Why SO many random DCIM Folders? I want ONE!

drume wrote:

I can see that other tools may work better than File Explorer in Windows for the reasons you mentioned. However, some people here are looking for a quick and easy way to access and share photos on any PC without telling your friend to install more software they may not want. Installing a quick device driver and using File Explorer may be a far less intrusive method.

Frankly, there is a much better way to share than what I previously suggested, namely Google+. It automatically uploads my iPhone's photos to my Google+ account which I can share with anyone who has a browser. Best part: it's free, unlimited storage for both photos and videos under 15 min long.

So for online access and sharing of mobile photos and video, the best solution I've seen is free, unlimited Google+.

Yes, Google+ uses Picasa under the hood. Which is what I suggested for use on a PC, but if you have Google + that's an excellent solution. If you don't have Google+ you can use the 3rd party app MyPics, which will upload to picasaweb.google.com.

drume wrote:

I can see that other tools may work better than File Explorer in Windows for the reasons you mentioned. However, some people here are looking for a quick and easy way to access and share photos on any PC without telling your friend to install more software they may not want.

EVERY PC since Windows 2000 has had the Camera and Scanner Wizard already installed. So there is nothing else you need to install.

I'm with you.. This is a pain in the A@$.. I see no reason for the iphone to do this. It's a headace and a pain to try and find the photo you're looking for. It's like playing guess the folder... Grrr Apple you say your all about simplicity.. Have you seen how you do pictures?

I'm impressed at the amount of discussion involved in NOT finding a solution. User wants to delete folders. User should be allowed to delete folders. Why is this so hard to comprehend? I used to be able to delete them and now I can't It seems like propriety BS. It's bad enough that the new OS upgrades occasionally leave huge amount of other data. Other phone/MP3 manufacturers have management software or allow the user to clean up. I've never understood why Apple can't go the distance and add photo management and system cleanup tools to iTunes. I guess because they will make money without doing so.

That begs the question: Why is the "complex data structure" displayed when viewed from a PC? After all, we aren't shown everything on the device. We don't see other "complex data structures" underlying the IOS system. Apple specifically implemented a system to show photos in that confusing structure.

Apple could show to Windows a nice, pretty "Photos" folder displaying the same organization as the Photos app. They also could make it viewable through Windows without requiring an additional installation. They did neither.

drume wrote:

That begs the question: Why is the "complex data structure" displayed when viewed from a PC?

And this begs the question: Why are you using Windows Explorer to do the job of tools that are better suited for extracting photos? That's like using a screwdriver to open a can of beans -- sure you can do it with some effort, but why do that instead of using a can opener? Blaming Apple for this is like blaming Del Monte for not making their cans work with screwdrivers.

Apple specifically implemented a system to show photos in that confusing structure.

I see it differently, YOU chose to see photos in a confusing structure, instead of using the tools PC users have to view and extract photos from a digital camera.

Apple could show to Windows a nice, pretty "Photos" folder displaying the same organization as the Photos app. They also could make it viewable through Windows without requiring an additional installation. They did neither.

Why is it their job to conform to your way of doing things the brute force way? If you insist on using a screwdriver to open your canned goods, then learn how to use the screwdriver (i.e. let Explorer search for photos and sort the results how you please, thus ignoring the folder structure).

You miss the point that even Microsoft doesn't think you should use Windows Explorer to manage photos. Why did they go to the trouble of creating the Camera and Scanner Wizard if Windows Explorer would do the job?

Apple added new features to the camera function. Those features require a more complex data structure to work effectively. So the choice for Apple was to keep the brain-dead way it always worked so you had the choice of using any dumb tool you chose, or improve the way photos were managed. You can't have it both ways. You can't have advanced photo management that will work with primitive tools.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

You miss the point that even Microsoft doesn't think you should use Windows Explorer to manage photos. Why did they go to the trouble of creating the Camera and Scanner Wizard if Windows Explorer would do the job?

