Q: i use photostream, i got my software updated. then i lost all the photos from camera roll nd also from photostream . how to get them back or where to view them !

Restore from your backup.  It will include the photos and videos in the camera roll at the time of the backup.  It will not include photo stream photos.  Photo stream photos from the last 30 days will still be in iCloud and will reappear on your iPod when you sign back into your iCloud account on it and enable photo stream.  Photo stream photos older than 30 days are no longer in photo stream and cannot be recovered.

Unfortunately, there isn't.  iCloud only keeps photo stream photos in iCloud for 30 days, allowing enough time for them to stream to your other devices and be saved, if desired.  After that, they are removed.  They aren't included in the backup because they are assumed to already be in the camera roll (which is backed up), since all photo stream photos originate from the camera roll.  The problem comes when someone deletes them from the camera roll, assuming that they are backed up in photo stream, when they aren't.

In the future, you should always import them to your computer while they are still in the camera roll, as explained here.  (Alternatively, if you have a Mac running OS X Lion or higher with iPhoto 9.4 or higher, you can set iPhoto to automatically import your photo stream photos to your computer from photo stream.)

That's an unfortunate design decision since the photos that came from other devices are now on their camera roll only, and no longer on every device, which is the intent of photostream supposedly... every time a device has to be replaced, photostream becomes an annoyance instead of a positive.

If I were to back my phone back down to ios7 to be able to access the photostream folder again would they still be there? Or since i have not updated my iPad yet is there a way to get them off of that and back onto my phone? I had about 900 pictures in the photostream that were not on my camera roll at all.

Linds85 wrote:

 

If I were to back my phone back down to ios7 to be able to access the photostream folder again would they still be there? Or since i have not updated my iPad yet is there a way to get them off of that and back onto my phone? I had about 900 pictures in the photostream that were not on my camera roll at all.

If your iPad is running iOS 7, you can save them to your camera roll, then import them to your computer and sync them to your phone.  To save them to the camera roll, open the my photo stream album on your iPad, tap Select, tap the photos, tap the share icon (box with upward facing arrow), then tap Save to Camera Roll.  Then import them to your computer as explained here: iOS: Import personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer.  Once on your computer, you can sync them to your phone by putting them in a folder, then selecting the folder on the Photos tab of your iTunes sync settings and syncing your phone.

Before doing all of this, you might want to check the Photos section of your iPhone to be sure the photo stream photos aren't already on it.

Thanks Randers! I already checked the photos on my phone and they aren't there, but I haven't updated my iPad yet so I will get them all moved from there today. Really appreciate your help.

You're welcome.