Q: Backing up Photos

Good question. If the photos were taken with the iPad, they were placed in Camera Roll. If you then created albums in your iPad and "copied" various pictures to the albums, the "copies" are not actual copies, they are pointers to the originals which still reside in Camera Roll. Do you  see the photos both in Camera Roll and in the Albums? If so when you import them to the computer you will likely import Camera Roll only. I have not imported any albums, just photos from Camera Roll, and cannot tell you with certainty if the albums go or not.

Short answer - When you import through a computer, it does not keep albums.

Other means -

You do have some other options though that will keep their organization. iCloud Photo Library is my preference. You can sign up for a months service of extra iCloud Storage, giving you 50GB of storage to use this service. You can cancel it after you are finished if you like. No extra fees.

iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

Once you your content moved into the Cloud, you can setup iCloud for Windows [Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support]  to have these sync to your designated space automatically for you.

Archive or make copies of your iCloud data - Apple Support

You will find your section under "Copy content from My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing in Windows"

You CAN import through your computer directly by using this article. Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

It won't keep your albums, but your photos carry something known as Metadata that can be used on your devices to use the search button in the Photos App to search by location or date to find your desired photos in the heap.

Best of luck

> A very small portion of the Photos were taken with either my or my wife's iPhones 6 Plus(s) & subsequently transferred to the iPad 3.

You can turn that feature off so your iPhone 6 photos will not be available on the iPad

> The vast majority were taken by other people on various devices & sent to us via E-Mail or Message & then we saved them to the iPad 3

> When they are saved to the iPad 3, they automatically go only into Camera Roll.

That is correct. Downloaded photos go into camera roll.

> From Camera Roll, they were moved to either already existing albums or a new album was created & moved to it.

Nothing gets moved. They are still in your camera roll. The albums contains information where the photos are stored (camera roll). Take a look at your camera roll. I bet all photos that you've organized into different albums are still in there.

If you want to enlarge free storage space, just move the content your camera roll to a computer. Remember that it is not a backup unless you have multiple copies.

So long as the entire collection of photos that are displayed in the albums you created exist in the Camera Roll, then you shouldn't be concerned. Where it becomes a problem is if some of the albums existing on your device were transferred through iTunes sync. Those albums are locked in reference to their origin form the computer you used to sync them there.

You've explained that this is not the case, so don't worry about that part.

DonXX wrote:

 

I have a lot more memory on my iPhone 6 Plus than the iPad 3 does

Would it be possible to:

1st move the Photos & Albums from the iPad 3 to my iPhone 6 Plus

Then, let them sync with the iCloud on my Desktop

 

But, then if I delete them from my iPhone 6 Plus, won't that also delete them from the iCloud on my Desktop?

You're making things complicated. Connect your iPad to your desktop computer. Cut and paste all photos from your camera roll to your desktop computer. Done.

Remember that you can not call that a backup because that's your only copy. Get an external USB hard disk. Copy the photos to the external disk. Now you have a backup.

DonXX wrote:

 

I don't know why it matters how the Photos were taken (Forgive me if I am wrong ! ! ! ) - but here goes:

Don, the reason it matters is that the source of the albums and where they reside makes a big difference in what happens to them and how they can be moved. Photos synced from a computer via iTunes cannot be deleted from your iPad except by reversing the process, i.e., doing a new sync without those pictures selected. Nonetheless, there are too many "cooks" on this thread to be able to give you meaningful responses.

iCloud for Windows is a middle man sync tool between your iCloud and your devices. What you are likely describing from your iPhone is Photostream. [Believe me, I know this gets confusing] Photostream, as you may have already noticed isn't keeping any album organization aside from a folder with all of your recent photos you have taken on that device.  My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing limits - Apple Support

It doesn't keep the organization you are looking for, and will not grab your entire photo library. That is where iCloud Photo Library comes in. Apple recognized a need for such a service after introducing Photostream a few years ago, and so now we have the option of keeping our libraries in sync no matter where we may be referencing them from.

ShagCA wrote:

 

DonXX wrote:

 

I have a lot more memory on my iPhone 6 Plus than the iPad 3 does

Would it be possible to:

1st move the Photos & Albums from the iPad 3 to my iPhone 6 Plus

Then, let them sync with the iCloud on my Desktop

 

But, then if I delete them from my iPhone 6 Plus, won't that also delete them from the iCloud on my Desktop?

You're making things complicated. Connect your iPad to your desktop computer. Cut and paste all photos from your camera roll to your desktop computer. Done.

 

Remember that you can not call that a backup because that's your only copy. Get an external USB hard disk. Copy the photos to the external disk. Now you have a backup.

That is easy, ShagCA, but OP wants to keep the organization of his many albums just as they are on his device. The method you explained will not meet those ends.

I understand now. I misunderstood before then when you were explaining. The screenshot definitely helps here! 

Well as I laid out, my recommendation is to do the .99¢ for the month to get that 50GB storage, enable iCloud Photo Library on your device with all of your albums that you are trying to offload onto that external that you explained before, and then download iCloud for Windows to your computer so that when your photos and videos [in the album organization you created] are finished uploading to your iCloud account, they can be pulled down into your computer through the iCloud for Windows app [previously known as iCloud Control Panel]. After that, sign in with the same account on the app on your Windows machine and assign where you want your photos to be loaded to. You can select the external with it plugged in.

And yeah, it sounds like it is getting confusing with the varying devices and accounts. Sorry if I threw you off there.