A wizard is not a file browser or file manager. They are different tools with different capabilities and some overlap. How many people have ever used that wizard? As an IT professional, I can tell you it's a very small percentage. And by the way, the wizard is notorious for screwing things up. The File Manager has been reliable ever since Windows got rid of the stupid Libraries (thank goodness).

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Apple added new features to the camera function. Those features require a more complex data structure to work effectively. So the choice for Apple was to keep the brain-dead way it always worked so you had the choice of using any dumb tool you chose, or improve the way photos were managed. You can't have it both ways. You can't have advanced photo management that will work with primitive tools.

Yet another false dilemma. If what you were saying made any sense, we'd see the confusing folders in the iPhone's Photos app, but we don't. We see an intuitive view of all our photos in one place.

There is no reason... none... why a similar view cannot be available from the device through Apple's driver to the Windows PC. There is also no reason why the photos can't be managed from the PC. It's silly to claim that the back-end structure can't easily be given an intuitive, consistent front-end view.

Why are you using Windows Explorer to do the job of tools that are better suited for extracting photos? That's like using a screwdriver to open a can of beans -- sure you can do it with some effort, but why do that instead of using a can opener? Blaming Apple for this is like blaming Del Monte for not making their cans work with screwdrivers.

I think you've got this all wrong. Users like you, csound1, and Lawrence Finch keep scolding everyone for using the "wrong tool." And the smart alec comments, such as the ones you make about screwdrivers & can openers, helps no one. You guys jump on people in this thread for coming here for help because you say we're "doing it wrong," then you guys post crap just to see yourselves type.

The thing is, for years, Windows Explorer worked as the perfect tool to view and transfer photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC. That all changed with, I believe, iOS 8.1.2. That's why this thread was created. Because when Apple initiated the change, suddenly users were seeing multiple folders within the DCIM and no organization to them. Part of this, as far as I can tell, came about when they started organizing photos with the Years, Collections, and Moments views. Each folder within the DCIM corresponds to the months the photos are taken. With each folder having a randomly generated name, and all of them with the same creation date, it became difficult to find our newest photos. I say Windows Explorer is not the wrong tool because it worked well before Apple's reorganization of the Photos App. So now we'd just like to see some changes to give us the same functionality that we had before. Some of us have sent feedback and one of the things it'd be nice to see is the DCIM folders being organized in some sort of chronological order. If a new DCIM folder is created for every month we take photos, then maybe name them according to month/year.

With that said, it still leaves the problem of transferring photos that have been edited. Windows Explorer does not transfer the edit data, so in those cases, one of the other options that have been suggested would need to be used. And it's great to suggest those other methods, but it doesn't help anyone here if the only thing someone comes here to say is, "You're using the wrong tool."

I too have this problem and am disgusted with Apple that they haven't come up with a solution to this problem so many of us have.

I take real estate photos and now have over 100 sub files under the DCIM folder. What use to take ten seconds now takes about half an hour trying to locate the latest folder to find the photos.

There is zero reason for this. If Apple insists on creating new folders, then why the **** can't they name the new folders in sequence? Are you going to tell me that they can name the photos in sequence but not the files they are stored in?

I have found the best work around yet. I dusted off my old digital camera with the SD card and left the god **** phone at home.

My contract comes up in July. If this BS isn't fixed by then, Hello Android!

And Lawrence, why do you have to be a smart *** Apple apologist troll? You do realize you contribute nothing to this thread right?

It isn't broken. If you use the correct tools you won't have any problem. You are trying to use a screwdriver to drive nails. Use the Camera and Scanner Wizard, Photoshop Elements, Microsoft Photo, Google Picasa, or any of a dozen or so other 3rd party tools that know how to navigate DCIM folders and you will never have to look at a DCIM folder again.

Please do get an Android so we don't have to read your rude and unpleasant posts. This is a user to user forum. We are not Apple here, and reading a post rife with profanity is not a pleasant experience for those of us who volunteer our time here to help people. Since you also have contributed nothing but a useless diatribe, not sure why you are criticizing Lawrence, who helps hundreds of fellow users weekly....

