iPhones, PC's and copying pictures

[Russ Smith]

GF has a 7s and I have a PC. In the past when she fills it up with pics I connect with the USB part of the charging cable, and go into the DCIM file under USB and copy them over folder by folder to the PC. You get duplicates, adn pictures that were deleted get copied too, but you get all the pics. I started to do this last night and it hung, I got folders 1001, 1002, 1008 and 1009 I think, it missed 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and then past 9 all the way to I think 18. It kept saying can't connect to device. I rebooted and same thing. Went into file explorer to try and do it that way, it tried to connect and then File explorer crashed, had a blank screen on my PC and had to reboot.

It doesn't see the phone at all now, windows that is. iTunes sees it, but Windows has no idea it's there.

When you do a manual backup with iTunes, it says you get pictures too my question is, are they in some sort of viewable format on the PC you back it up to? Or is it something that's compressed and only useful if you then restore it to a phone? She wants to be able to open the pics and videos on the PC, so she can then delete from her phone.

You get 5gb free with icloud, she has almost 90gb so we either have to pay for one month, upload to iCloud, download to iCloud on PC(I already installed the program) or I don't know what else? I ordered a new cable in case that was it but like I said it was working but it crashed and then after that said it couldn't connect and after rebooting, doesn't see the phone. THe pics and videos are intact you can see them on the phone but she can't take any new pics until we get rid of some thus the copying. I've tried 3 different fixes I found on youtube, none of them work becuase the files it's saying to use, are not actually showing. I upgraded iTunes but I don't see any way with iTunes to just copy over pics. And iCloud will let me copy pics from the computer to the phone, but not the other way around, it has to go to the cloud first.

Suggestions beyond just yell really loud?

 

[puckhead]

I don't have an iPhone, but I suppose you could move over 5GBs at a time to the iCloud, down to pc, clear the cloud, move another 5GBs, and so on. Not fast, but won't cost you anything and you can slowly erase the photos on the phone after you confirm the copies are intact on the PC.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't have an iPhone, but I suppose you could move over 5GBs at a time to the iCloud, down to pc, clear the cloud, move another 5GBs, and so on. Not fast, but won't cost you anything and you can slowly erase the photos on the phone after you confirm the copies are intact on the PC.

I thought of that too but not sure how easy it is to do.

I wound up spending 40 plus bucks on Amazon to buy a lightning adapter USB stick. Basically a flash drive where one end fits the lightning connector on the phone, the other is USB. supposed to be able to copy over the pics, then connect to PC And copy it over like a regular flash drive. If that works it solves the issue long term. If it doesn't, will send back and then may have to try the 5 at a time approach. I have fast internet but I can just see hours wasted upload, download, check to see if intact, delete from iCloud lather rinse repeat. Really hope this lightning stick thing works

 

[puckhead]

I thought of that too but not sure how easy it is to do.

I wound up spending 40 plus bucks on Amazon to buy a lightning adapter USB stick. Basically a flash drive where one end fits the lightning connector on the phone, the other is USB. supposed to be able to copy over the pics, then connect to PC And copy it over like a regular flash drive. If that works it solves the issue long term. If it doesn't, will send back and then may have to try the 5 at a time approach. I have fast internet but I can just see hours wasted upload, download, check to see if intact, delete from iCloud lather rinse repeat. Really hope this lightning stick thing works.

Yeah, it would definitely be a chore. You could always do a little at a time so you don't spend a weekend on it or anything and at least she could take pics once some space was taken back on the phone.

That drive sounds like a perfect answer but your PC should be able to do the exact same thing. A trip to the Apple store might not be a bad idea if the drive doesn't work either. I would imagine they have online support also, so there's always that too.

If all else fails, you should at least go rant in MrYB's thread.

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah, it would definitely be a chore. You could always do a little at a time so you don't spend a weekend on it or anything and at least she could take pics once some space was taken back on the phone.

That drive sounds like a perfect answer but your PC should be able to do the exact same thing. A trip to the Apple store might not be a bad idea if the drive doesn't work either. I would imagine they have online support also, so there's always that too.

If all else fails, you should at least go rant in MrYB's thread.

Yeah I'm hoping the issue is with the phone somehow not the PC. I tried her laptop and got the same thing. The pics are still intact you can view them on the phone so if the stick works, I solved it, if not, Apple Store here we come.

 

[BigRedRage]

google photos has unlimited picture storage in their cloud

 

[Russ Smith]

google photos has unlimited picture storage in their cloud

Yep the problem is I have to be able to get the pics off the phone first. Definitely something weird it used to connect as USB before, started to the other night then crashed and now won't. Sure hope the stick I ordered works, should be there today.

 

[BigRedRage]

Yep the problem is I have to be able to get the pics off the phone first. Definitely something weird it used to connect as USB before, started to the other night then crashed and now won't. Sure hope the stick I ordered works, should be there today.

