Locked iPod Touch, any options besides total system wipe

My 2 year old daughter goofed with my son's iPod Touch and locked it out. The message says that he can try again in 22,566,234 minutes, which is a heck of a long time.

He is 8, and has lots of photos that he hasn't backed up. We went to the Apple Genius Bar, they said a total wipe was the only option, which caused him to cry for a long time.

Anyone on here have any other suggestions as to how he can recover his photos and stop being mad at his sister. Or is this a life lesson for him?

Solution 1:

The easiest way to retrieve pictures from a disabled iPod/iPhone is as follows:

• Create a new folder on your PC/Laptop called "Retrieved Pictures".
• Connect your iPod/iPhone to your PC/Laptop via USB.
• Open "My Computer".
• Under "Devices" locate your iPod/iPhone.
• Open the iPod/iPhone folder and locate a sub-folder called "DCIM".
• In the "DCIM" folder you will find all of your pictures.
• Cut all of the pictures out of the "DCIM" folder and paste them in to the "Retrieved Pictures" folder you created earlier.
• Having retrieved all of your pictures, you can now restore your iPod/iPhone back to factory settings using iTunes.

Solution 2:

Not sure it'll work without unlocking the phone, but there are apps that can pull photos and music back off an iPod, eg. Phone To Mac (http://www.macroplant.com/downloads.php), or iExporer by the same company. Might be worth downloading the demo then testing.

Solution 3:

Download Diskaid 5. I had the same thing happen to me, but I was able to recover my Photos with it. Report back if it works.