Camera Roll + transfer issue

Question

Level 1

1 points

Camera Roll + transfer issue

Hi,

Just went on a holiday with some friends and took quite a few videos and photos.

Came home to transfer them onto my computer, and ran into some problems.

I'd noticed that when viewing them on my iPhone, I can see the thumbnails, but upon selecting the video or photo, I can't play the movie or view the full image.
When I plug my iPhone into my computer, and view the media on my camera roll, it says everything is there, but the images have no thumbnails and when I try to copy them it comes up with an error saying "Parameter is incorrect". Windows is saying the movie files have no file size too, although I'm pretty sure they're still there.

Anyway to fix this so I can get these files onto my computer? At the moment I can't do anything with any of them. Are there any programs I could use to get stuff off my iPod or explore it somehow?

I'm on iOS 4.2.1.

iOS 4

Posted on Dec 16, 2010 10:04 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jeevens Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 17, 2010 2:12 PM in response to Jeevens

Bit of extra info.

Basically when I click on a thumbnail (image) to view, it will go into the image viewer, but it will just be a black screen.
Clicking on a video will bring up the first frame (a thumbnail of it, I believe), but hitting play will say "This movie could not be played".

All of the images, when viewed in my computer, have a file size. However the movies do not. I cannot view either via my computer, or copy them.

When I select all of the media in my camera roll in through Windows Explorer, it says there is just under 0.5Gb there, but in iTunes it says there is only 0.04Gb of photos there (remember, Windows won't be taking into account my videos as it thinks they have no file size).

*Is it at all possible that my iPhone has somehow deleted these photos itself through an error somehow? That they've become corrupted and just gone?*

The only remotely similar description of my problem I can find is here, although it could be different, but it sounds the same:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2644657

Do you guys think a restore from my backup would work?
I have synced my iPhone, but it's worth noting that the blank photo and unplayable movie issue began happening when I was away, so my iPhone was synced after the problem began.

If it's worth restoring from my latest backup, how do I do that? When the "Summary" tab is open, it only gives the option to restore to factory default settings.

Reply

Answer 2

Jeevens Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 17, 2010 11:14 PM in response to Jeevens

Tried a restore, didn't work. Still says the photos and media are there but I can't view them or do anything.

Reply

Answer 3

Jeevens Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 18, 2010 11:48 PM in response to Jeevens

Noticed a few things.

1. This problem occurs every time I turn my iPhone off and then on. Eg: Any photos/media taken and stored in the camera roll are viewable, until I turn my iPhone off. Then, the next time I turn it on again, the photos/media cannot be viewed or anything. It's like every time I turn it off it deletes or corrupts my camera roll.

2. When viewing the files in Windows Explorer, it shows there as being multiples of IMG_0001.jpeg. Normally, my iPhone would reset it's photo count once everything was taken off it and the camera roll was empty. But now it seems it's doing so every time I turn it off and on again. It's like the iPhone is saying "I can't view any photos here (because they're corrupt or missing or whatever, as per point 1) so I'll start again", when it should be saying "Oh, here are all these photos, I'll keep going from number x".

It's ridiculously impractical to sync my iPhone before I turn it off everytime, and a bit silly to not be able to turn it off at night or when I want. So problem still isn't solved, even though I'm finding out more about it.

Reply

Answer 4

Jeevens Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 20, 2010 4:03 AM in response to Jeevens

After following advice from Apple, I did a complete restore, without restoring from a backup.
Seems to have given me a fully functional normal iPhone - can now lock it, rearrange apps, etc!
Plus, it appears to have solved my camera roll issue. I re-synced all of my apps back, and the camera roll isn't playing up now either, so I'm assuming it's all fine and wasn't a conflict with an app. The iTunes syncing is fixed too.

I'll re-post in here if the problem comes up again of course, but for now it looks like this is solved.

Reply

Answer 5

td_ssam

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2011 12:09 PM in response to Jeevens

Hello,

Sorry, but in my personal opinion, the original question has not been answered. I am having the exact same issue and I have not been asleep because I've been trying to figure this out as quickly as possible. Issue repeated:

I can see my thumbnails, but when I click on the actual thumbnail, all it shows is a black image for all of my pictures and it says that my videos are not playable. I've never made a backup or synced my phone to my computer, so unfortunately I have no backup of all my pictures, videos, or information, and a restore or restore from backup would not be a 'solution'.

Is there anyone else with the same issue or possibly with a fix for this issue? I would honestly hate to just lose all my pictures and videos over a random error, as I would assume anyone would hate to. Is apple addressing this issue at all? Have they looked into it or tried to come to some sort of conclusion other than 'you should have backed up your stuff, sorry.' ? I wish that a backup itself was reliable, but when in fact a couple of months ago I had an iPhone 3gs that had to be restored. Plugged it up to my computer and my backup was randomly deleted. Lost all my information anyway, even after staying on the ball and making sure that I had a backup of my stuff, but sorry now I'm rambling.

If there is any sort of fix or lead or information on this issue, please post as I'm truly going to be saddened if I lose months of memories due to some random mess up.

Thanks in advance, your help is much appreciated.

Sam

Message was edited by: td_ssam

Reply

Answer 6

Alase

Level 1

0 points

Feb 14, 2011 10:48 AM in response to td_ssam

I have the exact same problem. For me too, restore is not an option. would be good if there is a solution for this problem.

Reply

Answer 7

sqroot3

Level 1

0 points

Jun 30, 2011 4:47 PM in response to Alase

I encountered this problem today, and created an apple discussions handle solely to address it. I don't have a definite solution, but here's some food for thought and some workarounds.

1) The issue is likely caused by individual corrupt files. To get around this, copy files individually (or in batches...or in a binary search pattern or other nerdy fashion as inclined) until you identify the individual problematic files. In my case, the "parameter is incorrect" error popped up after performing the following:

ctrl-all from iphone\internal storage\dcim\800aaaa

copy

paste into destination folder--parameter is incorrect FAIL

So I decided to copy individual files, and all but ONE file copied successfully. The culprit was a .png file, likely a screenshot I took. Upon attempting to open it, windows photo gallery informed me that the file was corrupted.

2) It has been suggested that the thumbnails in iphone\internal storage\dcim\800aaaa show up just fine--that is, they provide an accurate lo-res representation of the image in question. I suggest that this may not be the case. In my brief experience, the corrupted file in question did indeed have a thumbnail, but this was simply the same thumbnail as the .jpg preceding.

Hope this helps.

Reply

Answer 8

Apr 4, 2016 3:32 AM in response to sqroot3

Hello.

I had the same problem for months and I literally tried everything, updating the phone, restoring it to it's original factory state, formatting my computer's hard disk. You can't imagine how much I've tried to solve the issue.

The solution is pretty simple. It doesn't require any effort at all... All you have to do is simply unlock your device putting your password, and everything should work just fine.

If you need to read more about it you can check the related post:

http://repholder.com/incorrect-parameter-copying-pictures-computer-ios/

Reply