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Some ( Large? ) Video files not visible via PC in "Apple iPhone" drive

I back up my photos from my devices ( iphone/ipad ) to my PC. My Process is to open the Apple Device in Explorer, copy the DCIM folder to my desktop, and then compare folder sizes. If they match, I then go and delete the files on the Apple Device. This has become more challenging since Apple started adding so many extra folders - I have to go into each folder individually to delete files. I cannot delete the folders anymore via PC.


This time, after deleting all the files, I looked on my phone and still found several. This is normal behavior as I have a folder on my PC that pushes some photos back to the iPhone ( wife, kids, etc ). What was different this time, was that I could see 2 very large video files that should have been copied and deleted. They are both over 4 GB, and do NOT show up via PC. Frankly, I'm not sure how to get them off my iPhone if they won't show up.


Is this expected behavior?


I am sadly realizing now that I might have lost numerous videos over the last year or two. I'm wondering how many large video files I've deleted thinking they were safely copied over.


Inb4 "use iCloud". I'm not interested in using iCloud, the download rates are a joke, as is the 1000 image at a time download limit.





iPhone X, iOS 14

Posted on Nov 18, 2023 4:47 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 26, 2023 1:16 PM

The solution was to split the videos into smaller units on my iphone. Once they were smaller, they showed up. I also found that bulk delete using the method described still runs into issues. I was deleting a total of 4000 images, and the delete process would often get "stuck". I would restart, and then after a while it would stop again, often requiring me to unplug/plug in my device. I would not be surprised if this had to do with the multiple internal folders, but who knows.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 26, 2023 1:16 PM in response to unlisted account

The solution was to split the videos into smaller units on my iphone. Once they were smaller, they showed up. I also found that bulk delete using the method described still runs into issues. I was deleting a total of 4000 images, and the delete process would often get "stuck". I would restart, and then after a while it would stop again, often requiring me to unplug/plug in my device. I would not be surprised if this had to do with the multiple internal folders, but who knows.

Nov 20, 2023 1:52 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thank you, but this does not address my issue. The large video files I am referring to do not show up here either.


I used the import feature as described, and manually deleted the files from my iPhone. ( I do see that I can do that from Windows, but I encountered some permission issues )


I am still left with 2 videos on my iphone, and no videos being shown as part of the import dialog. There is one random image, and the screenshot I just took.



Here is the screenshot showing the videos on my iphone.




These videos are not on the cloud. iCloud photos/videos have never been

enabled on this device ), and I have confirmed they are not currently on

my iCloud account ( which is 5 gigs, and could not hold 40 minutes of

video ).





Some ( Large? ) Video files not visible via PC in "Apple iPhone" drive

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