iPod: now you see it, now you don't.

March 3, 2010 6:10 AM

How do I move captured pictures from my iPod to my computer? Last week I could see the iPod's directory in Windows Explorer. Now I cannot.

I killed some time the other day surfing the web with my iPod Touch and captured some pictures for later use on a web page. (hold finger on picture and press "Save Image" when the menu pops up) When I did the same thing a few weeks ago, I off-loaded the pictures by connecting the iPod to the computer with the supplied USB cable, navigated Windows Explorer to the DCIM directory, and moved the pictures to the computer. This worked with my home computer and office computer.

Now, for some reason, I cannot see the iPod in Explorer. (insert the typical denial statement here: I don't know what I changed, if anything. Maybe Apple changed something in an update, maybe it's magic.) I tried both computers, I tried uninstalling iTunes, reinstalling, etc. I Googled the problem and found some utilities, none of which worked.

I have tried every combination I could think of. I cannot see the directory using iTunes. Some Googled answers suggested checking the box in iTunes that says "...manage manually...", but that did not work.

This is not a do or die situation... I can spend more time grabbing suitable pictures, but I really liked the capability of being to use the iPod that way. I could get to the data without anything special and I have plenty of room on the iPod.

Please don't suggest emailing them, there are a bunch of pictures (I spent most of an afternoon) and it insists on only emailing one at a time; plus, it resizes the pictures when you email them.

Specific info: Both computers are PCs, one Intel, the other AMD, both Windows 7. Ipod is a 3rd Generation iPod Touch.

posted by Drasher to computers & internet (5 answers total)

It could be that Windows is assigning the iPod to a drive letter that is already in use.
posted by transporter accident amy at 6:33 AM on March 3, 2010

(That link is for Windows XP, but Disk Management looks the same in Vista and 7.)
posted by transporter accident amy at 6:38 AM on March 3, 2010

transporter accident amy - I forgot to mention that I have already looked in Disk Management and the iPod does not show up in there at all.
posted by Drasher at 7:29 AM on March 3, 2010

Email them.

I know, you said not to suggest that option. But wait!

Use the iPod's copy/paste functionality. It'll let you copy many more of the photos at once, and then you can select "copy." Go to Mail, new message, and double-tap on the message body to get the Paste button to appear.

Your images — full-size! — will get pasted for you to send on to yourself.

Good luck!
posted by lexfri at 7:48 AM on March 3, 2010

OK, I found and "fixed" it... in a crappy way.

I recovered the pictures.

I found a utility called DiskAid (from http://www.digidna.net/).
It does the job but it costs $9.90 which kind of grinds me because Windows Explorer should be able to do it. The 14-day trial is all I need... I guess I won't be using my iPod like that anymore unless I can "fix" Explorer.
posted by Drasher at 8:02 PM on March 3, 2010