Photo Prog - Olympus Master HELP!!!

[annieinspain]

I have Olympus Master Version 1.41. If I go to the Main Menu, Browse Images . I get the message Prog does not respond. The whole thing freezes! Do I have to wipe and start again - have so many photos on there! HELP!!

[Buenchico]

Relax!

I've no idea why your software is locking everything up but your photos aren't 'on there' (as you put it).

All that the software does (in terms of finding your pictures) is to provide an 'indexing system'. Your pictures will be in one or more folders on your PC which will continue to exist even if there's a software problem.

If you're not sure where your photos are, go to Start > Search and run a search for *.jpg
That will find all pictures in the jpeg format (which is almost certainly what your pictures use) on your hard drive. Your pictures might be in the folder called 'My pictures' or your software might have put them into a special folder which it created. It doesn't matter where they are, as long as they still exist (and there's no reason why they shouldn't), they can still be accessed by any suitable software.

You could try uninstalling Olympus Master and then reinstalling it but there's no particular reason why you need it anyway. The best image viewing software is IrfanView. It's free, it should be on everyone's PC and you can download it from here:
http://www.irfanview.com/

IrfanView can also be used for manipulating your images but, for greater flexibility, you might want to try Serif PhotoPlus 6. It's free and it's available (together with lots of other useful free software) here:
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

[Buenchico]

With either (or both) of those programs, you'll be able to open your image files. You don't need Olympus Master. (Most of the 'dedicated' software which comes with digital cameras is usually of poor quality anyway. There's plenty of free stuff, which is far better, available for download).

So you don't need to panic. However, you really ought to get into the habit of backing up your photos to CD (or other suitable media). It's a simple fact that every hard drive will eventually fail. It doesn't matter whether it's in a computer owned by NASA, MI5, Microsoft or you. A hard drive uses mechanical components which will eventually fail through wear. Sooner or later, your hard drive will fail and all data on it will be lost (unless you can afford thousands of pounds for specialist recovery work). You should alway make at least one back up of all important data on your PC. (I'm well into writing a novel. I back up the text to CD daily. I've also got every picture, that's ever been on my PC, backed up to CD). Get into the habit of backing up otherwise, sooner or later, you will lose all of your pictures.

Chris

[annieinspain]

Chris, thank you SO much for taking the trouble to answer at such length. I am now happy to uninstall the program and forget about it - it was particularly complicated and I never got on with it anyway! I ran a search for my photos and found more than 10,000!!!! Unbelievable - some of them I certainly haven't downloaded by choice - one from a news article read this morning. I don't know how this happens, rather un-nerving....
Anyway, I have taken on board your advice regarding backing up the hard drive and have most of my (legit) photos on discs now. Later today I will sort out my work files as they are vital for survival!
I will also look at your recommended software with a view to downloading. I have Picasa2 which is good although I still haven't got to grips with the filing. A major problem is that I have so many duplicates, for some reason.
So THANK YOU - it's been a great morning so far!!!

[fbg40]

Annieinspain
I had the Olympus software and had the same trouble - it's rubbish. Go with what Buenchico says, or an alternative is Picasa from Google. That's what I use and is also free.
FBG40

[annieinspain]

Thanks, yes I have Picasa2 and already have quite a number of photos on there. It's far far easier to use.