Can I transfer photos that are not in my iPhone's camera roll to my computer?

My iPhone was linked to my main computer and it has all my photos stored on it, but not in the camera roll. Since my husband blew the main computer up, my precious photos appear to be in limbo. It does not appear that I can import them anywhere. I could email all them one by one but that seems a little low tech. iTunes tells me that if I upgrade iOS I will lose my photos that are not in the camera roll. Also, the same would seem to be true if I deauthorize my main (now usless) PC. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Solution 1:

Yes, you can get the photos back on your computer that you synced to your iPhone. However, they will be a lower quality as iTunes automatically resizes them when it syncs them onto your device.

One way to copy photos off an iDevice is through a program called iExplorer (previously iPhone Explorer) that lets you access some of the filesystem on the iPhone.

Install the program from the website, then open it. You will be presented with a screen where you should find your iPhone listed. Here are the locations of the photos:

Camera Roll Photos:
iPhone -> Media -> DCIM

Previously Synced Photos:
iPhone -> Media -> PhotoData - > Sync

To get the synced photos off your iPhone drag the Sync folder into a folder on your computer and wait for them to copy. The same applies to the camera roll photos if you want to grab them at the same time.

Solution 2:

I know I'm a bit late but I've just had this problem, but I have an easy fix (providing you have another iOS device capable of AirDrop. I selected all the photos from the iPhone that were synced from the computer (it did take a few minutes but it's self explanatory) and I sent them to my iPad via AirDrop - thus saving the photos onto the camera roll of my iPad, from where you can plug your ipad into your computer, and import the photos that way!