
                                          FOUR colors? Wow! I'm talking monochrome graphics from Hercules. Which were
                                          actually sharper (in my memory) than the CGA cards & monitors. As best I
                                          recall, the darn card cost more than a modern day computer.
                                          Just think--Photoshop would never have come into being were it not for
                                          advances in display tech. Imagine editing nothing but green or amber
                                          photos...
                                          • 18. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                            dave milbut Community Member
                                            > I'm talking monochrome graphics from Hercules.

                                            ah. OLD school! :)
                                            • 19. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                              John T Smith CommunityMVP
                                              My first computer was an Apple II+... can't remember the screen color, but I bought an add-on that I've never seen in the Intel world... a plug in board with (I think) 1Meg of ram and an external power connection to keep the ram "on" even when the computer itself was turned off... flick the power switch on the computer, and by time the monitor was warmed up, the OS had booted from the ram card (and the ram card also had room for word processor and spreadsheet and space left over for quite a few data files)

                                              Then I had to write a dBase III program, and later compile it, and since that couldn't be done in the Apple world, I bought an IbmXt clone and have been Ibm clone ever since

                                              dBase III and Clipper compiler for Dos are long gone in my past... but I've still never seen an "instant on" ram board like the one I had for that old Apple II box
                                              • 20. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                dave milbut Community Member
                                                >dBase III and Clipper compiler for Dos are long gone in my past..

                                                I can still lay my hands on my dbase 3 manual in about 10 minutes... :)
                                                • 21. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                  George Austin Community Member
                                                  I now find that under File>Preferences in Lexar's Image Rescue program one can select the file format to be recovered. I had not realized this and proceeded to use IR without specifying a format. In that scenario IR produced THM, whatever it is. (I also find that THM is not even cited under the optional formats listed in IR's Preferences). Presumably, had I opted for JPG, I would have got JPG and the whole issue would not have arisen. But look at all the fun I would have missed!
                                                  • 22. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                    dave milbut Community Member
                                                    so, um, i can put my dbase iii manual back then? ;)
                                                    • 23. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                      dave milbut Community Member
                                                      is that a free proggie or paid app george?
                                                      • 24. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                        dave milbut Community Member
                                                        nm, i found it. in case anyone's interested:
                                                        http://store.lexar.com/?category=25&subcategory=46
                                                        • 25. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                          George Austin Community Member
                                                          Dave,

                                                          As you've just discovered, Image Rescue is free.

                                                          As you've just seen, DOS is still relevant. Keep that manual handy.

                                                          Happy New Year, Dave!

                                                          George
                                                          • 26. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                            dave milbut Community Member
                                                            >As you've just discovered, Image Rescue is free.

                                                            :o says it's 40 bux there!

                                                            happy new year to you too!

                                                            dave
                                                            • 27. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                              Trez.Hane Community Member
                                                              FWIW, I helped my brother recover pictures he had accidentally erased from a
                                                              flash card by having him download the FREE program "Recuva" from (not
                                                              surprisingly) recuva.com. Worked like a charm, though YMMV.

                                                              And with that, Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night!
                                                              • 28. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                George Austin Community Member
                                                                Dave,

                                                                As you've just discovered, Image Rescue is NOT free.

                                                                To rescue my image I'd like to blame my blooper on too many Mai Tais, but I'm a teetotaler these days. Perhaps the air was laden with their effluent. Mai bad!

                                                                There's a New Year's resolution in all this: In festive times of revelry, don't breathe and drive!

                                                                Note: Image Rescue is free upon purchase of any high-end Lexar flash card.

                                                                George
                                                                • 29. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                  dave milbut Community Member
                                                                  >Note: Image Rescue is free upon purchase of any high-end Lexar flash card.

                                                                  ah. that explains it! :)
                                                                  • 30. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                    Nick Decker Community Member
                                                                    >Note: Image Rescue is free upon purchase of any high-end Lexar flash card.

                                                                    Yes it is, and if you buy a Lexar card, be sure to download the program from the card before you format it for your camera. Ask me how I know...
                                                                    • 31. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                      George Austin Community Member
                                                                      I have not yet reformatted the flash card, so I reran IR on it selecting the jpg file extension and unchecking all other optional file formats while leaving the "Show Thumbnails" box checked. Once more, the resulting recovered images all had THM extensions. So I reran one more time but with the Show Thumbnails box UNchecked, and that produced recovered files with jpg extensions. In both runs I used the "Low Level Search".
                                                                      • 32. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                        John Joslin Community Member
                                                                        THM = THuMbnails.

                                                                        Duh!
                                                                        • 33. Re: THM extension not recognized
                                                                          RWSP Community Member
                                                                          Unrelated to card image file recovery, but...

                                                                          FWIW, Canon used the THM extension together with CRW for its D60 and 10D raw files. Each raw image from those cameras was a pair of CRW and THM files -- same file name; though it was possible to process the just the CRW without the THM.