My computer died, tried to retreive files to a new directory in new computer. For the most part the files are in an unrecognized format _p extension. How do I convert those into the original files?
Have you try doing the retrieve to a specific folder not to the original locations.
Remember that is not the original computer and as you said is not the same directory.
How did you transfer these files? Why did the tramsfer process change the file extensions? Did you use data recovery software to do this? Was the original file system damaged?
You could use a hex editor to view the headers of each file. Sometimes this will give you a clue as to the file type.
HxD - Freeware Hex Editor and Disk Editor:
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd
For example, a JPEG file might look like this:
00000000 FF D8 FF E0 00 10 4A 46 49 46 00 01 02 00 00 01 ÿØÿà…JFIF…
… and a PDF might look like this:
00000000 25 50 44 46 2D 31 2E 35 0D 25 E2 E3 CF D3 0D 0A %PDF-1.5.%âãÏÓ…
You might even try using Windows’ search function to search for files containing text strings such as “JFIF” or “PDF”.
I believe there is a utility that can automate this process for you, but its name escapes me.