You would download google photos onto the phone and then upload the photos to google photos. You do not need to take them off of the phone first.

 

[Russ Smith]

You would download google photos onto the phone and then upload the photos to google photos. You do not need to take them off of the phone first.

Sorry missed that. Definitely would likely work.

thanks

 

[Russ Smith]

You would download google photos onto the phone and then upload the photos to google photos. You do not need to take them off of the phone first.

so 3years later same phone even worse problem. I can't load anything on the phone she has virtually no memory left and absolutely refuses to delete any pictures until they're backed up. we are getting a new phone this weekend. The stick thing I bought in 2019 worked, the problem is it won't work now it starts to copy and then crashes, the software for the stick is installed on the phone but it crashes due to lack of memory. Even if I can get it to not crash I already did the math at 100% battery the phone will run out of battery before it completes the copy and you can't do incremental copies near as i can tell it starts with the first pic so you can't do half now half later.

I bought a different setup that connects to the phone and then you connect a USB drive to it and copy over, but you can't see the drive on her phone. I plugged it into her work iPhone and it works perfectly, so I suspect unless this thing just doesn't support iPhone 7(and it says it does), there's simply not enough memory left on the phone to run the software that makes the drive work. in fact I know the picture connection part of it works because when you plug it in, and connect the USB drive the phone automatically goes to photos because it knows the lightning cable phone gizmo is there, it just can't read the USB drive again I assume because of lack of memory.

Lightning cable doesn't work, connecting to itunes doesn't work it's very clear there's not enough free memory on the phone to run anything that's not already installed on the phone and in some cases even things already installed won't work because they crash due to lack of memory.

My hope is the people at Verizon on Saturday will back me up on this and tell her you have a Mexican standoff you can't copy ANY pictures off the phone without first deleting some of them so there's enough memory to do it. There are tons of pictures that I think can easily be deleted but it's her phone and her pictures.

 

[BigRedRage]

Iphone is trash about this stuff

 

[dreamcastrocks]

so 3years later same phone even worse problem. I can't load anything on the phone she has virtually no memory left and absolutely refuses to delete any pictures until they're backed up. we are getting a new phone this weekend. The stick thing I bought in 2019 worked, the problem is it won't work now it starts to copy and then crashes, the software for the stick is installed on the phone but it crashes due to lack of memory. Even if I can get it to not crash I already did the math at 100% battery the phone will run out of battery before it completes the copy and you can't do incremental copies near as i can tell it starts with the first pic so you can't do half now half later.

I bought a different setup that connects to the phone and then you connect a USB drive to it and copy over, but you can't see the drive on her phone. I plugged it into her work iPhone and it works perfectly, so I suspect unless this thing just doesn't support iPhone 7(and it says it does), there's simply not enough memory left on the phone to run the software that makes the drive work. in fact I know the picture connection part of it works because when you plug it in, and connect the USB drive the phone automatically goes to photos because it knows the lightning cable phone gizmo is there, it just can't read the USB drive again I assume because of lack of memory.

Lightning cable doesn't work, connecting to itunes doesn't work it's very clear there's not enough free memory on the phone to run anything that's not already installed on the phone and in some cases even things already installed won't work because they crash due to lack of memory.

My hope is the people at Verizon on Saturday will back me up on this and tell her you have a Mexican standoff you can't copy ANY pictures off the phone without first deleting some of them so there's enough memory to do it. There are tons of pictures that I think can easily be deleted but it's her phone and her pictures.

Pretty sure iCloud allows wifi sync to the Cloud. Maybe they could try that instead?

 

[Russ Smith]

Pretty sure iCloud allows wifi sync to the Cloud. Maybe they could try that instead?

She has nothing on iCloud and there's like 116 GB of pictures and you get 5 free. I think it's like 2.99 a month to get enough to upload them all.

She had a come to Jesus moment last night and started deleting some pics but I think we're talking like 15 or 20 not nearly enough. Because the USB gizmo works with her work phone I'm pretty sure we can use that if we can get enough memory freed up for it to work.

My plan b is get her new phone, use airdrop to send pictures to the new phone verify it worked and then delete from the old phone, repeat enough to where I can then get something to work to copy over the rest. But that would be painstaking.

 

[BigRedRage]

I paid something like $20 a year to upgrade my google storage and maintain everything in the cloud. totally worth it.

Alternative option is to have all the photos printed and then you can delete them.

this will help sort out how over 100gb of photos is a bit silly when you have piles and piles of photos everywhere in your house. .

 

[Russ Smith]

I paid something like $20 a year to upgrade my google storage and maintain everything in the cloud. totally worth it.

Alternative option is to have all the photos printed and then you can delete them.

this will help sort out how over 100gb of photos is a bit silly when you have piles and piles of photos everywhere in your house. .

