STEP BY STEP PLEASE

Hi Joan,

Not sure if you have iOS 7 or not so wording may be different.

Please can you check the following: Settings>iCloud>Photos and Settings>Photos & Camera>My Photo Stream

Are both of these turned on?

Regards,

Steve

When you delete photos or videos you delete them and they are gone.

I'm a little unclear about your description of what you had set on and what you had set off, so please bear with me while I try to clarify things.

You said in your original description that "Icloud backup was ON for imovies but OFF for camera roll" and then you said "I had icloud backup turned ON for iMovies". You can't switch iCloud backups on and off separately for camera roll and movies like that, iCloud backups are an all or nothing affair (unlike photo streams/shared streams which what I think you may have been referring to?)

iCloud backups are setup in Settings>My iCloud>Storage & Backup>BACKUP>iCloud Backup (on or off). If that's set on then your camera roll and all your other documents and settings will be backed up to iCloud once a day, when the iPad is plugged in, locked and connected to WiFi.

So did you have iCloud Backup set on or off? If it was on then your videos (or at least some of them) from your camera roll should have been backed up to iCloud at some time(s) in the past (assuming your iPad was plugged in, locked and connected to WiFi at some point).

Now to check your iCloud backup status, and assuming an appropriate backup exists, restore your iPad from that iCloud backup you should read this and follow the instructions: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4036

Don't restore yet. You will lose your photos, etc.

Try giving recovery-android.com. There is an ios version on their site that works with ios devices like ipad. It's gotten very good reviews. There's a free trial. You could also call their support people for help via email.

There are also many other products out there to help you. Google "ios data recovery software" and you'll see other software to help you. I don't know about these, though, so I suggest you look up pro tech and user reviews. Some you might need to sync with a computer, but some can do it directly on your ipad.

These are two that came up.

http://download.cnet.com/Leawo-iOS-Data-Recovery/3000-2242_4-75929129.html

http://download.cnet.com/Hodo-iOS-Data-Recovery/3000-18553_4-75914561.html

I hate to suggest it, but for important photos and videos, if you can, you might want to invest in a small point and shoot camera that takes videos. They're very small and lightweight. And with Apple's camera connection kit ($29.00) you can use the camera sd card to put those photos,etc. on your ipad and keep them for security on your sd card. So after all goes to the ipad and it asks if you want to format, reformat, or delete what's on the card, click 'no.' Label each sd card with numbers and keep a list of what each sd card has on it. I know at large stores like Best Buy sd cards are about 50% off every few weeks.

If you need help from family or friends or are more comfortable with tech, ask them for help. I'm the Mom who takes all of the pictures, videos, etc., and I know how important they can be to you.

Hope this helps. And please let us know how it all works out for you.

There's no point in doing a restore, your iCloud backups don't contain the data you need by the sound of things. Your videos are gone. I'm sorry.

No, you can't restore parts of iCloud backups, it's all or nothing. You have to wipe the device and restore the whole device from iCloud.

If you can't backup everything vital to iCloud in future then the best option is to get a computer and back up and sync your iPad to iTunes (either instead of, or as well as, iCloud). It's also a lot faster than backing up and restoring to/from iCloud.

I know of no memory stick or other device that be used instead, it's iCloud and/or iTunes for backing up your iPad.

Hi Joan,

From what you've said there is a good chance that your videos may have backed up to iCloud, and by doing a Restore you've probably got nothing to lose in all honesty.

What I would do is check when the latest backup was done: Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup> scroll to the bottom of the page and check the date against Last Backup does this coinicide to when you last had pics & vids? If so give the steps below a try.

If you'd like to do a Restore, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset>Erase All Content & Settings

2. Follow any onscreen prompts

3. The device will restart and you will see an Apple logo with a progress bar underneath

4. When the device restarts you'll go though a mini-setup process setting up a WiFi network - this is very important so make sure you do this, turning on Location Services, and if you're running iOS 7 you'll be asked to CREATE a passcode, so enter a 4 digit number of your choice or skip this if you don't wish to do it.

5. With the mini setup complete you'll be asked if you wish to setup as a new iPad or restore from a backup. Choose to restore from iCloud, you'll likely be asked to enter your Apple ID and Password and it should then download everything which was backed up in the iCloud, hopefully you're pics & vids will be here, fingers crossed.

Good luck with this.

Regards,

Steve

PS: If you are successful in getting your photos & vids back, do a Google search for: Apotop Memory Card Readers these allow you to backup content on your iPad/iPhone wirelessly to a memory card.

Joan,

Could you check something for me? Can you go to Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup>Manage Storage From there tap on your device to select it usually something like yourname's iPad. Do you have anything at all showing for Camera Roll and if so is there a size mentioned?

Regards,

Steve

Hi Joan1313,

I feel so bad for you and understand your frustration.

How do you know - how did you find out that your videos, etc. are irretreivable? And I never heard that plugging in an ipad to charge made you lose them! If so, that's ridiculous!

PLEASE LET US KNOW HOW YOU OR WHO DETERMINED THIS FOR YOU! IT SEEMS SO ODD TO ME.

My pc and one of our sons' laptops got fried because of a Microsoft security update in June of 2010. Our older son escaped it because his was fried by the infamous Internet Security 2010 virus. Microsoft set up special contacts, etc. and helped us get the desktop working but HP would not give us the codes because for internet so we were out a $2000.00 desktop and two $1500. laptops. And worse, they said my 10,000 pictures - over 3,000 scanned in by hand and all meticulously cleaned/edited by me were fried, too. I took the desktop and one laptop to Best Buy where their Geek squad was able to save everything!!! And nothing more important than the pictures! It was worth the $300.00 per computer (the laptop had many high school papers and research on it.)

Did you try recovery-android.com? I did suggest you might want to get someone comfortable with tech.

Please don't give up. There must be some way they can be salvaged!

Please explain/go through how you came to your conclusion step by step on here. It's easy for people to tell you that you can't get them back - more difficult to 'not give up' but they're your pictures and videos...

If you have iTunes set up to automatically synch, it will render unusable all backups prior to the latest synch. If she connected after the videos were deleted they will no longer be in the backup.

Joan, not sure what computer you are using, but if it is a Mac and you've been using Time Capsule for backups of the computer, you should be able to retrieve an old iPad backup that still has the video's. You would have to copy that iPad backup to your Mac and restore the iPad to that backup. You would lose everything on the iPad since that backup, but you would have your videos back.

Joan,

I just got to mail and reread your post. If each time you charged it was backed up, then why would your videos not be somewhere? I'm not an icloud fan for all the reasons you pointed out...

I'm still thinking they've got to be somewhere!

I just called the 800 number for Geek Squad. They said, and please don't hold me to it, that as long as you did not deltete the videos/pictures, they could "most definitely" help you. Are you near a Best Buy?

I would not trust mailing the ipad. I would want to stand there as they go through all the steps.

The number is 1-800-433-5778. If you have one locally, call them directly. You can also make an appointment so your ipad does not sit on a line for days before they get to it.

Please get back to us! There is an answer somewhere!