.dcm files??

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Level 1

8 points

.dcm files??

So, I transferred my documents, photos to my brandnew Imac from an external harddisk. I used to have them on my windows computer. Now most of my pics (jpg) and documents (word), programs, everything I uploaded from my HD, show .dcm at the end of the filename. So some of my pics are shown as normal in Iphoto, others are now named like ' name.jpg.dcm' and will not open in whatever programm. Same for documents etc.

What can I do about this? If this can't be solved I have a huge problem.

Imac, Mac OS X (10.5.7), -

Posted on Jun 18, 2009 8:46 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

William-Boyd-Jr

Level 6

10,578 points

Jun 18, 2009 8:56 AM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:
So, I transferred my documents, photos to my brandnew Imac from an external harddisk.

What software wrote them to that disk? Did you copy them to your iMac by dragging?

most of my pics (jpg) and documents (word), programs, everything I uploaded from my HD, show .dcm at the end of the filename. So some of my pics are shown as normal in Iphoto, others are now named like ' name.jpg.dcm' and will not open in whatever programm. Same for documents etc.

I found this reference

http://filext.com/file-extension/DCM

that suggests that such files may be "[Western Digital] MyBook backup tracking files".

I'd try making a copy of such a file, remove the ".dcm" suffix from the file, then see if I could open it in a "native" application.

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Answer 2

Jun 18, 2009 9:36 AM in response to reneedamstra

Did you use Memeo backup software? For every file it backs up, it also makes a filename.xxx.dcm file, which is usually only a few kilobytes in size. Viewed from a Windows box, these files would normally be hidden.

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Answer 3

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 18, 2009 10:10 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

Unfortunately, when i copy (or not) the dcm file and change the name, so remove .dcm, and try to open it, it doesn't want to open, in stead tells me it is damaged. Even if it would, I would be busy for weeks to change all the files individually.

+ I indeed originally used memeo autobackup but these files I have transfered with windows, not with memeo. There however was still a directory of memeo on the external HD that I couldn't remove.

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Answer 4

Jun 18, 2009 10:30 AM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:
tells me it is damaged.

That reveals a lot. As Michael Black suggests, if those ".dcm" files are small, they are probably the bookkeeping files of the backup software. In that case you can delete them.

As a further test, identify a ".dcm" file on your system, which I'll call "somefile.jpg.dcm". Use Spotlight to search for "somefile.jpg" (without the quotes), then click on "Show All". If you see "somefile.jpg" and "somefile.jpg.dcm", this adds more weight to the ".dcm" files being artifacts of the Windows backup software.

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Answer 5

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 18, 2009 11:19 AM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

Well, I have checked for instance in the photo directory if it consisted the same files both just in jpg 'and in .dcm, but unfortunately it seems some of them are in jpg and most of them are in dcm, whilst those in dcm do not have equivalent jpg versions. They are just jpegs but with dcm after the .jpeg extension.

Where can I find Spotlight? (i am new with mac)

It does seem my files show up normal if I take them from a cd-rom, so I might be able to transfer everything to DVD-roms and try that, however that would be costy and take quite some time and trouble, since many photos and documents are involved. (and I am still not sure if that is going to work since I have to transfer the documents from the harddisk to the DVD to the Mac)

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Answer 6

Jun 18, 2009 11:28 AM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:
Where can I find Spotlight? (i am new with mac)

One way to invoke Spotlight is to click on the magnifying glass icon that is probably at the right end of the menu bar.

It does seem my files show up normal if I take them from a cd-rom, so I might be able to transfer everything to DVD-roms and try that

Do you have access to a flash ("thumb") drive that you could use for the transfer?

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Answer 7

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 18, 2009 11:42 PM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

Oh I forgot to answer your question.
I dragged them to the desktop from the external harddisk.

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Answer 8

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 18, 2009 11:46 PM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

If I use Spotlight to search for somefile.jpg it only shows these posts I made on the forum on the dcm files.
(but my mac is in Dutch, maybe I should fill in something else with spotlight?)

+ What is a flash ' thumb' drive?

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Answer 9

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 19, 2009 12:47 AM in response to reneedamstra

BTW, the HD now for some reason again is recognised by Mac, but still on the HD in Mac it shows the dcm files. 😟

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Answer 10

Jun 19, 2009 6:38 AM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:
If I use Spotlight to search for somefile.jpg it only shows these posts I made on the forum on the dcm files.

Have you compared the JPG files (ignoring the .dcm files) on your Mac to those on your other system? Are the numbers of files similar?

(but my mac is in Dutch, maybe I should fill in something else with spotlight?)

I'm not sure what you mean by "my mac is in Dutch".

+ What is a flash ' thumb' drive?

A "flash drive" is a small storage device, usually with a USB connection, that uses solid-state "flash" memory.

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Answer 11

Jun 19, 2009 10:25 AM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:

+ What is a flash ' thumb' drive?

Here is a picture of some flash drives:

http://www.supermediastore.com/usb-flash-drive-usb-pen-drive.html

When you dragged your files from the backup drive to your Mac, I'm guessing that you dragged entire folders. You might try selecting and dragging all the files in a single folder to see if this affects the ".dcm" situation. On the other hand, if your files are in a large number of folders, it would be tedious to do that for each folder.

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Answer 12

reneedamstra Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 25, 2009 12:27 PM in response to William-Boyd-Jr

Well. I have now tried backing up from the external HD via Windows PC to a DVD. This only gives me an error. I tried backing up from the HD via Windows PC to a USB stick. Seems to work, but then show up on Mac as the well known .dcm files, so I still can't open them.

I have tried just dragging a few files in stead of the whole directory, still show up as .dcm files.

I am starting to get desperate now.

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Answer 13

Jun 25, 2009 4:49 PM in response to reneedamstra

reneedamstra wrote:
I tried backing up from the HD via Windows PC to a USB stick. Seems to work, but then show up on Mac as the well known .dcm files

I have tried just dragging a few files in stead of the whole directory, still show up as .dcm files.

Let's deal with one JPG file. On Windows determine its size. Drag it to the USB stick. Unmount, then mount it on the Mac. Now use the Mac to determine its size. What do you see in each case, for size as well as file name?

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