Unable to Open Older Pics - "Photoshop 3 Required"

Select one of those older JPEG files and bring up its Info window (type Command + i). In the Open with menu select Preview if it's not already selected and click on the Change All button.

That doesh't look like a jpeg file. Do you have the system set to not show extensions? If so change it so all files display their extensions. Then look for a .jpg file and repeat what I suggested.

Are you able to open and use Photoshop?

For those files without an extension add the .jpg extension and see if Preview can open them OK. If not then add the 8BPS extension, open with Photoshop and save again as a jpeg file.

Where are those older image files from?

You cannot have slashes in a name in OS X. The underlying Unix system treats those as path separators. So it's looking for a file named White in a folder named Cool Shale, and that within a folder named Dirt. Photoshop CC won't even let you save a file with a / in the name for the same reason.

Change any characters Unix thinks are illegal in file names to a dash - , an underscore _ , or something else.

In OS 9 and earlier, the only character you couldn't use was the colon : , since that was the path separator. Unix, which underlies OS X, uses more symbols to denote functions, so they can't be used as plain characters. Avoid these characters:

Forward slash /

Backslash \

Pipe |

Colon :

Semicolon ;

Plus +

Period . (At the beginning of any folder or file name. Elsewhere is fine).

Comma ,

Less than <

Greater than >

In OS X's earlier days, you could not use /, | or \. If you managed to get one of those characters into a name, other apps, or even the OS would tell you it didn't exist since / and \ are path delineators, and the pipe | is a command to pass the proceeding argument to whatever command comes after it.

Apple has since made it possible to use these characters in a file name, but it's still not a good idea. I've still run into the occasional app that doesn't know what to do with a file or folder that has those characters in them. Such as foo/bar.tif It thinks you have a file named bar.tif in a folder named foo, which it can't find because the folder of course doesn't exist.

8BPS isn't a recognized extension. That was the creator code for any file saved out of Photoshop. If you know the files are TIFFs, then make the extension .tif . If they are Photoshop native layered files, then make it .psd , etc.

I goofed above (was just typing what I saw). 8BPS doesn't exist as a Photoshop creator code. It was 8*** (short for 8 Bit Image Map). Which still is useless as an extension.

It's hard to say what format those files are, but I would guess they should be .psd . Sometimes, you can drop the files onto TextEdit and find out what they are. Since the files are binary, most of it will display as gibberish. But there's always some clear text in them. With any luck, you can find a phrase that tells you what type of file it is.

If they're all from Photoshop, they're all going to be a raster file of some type, but then it's knowing which one. Use the wrong extension, and Photoshop will tell you the file is damaged, can't be parsed, or something.

The most common ones from back that far:

.tif - TIFF

.jpg - JPEG

.psd - Photoshop document

.gif - CompuServe GIF

.eps - Photoshop EPS

Actually, those files should still have their Type and Creator codes. So if you look at those, the Type will tell you what each one is. File Buddy is a very useful tool for many file and folder functions. I believe it will run in demo mode for many options. Launch the app and choose File > Get Info. Open one of the images you have without an extension. Here, I opened a TIFF. I already knew that's what it was by the extension, but the point is File Buddy shows me the Type and Creator codes.

It's a symbiotic relationship. The more we help the more we learn.

It's a symbiotic relationship. The more we help the more we learn.

I still do more reading than writing on these forums. It's an incredible source of learning and knowledge.