GB

Lawrence Finch wrote:

...You are trying to use a screwdriver to drive nails. Use the Camera and Scanner Wizard, ....

Csound1 wrote:

The Camera and Scanner wizard is a standard part of Windows, use it.

An import wizard is not a file browser. Different purpose. This is not difficult to understand. It's ironic that you are both suggesting a screwdriver to drive nails.

I think the purpose of having this forum has been forgotten by all the bickering and trying to prove who's the smartest guy around and who's machine is superior over the other. All that's being asked for is HELP. So there's no need to be sarcastic and all.

Mac users - your system is the most compatible and for this purpose, the easiest way to get things done. If you have suggestions to offer to those using Windows (which some of you have provided in this thread), then by all means give it. Windows users would appreciate it.

Windows users - technology evolves every single day. The usual way to do things might no longer be applicable today. We (yes, I'm a Windows user) can't always have Apple give in to our wishes. We must have to adapt as well, find ways on how to get things done differently. It may be difficult at first but we'll get used to it. Of course, it would be better if Apple can bring the usual way back. But again, they have their reasons.

If I may share, here's how I transfer my photos now:

- Connect iPhone to PC

- Open Photos app in Windows 8 (not sure if this is an option for Win7), right click anywhere and select Import

- Select your phone

- By default, all photos are selected. You can clear the selection and only check which you want to be imported. Click Import

- Open your Pictures folder and you'll see the photos imported from your phone in one of the folders there. It's normally named using the date.

Here's the article from Microsoft website: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/import-photos-videos

Now, does this resolve the Local Disk concern? Not really. But at least it made transferring photos easier for me. I haven't tried deleting all photos from my phone. And I don't know if doing so will fix the Local Disk concern. But I really don't make a big deal out of it now. As long as it's not something that will mess up my photos, phone, computer, or eat up a lot of space, it's fine with me.

So, to those who have provided suggestions, I thank all of you. May you be using Windows or Mac.

Thanks for your rational, thought-out response.

The Local Disk files appear when we edit photos within the Photos App. One of those files appears for each photo we edit. It's why Windows Explorer doesn't transfer edited photos to a PC, because it does not transfer those edit files. We have the ability to revert edited photos back to their original state. If you do so, those Local Disk files disappear from the folders. They'll also disappear if we delete the photo their attached to from our phones.

This thread tends to go awry because a few users want to interject with comments that do nothing but troll those of us who have grown accustomed to using Windows Explorer to handle our iPhone photos because it worked perfectly for so long. One of those users in particular admittedly doesn't use a Windows PC, therefore doesn't even experience the issue this thread was created to address. Yet he feels it necessary to return time after time telling people to buy a Mac or an Android phone, and even though he keeps telling us to "do it our own way," he returns only to say that way is wrong. Trolling like that doesn't help anyone. If you don't want to help, stop coming back to the thread. User Lawrence does offer alternate methods to transfer photos to a Windows PC, which is great, but he also continues to tell everyone we're dong it the "wrong way" and using the "wrong tool." Offering alternate methods helps, continuing to tell everyone we're doing it wrong does not. Windows Explorer was not the wrong tool for this job for years. That's why people come here. They're looking for a way to get it to work as good as it once did. Unfortunately, with the advancements to the Photos App, it doesn't look like Apple is going to change anything. Regardless of whether they do or not, people are going to continue to use Windows Explorer because it's what they've used for years. It's also a simple tool for those who aren't computer savvy. If any of us keep using it, that's our choice and there's absolutely no need for the same people to keep coming back here to put us down for it. I don't care what level a user is or how many points they've accrued in the Apple forums. No matter how special someone thinks they are here or how knowledgeable they are, trolling & rudeness is still uncalled for. If you're not helping anyone, which is the purpose of these forums, levels & points mean nothing. I'd much rather get helpful replies from newcomers than trolling, smart alec remarks from long-time users with a high level & points.