Lost all my pictures thanks to the ios 7 update

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Level 1

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Lost all my pictures thanks to the ios 7 update

I have an iphone 4s, and I'm pretty sure all my pictures are now completely gone.
I plugged my iphone into my computer, and itunes had to update. (Ok, that took forever, but whatever).
So I let my iphone update to ios 7 while I went to sleep last night (dumb move on my part, should've just not updated at all).

Anyway, so I wake up, and itunes told me it couldn't finish updating due to some error, so I click ok. Then it somehow DID update, so now it's stuck on the 'connected to itunes' screen. I restored it numerous times, since it's just doing nothing even though itunes says it's all good to go.
After I restored it at least 10 times, I decided to just select "Set Up as New Iphone".

Well, that got me to the homescreen, I fiddled with some apps and then noticed that ALL my pictures are GONE! Cool, right????? (no).
So, I googled how to get them back. Ok, apple suggests that I do a backup on itunes and that should restore my pictures. Ok, if it'll get my pictures back, i'll do it. ( I ALWAYS plug my iphone into my computer and sync it with itunes, and it says it's been backed up periodically).
Anyway, NOPE. Nothing. No pictures, and now my iphone is ONCE AGAIN stuck on the 'connected to itunes' screen, and no matter what I do, NOTHING HAPPENS.

All I want are my pictures back, so can someone PLEASE tell me if there's any hope of getting them back?????

iPhone 4S, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 21, 2013 6:46 AM

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Answer 1

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Sep 21, 2013 6:48 AM in response to ak421

You should be importing all pics taken with iphone to your computer regularly as you would with any digital camera, most especially before any update.

If you have failed to do this, then they are very likely gone. Restoring from backup would be the only way to possibly get them back.

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Answer 2

ak421 Author

Level 1

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Sep 21, 2013 6:53 AM in response to roaminggnome

So do I choose "Restore Iphone" or "Restore backup"?

i've tried the " restore backup" and it's doing nothing at all for me.

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Answer 3

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Sep 21, 2013 7:05 AM in response to ak421

How to restore from a backup

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Answer 4

Sep 21, 2013 7:18 AM in response to ak421

Do you have iCloud control panel installed on your computer? iCloud should have backed up most/all of your pics

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Answer 5

ak421 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2013 7:25 AM in response to bluelightalarm

no, i assumed that itunes would be able to restore any photos of mine....:(

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Answer 6

Sep 21, 2013 7:37 AM in response to ak421

You can download it here: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1455

Try installing it, it may have backed up your pictures to iCloud

When you say you have the "connected to iTunes screen" do you mean the screen with a picture of the USB cable and the itunes logo? If so then that is not a screen to say it is connected to iTunes, it means you need to connect your iPhone to the computer because there is a problem.

I'd plug your phone in and try to restore it using a backup from a date before you updated to iOS 7. You may have caused a problem by selecting to set it up as a new device as iTunes sometimes deletes older backups when you do this. If you can't restore it to an older date in iTunes then try restoring from iCloud and again select a date from before you updated to iOS 7

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Answer 7

diesel vdub

Level 7

22,178 points

Sep 21, 2013 7:38 AM in response to ak421

You know what they say about assuming.

Read the User's Guide and learn how to use the device as designed.

Frankly, relying on a single device like an iPhone that can easily be lost, damaged, or stolen as sole storage of important data such as pictures is extremely unintelligent.

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Answer 8

ak421 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2013 7:58 AM in response to bluelightalarm

i don't think it backed up to icloud, but i'll try anyway, thanks.

and yeah, it's the screen with the usb cable and itunes logo. it does this no matter what, even if i had restored/backed it up over and over.

i also can't find any older backups besides from this morning so i think i really did screw it up 😟

thanks for your help though!

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Answer 9

ak421 Author

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Sep 21, 2013 7:59 AM in response to roaminggnome

thank you, roaminggnome but i think the pics are gone forever 😟

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Answer 10

diesel vdub

Level 7

22,178 points

Sep 21, 2013 8:06 AM in response to bluelightalarm

bluelightalarm wrote:

iCloud should have backed up most/all of your pics

Only if PhotoStream was turned on when the pictures were taken.

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Answer 11

Sep 21, 2013 8:55 AM in response to diesel vdub

diesel vdub wrote:

Only if PhotoStream was turned on when the pictures were taken.

Yes but it was worth a try

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Answer 12

rammjb

Level 1

0 points

Nov 7, 2013 11:42 AM in response to ak421

Just go to iTunes with your phone attached to your computer. At the top select PHOTOS and select which ones you want restored back to your phone. It's easy.

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Answer 13

Nov 9, 2013 6:13 PM in response to ak421

I have this same exact problem. I waited a long time to update to iOS 7 because of the bad reviews, but i started to get really annoyed by the red 1 next to settings, so I just did it. The same exact thing happened, and I'm so mad! I just went to a great concert, and on vacation, and all my pictures from both of those are GONE. I never back up my phone because I've never had a problem like this before. I blame Apple because I called customer support and the person was just saying that I should back it up from now on, and that didn't help me at all. Anyways, I'm going to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they can fix it, but I was wondering if you had found a solution for it, or just given up.

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Answer 14

Nov 9, 2013 6:14 PM in response to rammjb

will this work even if I haven't backed them up to my computer?

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Answer 15

diesel vdub

Level 7

22,178 points

Nov 9, 2013 6:53 PM in response to EmmaNicole4

EmmaNicole4 wrote:

I never back up my phone because I've never had a problem like this before.

That's really dumb.

EmmaNicole4 wrote:

I blame Apple because I called customer support and the person was just saying that I should back it up from now on, and that didn't help me at all.

Another dumb statement... the user that failed to backup the device is the culprit and the ONLY one to blame.

EmmaNicole4 wrote:

I'm going to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they can fix it

A waste of time. No one can fix the issue unless a backup was done providing something to restore those pics from.

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