extract photos from iphone backup files?

[ben8jam]

so i did an upgrade to 2.1 today and when i went to restore my previous sync, it told me it was curropt.

bummer.

is there anyway to recover photos from the curropted backup? any apps? or anything?

on a MAC 10.4

thnx

[_ducky]

Backups don't store photos, unfortunately. Backups store only contacts, SMSs, favorites, settings and things. It doesn't back up any media (photos, video, music). It's a really idiotic system. There should be a way for iTunes to automatically dump all photos into a folder on every sync.

[ben8jam]

so when you do a backup and restore.. why don't you lose all your photos?

they must go somewhere??

[Carrbone]

so when you do a backup and restore.. why don't you lose all your photos?

they must go somewhere??

they are on your computer, where you sync'd them from in the first place-

They just get sync'd back on

[ben8jam]

ok. and that location is??

the last sync i did became curropt. so i had to go back to an earlier one. so i lost a bunch of photos. i want to get the photos from the curropt sync..

anyone?

[_ducky]

If you're talking about your camera roll, those pictures are lost. If you're talking about photos which you placed on your iPhone, you can just get them off your computer, where they originally were. I think you're referring to camera roll photos here, so I think you're out of luck.

[ben8jam]

but still, where does iTunes place those photos from the camera roll when you do a sync??? it must put them somewhere becuase they are replaced when you do a Restore...

right?

[_ducky]

iTunes doesn't replace photos when restoring from a backup.

[ben8jam]

well something is. I've wiped my phone clean starting from firmware ver 1 many times doing unlocks and jailbreaks and what not....and i haven't lost any photos..

and besides. then why did i lose all the photos since the previous backup i took. If itunes doesn't replace photos then i'd have ZERO photos right now. right? instead i have all the ones up till the last good backup i took.

does anyone actually know the answer to this?

[timtomtim]

Had the same problem - iTunes automatically does backups of the photos you take with the camera on the iPhone, but not the photos you load onto the phone. You can use a tool like the iphone backup extractor iPhone / iPod Touch Backup Extractor to get the files. Worked like a dream! Good luck

[iquanyin]

well, here's something to know: my phone got the 3.0 update, redsnow, and restored as new--on a brand new macbook. it was the first contact my phone had with that computer. and now? my phone is choking on literally thousands of photos from the last 8 months. i used ifile to clean out where they're supposed to be but there are a ton still there, somewhere. i know because i just uploaded my camera roll to the mac. there were maybe 80 photos on the roll. nearly 2000 got uploaded, and a glance at a few confiemed that. because i had my iphone for a year in honolulu, had no computer of my own, and bricked it nearly every month, i already knew that a restore does NOT delete everything from the phone. i was surprised, tho, at how it's retained all these pix under the conditions i just layed out. anyway, i'm here right now because i'm hoping to discover where to find and delete these image files (and avoid a restore) without hunting through my entire file system. so i just thought i'd share what i do know.

[Brigette]

Did you ever find an answer to your post? I "lost" my camera rolls photos with my upgrade to 3.0. I desperately want them back!! Please help!

[sandyb]

If anyone stumbles across this looking for how to get your photos from a backup, It is really easy!! iTunes does save all the Camera Roll when creating a backup, see this page for proof: iPhone: Improve backup and restore times by reducing iPhone Camera Roll

So all you need to do is download the iPhone/iPod Touch Backup Extractor mentioned by timtomtim 2 posts up and then extract the "iPhone OS Files" entry in the list and voila - your camera roll will be there in a folder called "media".

Hope this helps

[daboll]

I've done all the steps you've described. But what if I don't find a folder called "Media"?!

[hondasr]

check the folder call iOS Files

[Labluver]

If anyone stumbles across this looking for how to get your photos from a backup, It is really easy!! iTunes does save all the Camera Roll when creating a backup, see this page for proof: iPhone: Improve backup and restore times by reducing iPhone Camera Roll

So all you need to do is download the iPhone/iPod Touch Backup Extractor mentioned by timtomtim 2 posts up and then extract the "iPhone OS Files" entry in the list and voila - your camera roll will be there in a folder called "media".

Hope this helps

Lifesaver!!! Thank You! It was the last file in the list and this worked like a charm!!!!

[sd2416]

is there a app like this for the windows platform? I dont have access to a mac but want to pull some pics out of a bad backup.

[mitch42]

To recover pictures you don't need any special app.
iTunes copies the files to the backup and uses unique file names
in Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista/7: C: \Users\[username]\AppData\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ (or something real close)
you will see a folder for every iPhone backup made - pick one
sort the files by size, for the 3gs and older .jpg files will be about 900kb or smaller (3mb camera) and copy them to a temp folder, then rename all of them to *.jpg (in CMD window: ren *.* *.jpg)
change you view to thumbnail and you will see your pictures
the 4g has a 5mb camera so the pictures will be larger but not over 3mb, files that size are usually video.

Video files are also stored here and are .mov (Quicktime) files

[honesty911]

I am in the same boat with the backup.... do they have a program that runs on a windows vista that will extract this info?????

To recover pictures you don't need any special app.
iTunes copies the files to the backup and uses unique file names
in Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista/7: C: \Users\[username]\AppData\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ (or something real close)
you will see a folder for every iPhone backup made - pick one
sort the files by size, for the 3gs and older .jpg files will be about 900kb or smaller (3mb camera) and copy them to a temp folder, then rename all of them to *.jpg (in CMD window: ren *.* *.jpg)
change you view to thumbnail and you will see your pictures
the 4g has a 5mb camera so the pictures will be larger but not over 3mb, files that size are usually video.

Video files are also stored here and are .mov (Quicktime) files

This is it... it was just what I needed.... Thanks so very much... I did not think it would be this easy being the way Apple works... lol

[girishkumar]

Hi Guys,
I'm the developer of that iPhone Backup Extractor; thanks for linking to my app from here!!
Photo Rescue lets you browse all the backups it finds so you can see if your photos are there first. Backups only get made when you sync, so it's important to be able to confirm they're there. It's free to browse and costs $4.99 to get a full license that lets you export.
If you don't want to pay, you can still use it to browse, then use the backup extractor to export.

Padraig,
What a nice set of tools you have created! And it really is nice to see that you are doing it from my fav country, EverGreen Ireland!!
I just had this problem of losing my photos and apps when upgrading my iphone os to 4.3.3, and your 2 tools helped me ever so much. I am really thankful for this help, and highly recommend both Picturescue(cool name too!) and the Backup Extractor. Thanks and have a great day in the nicest country I haver worked in!