Is BC4 "overtaxing" the iPhone's file system using mtp?

[jfkelley]

Trying to backup ~5k files from iPhone 7+ to my Windows 10 laptop using BC4.3.3 (build 24545).

Eventually, the copy process will fail with "The system cannot read from the specified device (OLE error 80042007)" or "A device attached to the system is not functioning" or "The device is unreachable". When this happens it seems that I have to:

1. unplug the iPhone USB wire from the Windows 10 laptop and then plug it in again, OR...
2. reboot the iPhone and start over, OR...
3. let the iPhone "rest" for many hours and start over

BC will usually commence copying again and may copy many files or maybe just one before the process dies again.

[Aaron]

Hello,

I found similar issues in my testing, but I also hit them if I attempted the same transfer using Windows Explorer. Do you see a similar issue if you try the same test?

I had better luck switching to a different USB port and an alternate cable, but some older iphone hardware continued to be finicky and needed a few attempts to get everything off of it, and then a few attempts to compare/verify the transfer.

[jfkelley]

Thanks Aaron! I did try different cable, different USB port and also my Wife's identical iPhone 7+. I do also have issues using other methods of getting files off the iPhone and onto the Windows PC. That's why I tried BC. I was hoping you had some "magic", maybe a metered/throttled copy? Extra handshakes? The interweb is loaded with folks frustrated by this issue - BC could be the hero!

[Aaron]

BC4's transfer method uses the same base method as Windows Explorer, which in most cases is a boon for increased compatibility (if it works in Explorer, it works in BC4), but for this case there's not much extra we can offer. On the plus side, if there ever is an official or unofficial fix that helps Explorer (the most likely general fix), it would probably see the behavior also improve in BC4.

[jfkelley]

If other people find this post, a tip: change iPhone Settings -> Photos at bottom to "Keep Originals" (not "Automatic"). Doesn't always work, but it helps for sure.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the tip. I do now remember that setting helping. I think you needed to update it and then also power cycle the device and reconnect it.

[jfkelley]

Another Tip: I have also discovered that it's possible for a file on the iPhone to be "corrupt" in a way that aborts the connection if you try to access it from a computer. You might be able to see a thumbnail using Windows Explorer or maybe use the file date in BC (though that will be the modify date and not necessarily the date taken). This will help you find the photo on the phone where you can maybe email it to yourself and then delete it. Be sure to ALSO delete it from the "Recently Deleted" album on your phone.

Aaron: A suggested feature... allow a new column: "Date Created" in the compare view (This will take a while, of course, because you MIGHT have to examine the Exif for every file on the mobile device.) OR, maybe you could add this as an option in the Rules ("Use date created, not date modified"). I suggest this because my iPhone has a nasty habit of crawling through all my photos and doing some stupid tweak to the Exif which also changes the formal file modified datestamp. Sometimes it seems to update the date modified even though no apparent change was made to the file (annoying). This causes hundreds of erroneous not-match indicators when I'm doing rules-based compare on startup.

Also: The filenames on the iPhone are really stupid. You can have lots of duplicates since it re-uses the sequence numbers when naming files in all its subfolders. When I use Windows Import, I have it rename the files using the when-created datestamp. (This also simplifies merging my photos with my wife's). It'd be nice if there was a way to use BC on files with different names... (though I'm having a hard time imagining how that would work!)

[Aaron]

Expanding our Creation Date support is something on our wishlist, but isn't a short-term project. BC4 is also reliant on file name for the alignment before comparison, so duplicate file names could be tricky to deal with if removing the subfolder structure that maintains them.

[jfkelley]

Too bad file systems don't create and save CRC's/Hashcodes as they save files (and keep the info around for use in Explorer, etc.) - I don't know much, but it seems like that would be the efficient time to do that, while all the bits are flowing through the saving process. Maybe someone could make a few $ by writing an app to patch the OS drivers for that.