[MaybeFangirl]

Tried restoring several simple image files. Presto, it worked! However, problem is when I try to open it with the simple windows viewer I get that ominous, "no preview available screen." Okay, so forget them right? No I use MS Paint and get the message: "Paint cannot read this file. This is not a valid bitmap file, or its format is not currently supported." I'd give the files the big heave ho and forget about them, however when I open them with microsoft word, I get pages and pages of text which makes me think there's still the images hidden in there somewhere, and it just needs a restorative measure of sorts. This pictures are muy importante. Help!

[Elvandil]

What do you mean "restoring"? From where?

[MaybeFangirl]

I mean restoring from deletion

[Elvandil]

Try opening them with IrfanView. Add the plugin package. If they can be opened, IrfanView should be able to do it. If it gives you an error message, let us know what it is.

What file types are they?

[MaybeFangirl]

Ok I have it already, and when I open them it says: Can't read file header! Unknown file format or file not found!

They are bitmap.

[slipe]

There is a chance the images haven’t been overwritten on your hard drive where they were deleted. I would try different recovery software. This one has helped members: http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm

Once the files are corrupted the success rate of fixing them seems low. There is freeware that will attempt it but the results don’t seem promising. You might try some repair shareware. You get indications of whether it can fix the file before you have to pay. If by bitmap you are specifically meaning bmp files you might have problems finding software. Raster files are also called bitmap and they include everything that isn’t vector.