Cannot Transfer Photos to iPad via SD Card

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Cannot Transfer Photos to iPad via SD Card

I have some photos I have stored on a Windows tablet (Chuwi UBook, running Windows 11) and they are in JPG format. I copy these to an SDHC card and attempt to open them in Photos on the iPad, but the iPad fails to recognize that the photos exist. The strange thing is that I use this identical process, from the same Windows tablet, every day to transfer photos to my iPad and it works perfectly all the time. But, these few photos I'm trying to transfer to the iPad are not being recognized even though they are in the same format (JPG). They have been stored on the Windows tablet as well as on three external drives that work with Windows and Mac. All I am doing is copying them from this tablet to an SDHC card, the very same card I use every day to transfer JPGs to the iPad. I cannot figure out why these particular files aren't being read by the iPad, since nothing is any different from the files I transfer every day. They should behave identically.

iPad mini

Posted on Jun 19, 2024 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

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LotusPilot

Community+ 2025

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301,466 points

Jun 19, 2024 5:00 PM in response to GRea60

To reiterate, your iPad will not automatically import photos from the SD card unless the photos are placed in a DCIM folder - this folder itself being located in the root folder of the SD card.

If photos are not placed in the expected folder, you can manually access and copy photos from the SD Card using the iPad’s built-in Files App. To do so, open the Files App - and in the Sidebar you will see your SD Card in the list of Locations. If necessary, open the sidebar by tapping the sidebar icon at top-left of the Files App Window. Photos can be copied to the iPad Photo Library, or copied to a folder of your choice either on your iPad or elsewhere.

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Answer 2

Jun 19, 2024 4:24 PM in response to GRea60

The source of your difficulties isn't immediately clear. Start here:

Connect external storage devices to iPad - Apple Support

Direct import of photos and videos from your camera SD Card to your Photo library should be possible - subject to a couple of caveats:

the SD Card must be correctly formatted as FAT, FAT32 or exFAT (FAT64)
stored photos are stored within the expected DCIM folder

Import photos using Apple camera adapters - Apple Support

If you are unable to use the direct photo import feature, you can still manually access and copy photos from the SD Card using the iPad’s built-in Files App. To do so, just open the Files App - and in the Sidebar you will see your SD Card in the list of Locations. If necessary, open the sidebar by tapping the sidebar icon at top-left of the Files App Window. Photos can be copied to the iPad Photo Library, or copied to a folder of your choice either on your iPad or elsewhere.

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Answer 3

GRea60 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 19, 2024 5:16 PM in response to LotusPilot

Yes, I know that. I use this every day, remember? I forgot what the real problem is, and this IS a Windows issue: whether I am attempting to copy or cut and paste the file, Windows asks, "Are you sure you want to copy (or move) the file without its properties? The file has properties that can't be copied (or moved) to the new location." The options, at this point, are Yes, Skip, or Cancel. If I say yes, then whatever properties it's referring to are then stripped from the file and THAT is what is preventing it from being read by the iPad. Of course, choosing Skip or Cancel achieves nothing. So, apparently, after being stored in Windows for some time, there IS some change occurring that affects the file's properties. Oddly, though, most of my photos, many of which have been stored for quite some time, don't seem to be affected by this, for some reason.

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Answer 4

GRea60 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 19, 2024 4:51 PM in response to LotusPilot

I'm not transferring the files from my camera. This is my process: first, after shooting photos, I remove the SDHC card from my camera and use the Apple Card Reader to download the files to the iPad for editing in Snapseed. Once I'm done with this, I then use a Sandisk thumb drive to transfer the photos to the Chuwi UBook tablet, where they will then be stored in folders. If I want to upload these to Flickr later on, I use an SDHC card to copy and paste the files back to my iPad, where I then upload them to Flickr. That's what I do daily. In this case, the particular JPGs have been stored (NOT edited) on the Chuwi Ubook for some length of time and I want to share them with someone. So, I copy the photos from the Chuwi UBook to an SDHC card and use the Apple Card Reader to attempt to copy the files to the iPad. This is when the card's content fails to be read by the iPad. It tells me there are no photos to be downloaded. This shouldn't be happening, but it does and this has happened before, many times. There is nothing wrong with the SDHC card. It works perfectly every day. There has been no editing of the photos in Windows. They have simply been stored in a folder. I'll try checking the Files App and see what happens. Thanks.

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Cannot Transfer Photos to iPad via SD Card

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