Lost all my photos after iOS5 update

And yes - I understand that reasoning. However, she is a single parent trying to take care of a child, hold down a full time job, and still take care of a house. All the while dealing with some serious issues otherwise. That comment is like telling a computer user to never just hold information on one computer (which is probably what your point may be) but there is NO fail safe way of holding anything anymore. And if you aren't supposed to hold it in any electronical device? Where are you supposed to hold it? All I want is to be able to do fix her phone because I feel responsible for this.

Try iExplore first. It works exactly as everyone describes. You find the DCIM folder then 100Apple and your photos are there. iCloud didn't work for me. Good luck!

TehKritter wrote:

And yes - I understand that reasoning. However, she is a single parent trying to take care of a child, hold down a full time job, and still take care of a house. All the while dealing with some serious issues otherwise. That comment is like telling a computer user to never just hold information on one computer (which is probably what your point may be) but there is NO fail safe way of holding anything anymore. And if you aren't supposed to hold it in any electronical device? Where are you supposed to hold it? All I want is to be able to do fix her phone because I feel responsible for this.

You keep the information on electronic devices. But not only one! Any information that needs to be genuinely kept secure would never be stored on less than three drives / optical media. And one of those would not be held in the same building as the others (You wouldn't want to lose the lot just because the house burned down...)

Photos and music don't tend to fall into that security category. I only keep them on the phone. And the Mac's hard drive. And the Time Machine backup drive. And a separate archive drive. It's not difficult. 😉

Thank you loulou. I appreciate the help since thats all I'm asking for. I didn't ask to be insulted and ridiculed by someone who thinks the rest of the world has the ability to back up their systems (regardless of what it was) like they do. And yes - some photos are actually very important to keep.

I downloaded the iExplorer and I'll try it with her phone today. Thank you again.

Unfortunately loulou...when I backed up her phone - it apparently deleted EVERYTHING from August to November of this year. I don't think there is any way to get it back because I'm using iExplorer and its not working. All of her files from those dates have been erased completely from the phone. I sincerely appreciate your help though. It was very useful and I will be keeping this program on my computer just in case. And definitely will be working with her phone more often to prevent this from happening again.

iExlplorer works like a charm!!! Saved a beating from my mom after updating her iphone 3G to the OS 5...

I wish I had known about this issue before allowing itunes to update my iphone4 to iOS 5 ! Lost all photos other than the ones in "camera roll". None of the fixes listed above have worked, all the albums are gone. This was my first Apple product I have ever owned, and now I believe it will be my last. You blew it with me Apple.

Android phone here I come!

Pictures only end up on the iPhone one of two ways.

1) They are taken with the camera and end up in "Camera Roll".

2) They are synced to the iPhone via iTunes and end up in other folders.

ericcrna wrote:

I wish I had known about this issue before allowing itunes to update my iphone4 to iOS 5 ! Lost all photos other than the ones in "camera roll".

It is simply NOT possible to lose all the pics on your device that were not in Camera Roll. They are still on your computer that they were synced from.

Leave and get an Android if you want.. same limitations exist. If the user is fails to educate themselves on how to use the phone and back up their files, they WILL lose data.

Unfortunately ericcrna, that person is right. You're going to have issues with every phone regardless of educating yourself or not. Because this isn't a perfect world - bugs exist and unfortunately they happen at the worst times. So even if you get an Android and read EVERYTHING you can get your hands on...something might come up and screw it up.

Thank you Avatar. I am not exactly technically savvy. I have lost all my music albums somehow since I upgraded to Lion. Don't know how to begin to get them back. Also all my contacts have been lost from my old iphone to my new iphpne 4s.. All that synced to my new iphone was everyones e.mail addresses!

I agree with you TehKritter. For those of us not savvy enough but wishing to enjoy the latest technology, it is not good enough to be ridiculed. At least we have the guts to ask for help.