suvz06

Hi im new here an hoping someone could help. I recently moved all my video's, pics an music to my external hard drive to format my internal drives and re install windows xp. After doing so i opened my external hard drive to find all the files were fine exept the folder and file names on my pictures folder are green?? When i try opening any of the pictures it says file corrupt or invalid and when trying to copy them back onto my pc it says you do not have pemission from 'System(then a load of numbers)'. All the thumbnails are still there which is confusing. Ive tried following guides to change security permissions etc but not had no joy, I also gave my external hard drive to my friend (which is a bit of a pc whizz in my eyes), an he said that the pictures will never be able to be recovered as when i copied the pics over to the external hard drive i must of copied the 'my pictures' folder which is a system folder rather than the individual folders inside, and now i have re installed the windows again it would of switched the system name an not recognise my pc as the same one as before the format. is this right?? I really hope soeone can help me recover these pics as it is the only back up i have and it is every photo i have taken in the last 10 years...... Please help!!