Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

[Spork Schivago]

Hello,

I have a friend's PC. He's running Windows 10 and saved a ton of pictures to some weird file format. The extensions are .CDM and when I open them with a text editor, I can see NTI_CDLAYOUTV4.

I've tried using a trial version of NTI Media Maker express and although it thinks it can open these CDM files, it doesn't. I believe these could be a bit like an archive file, maybe similar to an ISO, in the sense that the file probably doesn't contain just one picture. Does anyone know of any programs that are free and that can open these pictures or do a batch conversion perhaps?

My biggest fear is that there's no real data in these files at all. For example, in Microsoft Office 2007, scrolling through the CDM file, I see ASHLON~1.JPG -C:\My Documents\My Pictures\Ash1 on stage.jpg followed by some ASCII characters, Ashly's BD 21503.mix

---------- Page Break -------
ASHLY'~1.MIX <ASCII CHARACTERS> Ashly's bus with mom.mix

This is the same PC I replaced the caps with. The user had hundreds of floppy discs that he said contained thousands of images on them. I first thought he meant there were a few thousand images in total. I figured a floppy could hold maybe 10 low resolution images or so. He insisted that there were actually thousands of images on each disc. I took the floppies, and there was some text files on each disc and each text file contained a list of a TON!!! of pictures, on the C drive. There weren't one picture on any of the floppies. The whole time he thought he was saving the images, he was just saving the location to the images. I felt so bad for him.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

After looking at these dang CDM files, I believe there's no real data inside them. Just pointers to the real (but long since deleted) pictures.

Now, onto the .MIX files. I believe these were created with Microsoft Picture It! and seem to contain real data. I was reading that Microsoft Office's Publisher 2007 might be able to handle these. I don't know why people use really obscure file formats! Very frustrating.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Publisher doesn't work for the MIX files. MS Digital Image just seems to crash. I could only find the trial version and it's been discontinued. I guess there's known issues with it and Windows 8 so there's no surprise it isn't working with 10.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

I do believe I found a program that opens these dang MIX files and works with Windows 10 64-bit. It's a program written by Microsoft back in 2004. It's called Microsoft Photo Premium 10. I'm going to tell the user he should really consider converting these MIX files to a more popular format like GIF, JPG, or PNG, to guarantee compatibility with newer OSes. Thanks for all the help guys!

[goontron]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Try GIMP

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Try GIMP

Thank you. For the Microsoft Picture It! format, I didn't think the Gimp would work, being a proprietary Microsoft file format. I have that Microsoft Photo Premium 10 installed now for him that can open it. I think he'll like that Microsoft program better anyway. I guess he really loved the Picture It! programs and this program is supposed to be a continuation of it or something.

As for the .CDM files, they're not actual picture files. They just contain pointers to the now-deleted picture files. The Nero files I don't think Gimp would be able to handle, seeing how they're not actual picture files, just disc images. They shouldn't be too hard to change.

Just for the heck of it though, once I do a few more things on this, I'll copy a MIX file over to my Linux box and see if the Gimp can handle it. I see they got a ton of plugins for it! Even plugin's for some Amiga stuff. That's a real powerful program.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

The GIMP is a no go for those pesky MIX files. It's okay though, I got the other program to open them. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Man, only the MIX files actually contained real data. The Nero's NRA and NRI files just contained lists of where the data was on the hard drive at one point in time. They're pretty much useless now. They all point to stuff in the C:\Documents and Settings directory. That directory hasn't really existed since, what? Windows XP? It's just a junction now, right? I've never seen so many proprietary file formats.

AVD <--- Avery Label Pro
AXD <--- Avery Label Pro
BCC <--- Maybe a Calendar?
CDM <--- NTI CD&DVD-Maker Image File -- No real data, just file pathnames
MBF <--- Microsoft Money Backup File -- I can open these now
MIX <--- Microsoft Picture It! -- I can open these now
MNY <--- Microsoft Money -- I can open these now
NRA <--- Nero -- File pathnames
NRI <--- Nero -- File pathnames
QFL <--- Maybe Family Lawyer Document  or some Quicken format?
QIF <--- Some Money import file, maybe originally a Quicken format. I can open these now in Money Plus Sunset.

[Agent24]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Yeah I think they changed it with Vista to C:\Users

Sucks about only saving the CD layout but not the CD image data. Easy to do if they don't understand how the program works.
I used to use Nero, and you would tell it to burn the disc to the virtual burner, which resulted in an ISO image of the CD you wanted.

Reminds me the time my friend gave me the shortcut (.LNK) file for a program, thinking he was giving me the entire thing!

[stj]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

there are still people every week uploading image thumbnails here - thinking it's the full pic!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Need help converting old NTI CDM image format

Yeah I think they changed it with Vista to C:\Users

Sucks about only saving the CD layout but not the CD image data. Easy to do if they don't understand how the program works.
I used to use Nero, and you would tell it to burn the disc to the virtual burner, which resulted in an ISO image of the CD you wanted.

Reminds me the time my friend gave me the shortcut (.LNK) file for a program, thinking he was giving me the entire thing!

Yes, it is too bad. I don't understand why companies did this. It seems back then, there are a lot of programs he used that just saved the layout, not the actual image data. I feel so sorry for him, because of all the floppy disks that he thought had images on them but were just essentially text files.

In the past, he brought me this PC and said he couldn't open his old files. He had downloaded Adobe Reader. He said somewheres on the net, it claimed it could open the files. He had Adobe Reader set for all the file extensions. I tried explaining to him they don't actually contain the data but just locations. I don't think he understands though.

I guess what is nice is just about every extension that contained real data can be opened now. I mean, the stuff like the disc labels, I didn't worry about that. The calendar program, because it costs money, I didn't worry about that. They're from 2000 - 2005. I did find a copy of NTI Media Maker and put it on but it kept error out on every file. Then, when I opened it, I realized why. The file sizes should have given it away but I guess I wasn't thinking. 13KB for a full disc of New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Doors just isn't possible.

The good news is there's over 60GB of actual pictures he can open now.