How to open .exec lnk files on Mac

Unless you are running Windows, those files are usually proprietary Windows files, but this article shows a couple of possibilities to open them:

https://www.solvusoft.com/en/file-extensions/file-extension-exec/

Having said that, your screenshot shows a link to a jpg, not the actual picture. I'd open them on a Windows machine and then copy them over as .jpegs. If all you have are links to them, I would not count on being able to recover them.

Hello, mft333.

Sorry to hear you're having this issue with these files.

To my eye, these appear to be not picture files or folders, but more as links to files and folders that actually reside somewhere else, on another drive. I suspect they are Windows file types that would be similar to aliases in Mac. This is just a guess.

Sadly, my friend, I think you've hosed yourself if you've wiped the drive where the original files live.

There's a slightest chance of recovery via a recovery service (I would think) if the target drive has not been mussed with too much. But I wouldn't count on it.

I hope I'm wrong and that someone here has good news. 🤞🏽

If the original photo files lived on the external drive and that was not wiped, then I would say yes, the files are probably intact there. But I read your post as to mean you pulled these from the internal drive and then wiped that. If I misread that then you're in a better spot.

As for recovery services, I have no knowledge or opinion to share. Sorry. Perhaps someone else can offer a suggestion.

I do know there are also software that claim to be good at data retrieval from even formatted drives. But again my knowledge is limited in that regard.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

😉