Opening DDF files is not working from ArcMap 10.1

Question

Greetings,

I am trying to open a few SDTS format "DDF" files that I obtained from a few different sources.  Each time to try to add the DDF files into an ArcMap session I get an error..."Invalid Raster File".  Here is a screen shot...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28585[/ATTACH]

I know that ArcMap is capable of opening these files and have found no solutions in the forums, any advice is appreciated.

Bill

DDF_error.png

Screenshot_2021-08-09-00-36-05-41.jpg

BillWinston · Answer

Bill,

I had downloaded the data from USGS and I was able to reproduce the issue. There was an option in previous release of ArcGIS (SDTS to Raster tool). It was available till ArcGIS Desktop 9.3. You can either process it using any third party software or you have to contact ESRI Tech Support.

Thanks for following up and taking the time to recreate the problem.  
I'll check with ESRI about that tool.

Kind regards,

Bill

NidhinKarthikeyan · Answer

Bill,

I had downloaded the data from USGS and I was able to reproduce the issue. There was an option in previous release of ArcGIS (SDTS to Raster tool). It was available till ArcGIS Desktop 9.3. You can either process it using any third party software or you have to contact ESRI Tech Support.

BillWinston · Answer

Nidhin,

Thanks for the response but I am not able to copy the file in ArcCatalog and when I copy the enclosing folder, none of the files visible in the File Manager are ".aux".  The files originated from the USGS EarthExplorer site and I generated a bulk download that came in as "xyz.stds.tar.gz".  I opened the GZ archive using 7-Zip and then extracted the TAR files to end up with a folder containing a bunch of ".DDF" files.  None of the DDFs are able to be previewed or opened in ArcCatalog and I cannot see any vector files which is what I am looking for in the first place.  I do get the following error when I extract the TAR files...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28649[/ATTACH]

Is there a special process for extracting a TAR.GZ file other than what I have described?

Not sure if you'll be able to access this but here is the path for one of the files I tried to download...
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/metadata/1493/DL034213HP019248-862498

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Bill

TAR_ExtractionMessage.png