All iPads Anything that I need to be aware of before deleting all photos and videos from my iPad?

[hajime]

Hi, my M1 iPad Pro is almost full and I want to upgrade to iPad OS 16.1. After backing it up to a PC via iTunes, is it safe to just delete all the photos and videos stored on my iPad? Anything that I need to be aware of?

Is iTunes backing up the files in a compressed way (that can only be accessed by iTunes) under one file or just like drag and drop the photos and videos from iPad to PC that I can access the individual files easily?

 

[rui no onna]

I don’t think the backup is compressed. However, the file naming and folder structure of the backup isn’t exactly human parsable.

I believe the iPad gets identified as a camera/media device by Windows. Why not use Windows’ photo backup feature to be safe?

 

[alFR]

Hi, my M1 iPad Pro is almost full and I want to upgrade to iPad OS 16.1. After backing it up to a PC via iTunes, is it safe to just delete all the photos and videos stored on my iPad? Anything that I need to be aware of?

Do not do this if you are using iCloud Photo Library - it will delete them from iCloud and all your other devices as well. If you need to free up some space go into Photos preferences and make sure "Optimise iPad storage" is checked rather than "Download and Keep Originals": that will make it manage the space used by Photos depending on how much free space you have on the iPad overall. If that's already on, you could offload a few apps temporarily to free up some room.

 

[hajime]

I don’t think the backup is compressed. However, the file naming and folder structure of the backup isn’t exactly human parsable.

I believe the iPad gets identified as a camera/media device by Windows. Why not use Windows’ photo backup feature to be safe?

What is Windows' photo backup feature?

I don't know where iTunes stores the files. When I clicked on the PC icon, it shows "Apple iPad". Within it there is an "Internal Storage". Then DCIM and tones of folders starting 2021, 2022. In the future, will it be sufficient to just drag and drop these to my PC? It is a bit annoying that I need to click on each folder to find out the contents. Any good software that would allow me to view the contents all at once like an iPad without going through all subfolders?

 

[hajime]

Do not do this if you are using iCloud Photo Library - it will delete them from iCloud and all your other devices as well. If you need to free up some space go into Photos preferences and make sure "Optimise iPad storage" is checked rather than "Download and Keep Originals": that will make it manage the space used by Photos depending on how much free space you have on the iPad overall. If that's already on, you could offload a few apps temporarily to free up some room.

Thanks for the warning. If I don't use iCloud Photo Library, will it be OK to just delete all photos and videos from my iPad?

I could not take any video two times due to lack of storage. I removed a few videos already. As I recall my iPad suggested offload apps so I have done that already. It is also under "Optimise iPad storage".

 

[rui no onna]

What is Windows' photo backup feature?

I don't know where iTunes stores the files. When I clicked on the PC icon, it shows "Apple iPad". Within it there is an "Internal Storage". Then DCIM and tones of folders starting 2021, 2022. In the future, will it be sufficient to just drag and drop these to my PC? It is a bit annoying that I need to click on each folder to find out the contents. Any good software that would allow me to view the contents all at once like an iPad without going through all subfolders?

It's a built-in feature in Windows. I remember the window popping up automatically when plugging in USB media or storage devices. I think it automatically renames the files, too, so you won't see just IMG12345.jpg.

You could also just drag and drop the full DCIM folder to your PC.

Personally, I use Dropbox's backup feature and that puts everything in a flat folder (with images renamed by date).