# iphone images videos import problem - 08/20/2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429 "2016-08-20T19:52:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gmak1520](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@gmak1520](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gmak1520)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/1 "2016-08-20T19:52:46Z")
iphone images videos import problem - 08/20/2016 Are there any iphone techs here? I’m not an iphone user, but my wife is, and she has asked me to import all her images/videos from her iphone 6s to a Windows desktop share. However, only a very small subset of her zillions of files seem to be accessible for import. Until about a year ago, she had an iphone 4s, which we still possess. I suspect most of these inaccessible files were created on that 4s, and migrated to the new 6s. I maintain all computer equipment here, and all her iphone settings needed for access also. She just uses the iphone for obvious purposes, and squawks when something fails. Lately, she has been receiving some kind of “storage shortage” message(s), probably due to these volume of files. I don’t know the iphone storage configuration, but I can get that information, or anything else that I need to convey. I did poke around usenet looking for a suitable forum to query. But, after seeing “iphone support” significantly smothered with “lesbian”, “sex dating”, and various erotica topics, I decided that it might not be the informational source I was seeking. Also, as a curiosity, is the storage configuration of these iphones(8G, 16G, 32G, etc.) just simply solid-state, or do they have some kind of tiny rotational disk device inside? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/2 "2016-08-20T21:58:33Z")
First of all, how are you trying to import the photos? Does she have the phone configured to use iCloud (i.e. - Photostream or iCloud Photo Library)? Look in Settings. And, the storage is all solid-state (Flash), but can also be cloud-based, which is where the problem may lie. ---
**Author:** ![gmak1520](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@gmak1520](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gmak1520)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/3 "2016-08-20T23:30:40Z")
Thanks, those are good questions, which I have interspersed my answers… > [@beowulff](#): > > First of all, how are you trying to import the photos? > > I did it just like it would be done if coming from a memory card. Except using the > iphone USB interface. After I realized it wasn’t working as I expected, I reviewed > 4 or 5 videos that confirmed my tactics. I did import 1 iphone directory of 4 files, > but the “move(aka cut)” requested would not perform the delete. I tried delete > after the import, and was informed I had invalid permissions. 1 of the videos did > suggest that a more safe process would be copy to avoid possible loss. > > Does she have the phone configured to use iCloud (i.e. - Photostream or iCloud Photo Library)? Look in Settings. > > Well, I’m not sure. Leasing cloud space, I have and excellent concept of cloud > storage. But, I’ll confess ignorance regarding how the iphone uses cloud. I do > know/think that when the iphone is laid to rest for the involuntary backup cycle, > it will smoke my router with transmission for cloud backup. > > If you are suggesting that all the files that are locally inaccessible to me for import > target, are residing in an iphone cloud, then why is she receiving the short storage message. All the videos reviewed immediately offered all files available > for import. IOW, if 100 images were shown on the iphone, 100 images were > immediately available for import. > > If her missing images are truly cloud resident, then it seems like I could just break > her WiFi connection, and the inaccessible files would no longer appear. Wait, that’s > wrong because she’s still got standard carrier access that would override without > the IP access. > > I’m looking at settings now. icloud is on, photos on. Strangely, storage says that > 44.7GB is available. Anyway, drilling into icloud drive says “Allow apps to store documents and data in icloud”. Icloud photo library says “Automatically upload and store your entire library in icloud to access photos and videos from all your devices”. Optimize phone storage is ticked, and I seem to have selections for “download and keep originals”, “upload to my photostream”, “upload burst photos”, and “icloud photo sharing”. > > It looks like my answer lies somewhere within one, or more of those cloud options. > Not that I exactly understand the meaning they’re trying to convey. > > And, the storage is all solid-state (Flash), but can also be cloud-based, which is where the problem may lie. I kinda’ figured these phones must have SS, this thing is not much thicker that a credit card. Not much room to shoehorn in a spin disk. I bitched constantly to my wife about the network utilization reached during these iphone backups, until I just had to drop its COS. Of course, you can just drop a device COS by function, it’s the entire device. So when her access began to suffer, she started complaining and I had to restore the COS to normal. From my limited iphone understanding, it seems that I either need to retrieve all the cloud files to the phone, and then import those to the PC. Or, import all the pertinent files directly from the cloud, and manually sync the iphone’s directory. My wife’s zest for technical function sur causes me a lot of stress because it’s always well after full corruption mode, that she gets me involved. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/4 "2016-08-21T15:08:32Z")
Go to [icloud.com](http://icloud.com) and log in using your (her) Apple ID and password. Apple ID should be an email address. From there, you can manage your photos easier than on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![gmak1520](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@gmak1520](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gmak1520)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/5 "2016-08-21T16:46:26Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Go to [icloud.com](http://icloud.com) and log in using your (her) Apple ID and password. > Apple ID should be an email address. > > From there, you can manage your photos easier than on the phone. Thanks. The file count(s) there match what’s on the phone. I’m sorry for troubling you with this issue. It appears I’ve jumped into this without a full understanding of what the real issue is/was(what was the true nature of the short storage message initially received). I will backtrack and find out exactly what fault was being signaled, and proceed from there, with the help of your information. But, this cloud repository makes any further PC import efforts moot. Thanks again, for your direction and assistance. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/6 "2016-08-21T19:04:06Z")
> [@gmak1520](#): > > Thanks. The file count(s) there match what’s on the phone. I’m sorry for troubling you with this issue. It appears I’ve jumped into this without a full understanding of what the real issue is/was(what was the true nature of the short storage message initially received). I will backtrack and find out exactly what fault was being signaled, and proceed from there, with the help of your information. But, this cloud repository makes any further PC import efforts moot. > > Thanks again, for your direction and assistance. HTH. “Cloud” storage is convenient, but it can be so transparent to the user that it becomes a mystery where the data actually resides. For peace of mind, I always prefer to keep local copies of all my images. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/7 "2016-08-21T23:24:48Z")
In terms of hooking an iPhone up to a PC via the USB cable, the **only** folders that will be visible and accessible will be the ones with photos and videos. This is by design. And you should be able to _copy_ all of them to your Windows PC, but you cannot _move_ them. That is, a (non-jailbroken at least) iPhone will not let you delete any of its files directly, only by way of the iOS or syncing with iTunes (which is also just the iOS doing it). It also won’t trigger an error message in Windows saying “These files cannot be moved, do you wish to copy them instead?”, it will just copy them. It also may not give an error message if you try and delete them directly, it just won’t do it. Again. it’s an Apple thing. ---
**Author:** ![gmak1520](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@gmak1520](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gmak1520)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-images-videos-import-problem-08-20-2016/763429/8 "2016-08-23T02:58:10Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > In terms of hooking an iPhone up to a PC via the USB cable, the **only** folders that will be visible and accessible will be the ones with photos and videos. This is by design. And you should be able to _copy_ all of them to your Windows PC, but you cannot _move_ them. That is, a (non-jailbroken at least) iPhone will not let you delete any of its files directly, only by way of the iOS or syncing with iTunes (which is also just the iOS doing it). > Although not expected, that is exactly what I found. > It also won’t trigger an error message in Windows saying “These files cannot be moved, do you wish to copy them instead?”, it will just copy them. It also may not give an error message if you try and delete them directly, it just won’t do it. Again. it’s an Apple thing. Yes, I tried a manual delete(targeting the iphone, from the PC) command, after I determined the “move” was only copying. This was to expose the returned error description. I’ve hunted down iphone documentation, and began reading about how they work, concerning these images. From what I’ve read so far, it’s an overly complex design, that probably began as a much more intuitive process. But suffers from the endless patches necessary to accomplish various user requirements. Thanks.