LR on iPad: Local imported RAWs deleted after sign-out

[Rudi-Dan B.]

Hi,

I imported several hundert of RAW pictures in Lightroom on my iPad using an Adobe Account which expired (sync was turned off). As I got a new Adobe Account (full subscription), I signed out on the iPad (there was no hint that unsynchronized pictures will be lost), I signed in on the iPad Lightroom with my new Adobe Account but all the hundert RAW pictures I imported previously (and which didn't get uploaded to the cloud because of my expired old Adobe Account didn't show up). Even after I extended the subscription for the old account and signed in with it on the same iPad Lightroom, all the unsynchronized RAW pictures don't show up anymore. 

Can somebody please guide me how I can get access to my RAW pictures and synchronize them to my Adobe Cloud (either old or new account, I don't care).

Thanks!

[Rudi-Dan B.]

Sorry, I forgot the verb in the one sentence - what I meant was: "...but all the hundert RAW pictures I imported previously don't show up".

[Rudi-Dan B.]

Thank you both @selondon and @Charlie.D for your help. After installing iTunes and connecting the iPad via USB-C to my PC I was able to see in iTunes File Sharing a corresponding folder which seemed to be right from a size pov.

Unfortunately when I tried to download the folder (I couldn't drill down further with iTunes) I received an "unknown error (-4)". I did some additional research and found a tool call "iMazing for Windows" which I used to connect, drill down the folders and download all DNGs except one (which was locked by iOs and probably was the reason why the iTunes download didn't work).

Anyway, I have almost all of my DNGs, so thank you again for your help!

[selondon · Accepted solution]

If you have no other back up it may be worth reading this to try to get access to the files:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/recover-lightroom-mobile-photos-itunes-file-sharing.htm...

[Charlie.D · Accepted solution]

Hello @Rudi-Dan B. 

As long as you did not delete the app and re-install, the pictures should still exist in your app cache.  However, if you deleted the app while the account was not subscribed, then the pictures did not sync to cloud storage and would have been removed along with the app itself because deleting the app also deletes the app's cache.

I recommend using iTunes File Sharing (or Mac OS Finder File Sharing) to browse the current Lightroom Mobile app cache, and see if you can recover your original photos.  Please see this page for info: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/recover-lightroom-mobile-photos-itunes-file-sharing.html 

If the app was deleted and re-installed before the pictures could sync to cloud storage, is it possible you have an iTunes/iCloud backup of your device from a time when the pictures still existed?  If so, then I hope you can restore that backup onto your device, and recover the pictures by exporting from Lightroom or using the same iTunes File Sharing advice above.

Checking your details, the server let me know you seem to have multiple accounts.  I wonder if you might easily find your pictures by signing into the correct account.  I will send you a direct message to share details more privately.

[35709822akz8]

I can't thank you enough for the suggestion on using iMazing because I had the exact same problem and when I tried to use finder/devices app to download the cache, firstly I couldn't open the folders like I could with iMazing and secondly it will just stop randomly when downloading through finder(on Mac)/devices(on Windows) and just when I thought I'm gonna lose all my photos (250GB+), I tried this method and managed to recover every single photo except for that one that's apparently locked, which iMazing will tell you which file exactly. I hope my comment will also help anyone in the future who unfortunately got logged out by Lightroom and are unable to see any of the photos when you log back in. P.S. THIS IS NOT AN AD and I've only used the trial version of iMazing