Q: Why aren't all my photo albums downloaded after iCloud restore?

Give it some time; it should continue to restore in the background.

At this point it would seem your photos just didn't come over from the cloud backup.  You can still connect your new device to your computer and quickly sync them via iTunes sync.

Do you see the message below Settings>iCloud>Stop Restoring iPad

"This iPad is currently being restored and will automatically.........."

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/c2c33e55.jpg

Neither iTunes backup, nor iCloud backup includes photo albums, as it's assumed you sync/transfer them from your computer photo app. Only the current Camera Roll are backed up (PhotoStream photos are also stored on iCloud).

You'll have to sync your albums to the iPad from your computer.

You can read what's part of the backup in this Apple article:

  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

There must be some thing wrong with the restore; mine continued for about one to two hours after the main Home screen was restored.

How do I get my photos from the camera roll to photo stream on my iPhone so I can synch them through the cloud to download to my iPad3? or do I need to email them all to myself? So much for user friendly...

Transfer photos to your computer. Sync.

Is that simple enough for you? Read the user guide.

Thanks, no need to be a tool.

The same thing happened to me.  A hard reset (hold down the power and home button until you see the Apple logo) did the trick, and the Photos app resumed restoring.

Did a ICloud restore with a refurbished iPhone 4. Everything successful and finished.

Only thing that was a problem were the photos. Had about 150 photos.

They all downloaded. The only thing wron about it was that it shows an jpg logo image on all of them except the first fifteen.

Please help me recover them. I accidentally deleted my recent backup.

I fixed this issue after a lot of time and pain (see below)

Seems to have come up on various threads so it seems to be an issue and should be escalated by Apple. They were none the wiser at the genius bar apart from telling me the iCloud backup is probably corrupted and I should call Apple care (as if that is going to do anything)

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18829957#18829957

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17988389#17988389

https://discussions.apple.com/message/17887940#17887940

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18811914#18811914

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18688593#18688593

https://discussions.apple.com/message/19426061#19426061

https://discussions.apple.com/message/19203831#19203831

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18390030#18390030

I experienced the same problem with the iCloud restore not working properly. I had my iPhone 4 replaced as the home button was defective. When attempting to restore an 9.5GB iCloud backup from the day before it just would not work properly. Firstly, half my apps did not restore, they would begin to download showing the progress indicator then just disappear, leaving my home screen naked. No big deal as apps can be downloaded again.

However, what was a big deal for me was the 1,625 photos on my camera roll, including many of the first year of my kid's life. The camera roll would say downloading x of 1,625 photos, download a few of them, then simply stop downloading any new shots. When I would restart the phone it did not show any downloading message, it believed the restore was complete. I tried about ten different restore scenarios, listed below, all of which gave me varying results (some resulting in all my apps restoring) but all of which would only give me some of my photos back.

What was a comfort was that I once got about 700 of the shots back. So the photos were still in the cloud rather than gone and this indicated that it was the restore process or the iCloud backup on my phone that was the problem. These are the things I tried in sequence as I despairingly tried to get my photos back...

Things I tried that DID NOT work

1) Erase all settings and attempt to restore again from scratch (four times)

2) Tried the restore from a different WiFi network (once)

3) Tried the restore from one WiFi network then switched to another once the restore 'hung' (once)

4) Tried the restore from an Apple store WiFi network (once)

5) Tried the restore from a previous iCloud backup (twice)

6) Had Apple replace the iPhone 4 (once)

With all of these I got a varying amount of my photos and apps back before it stopped restoring. I was also making the mistake (I learnt afterwards) of opening and moving between apps during the download to check progress.

Thing I tried that DID work

1) Did not plug the phone into my MacBook, I used the wall charger only to prevent any iTunes sync activity

2) Erase all settings and data, restore from the iCloud backup and input passwords in all the pop up windows once it reboots.

2) Open photos app gallery to see photos downloading and show the progress message "downloading xx of x,xxx"

3) Left it on this photo screen and did not touch the phone at all for the entire restore. I did not close the photo galley/camera roll app once, open any other apps.

Finally this time round it work and all my photos and apps restored in full. I am going to go back to syncing with iTunes as I don't trust iCloud for restores. It seems that iCloud does not handle photo restores that well, especially if the gallery is large. In short: Wall charger only, restore from iCloud, open Photos app, don't touch. Really hope this works for you too if you've had the same issue.