why do pictures come up as disk symbol ?

Hi paulofaldridge,

If you are wanting to copy photos from your iPhone to your Windows computer, try these steps:

Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or Windows PC - Apple Support
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201302

Import media to a Windows PC

Before importing your media:

• Unlock your iOS device using your passcode, particularly if you've never synced your device with the computer before. Learn more about iOS passcodes.
• Makes sure your iOS device trusts the computer you want to import your media onto. Learn more about "Trust this Computer."

Windows 8: Learn how to import photos and videos from a camera, phone, or DVD (Windows Help)
Windows 7 and Windows Vista: Learn how to get pictures from your camera to your computer (Windows Help)

If your computer doesn't recognize an attached iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a camera, and prevents you from importing photos to your computer, learn how to resolve the issue.

• You can import only photo and video content taken with the built-in camera or captured on the device. You can't import photo or video content synced from iTunes.
• When importing photos and videos from your device to a Windows computer, some photos and videos may appear to be rotated incorrectly. Some third-party photo-management software for Windows displays iOS photos with the correct orientation without having to rotate the images. To play videos on your computer at the correct orientation, use iTunes for Windows.

Take care,

Because Windows Explorer is the wrong way to get photos off an iPhone. Those aren't disks, but Windows Explorer is too dumb to recognize them as what they are, Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) "sidecar" files that contain the edits of photos that you made on the phone. You should be following Microsoft's instructions:

For Windows 7 and later, use Import pictures and videos. Here are the full instructions from Windows Help:

How do I get pictures from my camera to my computer?

Here's one common way to copy pictures and video clips from your digital camera to your computer:

1. Connect the camera to your computer by using the camera's USB cable.
2. Turn on the camera.
3. In the AutoPlay dialog box that appears, click Import pictures and videos using Windows.
4. (Optional) To tag the pictures, type a tag name in the Tag these pictures (optional) box.
5. By default, the folder name includes the date the pictures and videos are imported and the tag name.
6. Click Import.
7. A new window opens and shows the imported pictures and videos.

You can also see Apple's instructions: Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or Windows PC - Apple Support

And this helpful tip: What to expect when you import edited photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to your Mac or PC - Apple Support