Recover photos after updating with iOS5

Yo Allyoutside,

I downloaded the Iexplorer on both my PC and my iphone. I can now view all the pictures I lost though most are inverted or sideways and there are clickable files for my videos though they show absolutely nothing when I click on them. The problem now is it won't let me do anything with them, I can't save them to my PC or find them on my phone, or anything, what is my next step?

If you guys can see your pictures on your iPhone/iPad when you plug your device into your computer but they aren't showing up in the camera roll, I have instructions on how to resolve that exact issue:

http://blog.mbentley.net/2010/06/iphone-ios-4-upgrade-restore-lost-pictures-in-c amera-roll/

This came up when people upgraded from iOS 3.x to 4.x and it looks like it came back up again unfortunately. Feel free to post if you have any problems and I will try to answer as best I can.

I checked out your link, the directions are simple enough. When it says "backup" then delete, can you walk me through how to do this. I am not computer savvy and from what I have seen I can't do anything with any of the files that appear in front of me other than click them, I tried right clicking, etc. and it gives me no options to save or move files at all.

Just drag and drop the files to your desktop and it will copy them (back them up)

Same problem I had on my Imac with snow leopard. But, when I did the same thing on my macbook with Lion it was possible to drag and drop the pictures from Iexplorer to the desktop. Now all the pictures have been imported safely into Iphoto. I had to do a hard reboot on the Iphone before it would show in Iexplorer. Good Luck.

Hi I also have lost ne of my best photos. When I restored it restored old photos. It did not restore my music, lataest videos, photos and other games.

What went wrong with backup. I don't kknow. I lost my best video of my 1.5 years baby's dance in a function. Can't put any price on that video. Very upset with iPhone updaters....

Totally works!!! Go to http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/ and download iExplorer to you applications folder. It lets you view your iPhone just like a mounted harddrive. Find the folder DCIM100 and your photos will be there! I haven't figured out how to get them back on my phone but at least they will be recovered and stored on your Mac (after you select them and drag them to a folder on your desktop). Seriously, it works!!

Has Apple even acknowldged the issue?

I'm in the software business myself, so I get bugs. But when a customer finds a bug and it's repeated across hundreds (thousands?) of customers, you have a PR problem, but more importantly, your customers have a problem that you caused.

So far, what I'm learning about Apple is this: Don't believe the hype. I used to love my iPad. Now I like it, but I also fear it. I sure don't want to trust it with anything important.

And Apple, until they acknowledge this and work toward a fix, is not at all a great company.

I'm glad that this worked for you, but unfortunately, it doesn't address my issue. The backup created when I started the upgrade process is unreadable by the iPad and therefore my files remain out of reach. I get the -50 error.

I've owned PC's for over 20 years. Not once have I ever lost my data like this, no matter how many upgrades or machines I've been through.

Apple is not what it's reputed to be.

I found a solution that might work for you if you have a PC from which you did the update.

1) See if you have files here:

C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\[device serial #]\Structured\Snapshot

If so...

2) Download and install this:

http://www.iphonebackupextractor.com

3) When you've installed it, elect to choose the backup location that I give above. It should read the manifest file list and tell you that you have videos and pictures and such.

4) Click Videos to extract. In unregistered mode, it will only extract 2, but this will tell you if it will work for you without costing you anything yet.

5) When it asks where to extract, choose your desktop and then extract. It will create a Media folder. Drill into what's created there and you should see videos.

6) If this worked as it did for me, then buy the registered version and do it with all of your files.

The reason that the pictures are not showing up on your phone is because the camera roll index is corrupt. You can regenerate it though. I have instructions here:

http://blog.mbentley.net/2010/06/iphone-ios-4-upgrade-restore-lost-pictures-in-c amera-roll/

You just need to use iPhone Explorer to do it so you are already half way there on the steps to getting your pictures to show up on your phone.

this works!!! I had ios4 and updated to ios5 i got all my applications (after syncing again) but my photos file was empty. When I did this restore my pictures returned!

I lost everything on my iphone. I went into Apple store with my PC and spent 50 minutes with the Genius Bar to get their help restoring my loss. After all the back ups we tried to restore, not one had any photos, videos, contacts or music. All that were restored were apps and those I do not care about! I am so angry at how Apple refuses to admit this is their issue. The guy was helpful but very arrogant about it not being Apple's fault. My last purchase from Apple! GOing back to PC for good.

To All Who Have Lost Photos when upgrading IPad to IOS 5...Use njali22's solution...It really worked! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!! I Love My IPad again! 🙂

I used this process on my phone and it has worked a treat. Awesome. Thank you so much.