A friend suggested I use Amazon Photos since I have it and I am hoping that works. She doesn't have the app as far as I know, will check, but assuming she doesn't I would have to login via a browser and then see if I can upload her photos. It's unlimited since I have prime, for pics at least, videos I guess is 5GB.

That's my plan for tonight see if I can get Amazon to run on her phone so I can do the pictures.

 

[puckhead]

When was the last time her phone was updated? What about the apps you're trying to use for transfer, are they all up to date?

 

[puckhead]

Also, have you reached out to Apple support?

 

[Russ Smith]

Also, have you reached out to Apple support?

So to answer both questions not really sure. I tried to install Amazon Photos last night and was told not enough room to install and I need IOS 13 or greater to make it work, so it's below 13. I can't install the current update, which is 15 something, because it needs over 5 GB to install she had less than 1. She deleted about 350 pics, we deleted some apps and some texts but still nowhere near being close to room to install the update.

Can't do it via Amazon, I logged in via Safari but it doesn't see the phone it needs Amazon Photos on the phone to work apparently.

Went to Verizon today, at one point the sales guy said "how are you planning to transfer stuff over" when i pointed out the dilemma. I said "that's what we're hoping you can answer." Finally his boss pretty clearly stated it will probably work but you only have two choice, sign up for iCloud, pay the 2.99 for more and backup the entire phone, including pics to the cloud. If that works great then you turn on the new phone it will copy that over, then you should be able to copy the pics off the new phone. If that does NOT work, copy everything but the pictures so you can get the new phone working, delete the apps delete the messages and you can then install the update and then hopefully copy them off.

We bought the 13Max were there when they opened at 10am. It's been running the backup since 11am so 2 hours 45 minutes, its' just about halfway through says estimated 3 hours remaining. But at least so far it is working. We got 256 this time knowing if the phone copies over half of that will be gone right away but with the plan of offloading the pics once they're safely in the cloud.

While we were there a customer who had some crazy issue said he was an engineer and thought the only other option would be trying to connect the phone to a Mac, apparently Apple has discontinued service via iTunes and other methods and he says it's now quite common for people with Windows(we're using 10) to have trouble but a Mac might see the phone and allow you to just copy stuff over like it's an external drive.

Her 17 year old niece has a mac book so that's our last result if needed but so far it appears iCloud off of our home wifi is working.

What a pain. If this all works I will install Amazon Photos on the new phone, upload the pics to that, then we can discontinue the extended iCloud.

 

[Russ Smith]

According to Amazon photos if we install the app on the new phone it will then automatically take the pics off iCloud and upload them to Amazon Photos. So when the old phone is finished uploading to iCloud we're going to try to copy over without the pics and videos to the new phone, then when the new phone is active install Amazon Photos and see if we can do that.

 

[Russ Smith]

Update man what a pain but I think it worked.
I checked last night after nearly 9 hours and discovered the upload to iCloud had stopped and wasn't showing completed. I restarted it hoping it would be smart enough to know which ones it had already uploaded and pick up where it crashed, but it started from scratch again! It appears though it went through and checked and only uploaded ones it hadn't already done. Lucy got up early morning and discovered it said backup completed 1:30 AM so the 2nd time it took about 5 hours to complete.

This morning logged in to the new phone they told us to do setup new phone from iCloud not from old phone. It still copied over stuff from the old phone first then had me sign in to iCloud and then just started uploading with no option to let me choose what it was doing. I assumed that meant it would upload all the pics to the new phone but it didn't. It appears it now accesses those pics from iCloud. So the new phone was all set up.

I installed Amazon Photos, set it up and then once again the upload just started I had planned to do that overnight but it just started so it's running now. So it's uploading from iTunes to Amazon Photos and MUCH faster than the upload to iCloud. I'm assuming the speed is due to the new phone not Amazon being better than iCloud.

Not fun but it appears it worked without losing any pics

 

[Russ Smith]

Took 16 hours to upload from iCloud to Amazon Photos but it appears to have worked. new phone works. We called Verizon yesterday they gave us a number to call for free tech support and lucy wanted to be sure we were doing it right. The person on the phone asked what we were copying and how much and then told her I wouldn't be surprised if it takes more than 24 hours you're going from one cloud service to another cloud service, all by wifi, that's a tremendous amount of pictures and video to copy. Also turns out Amazon doesn't take burst photos or 360 photos but it apparently tries to upload them then realizes it can't so every one of those takes a few minutes for it to process.

The only weird thing left is as of last night when you call her phone both the new and old phone ring. Only the new phone gets texts, but calls go through. When we asked Verizon about that they didn't seem too sure why, they assured us we wouldn't be charged extra for it and that it would stop doing so if we just turned the phone off(duh) but they didn't seem to know why it was still ringing. When you turn on the new phone it is supposed to deactivate the old one. I asked if it was because it was on wifi and they said it should not matter.

 

[puckhead]

Awesome that you were able to back up those photos!