[Fortuna]

I use my 60 GB iPod Photo (colour screen) principally for saving photos from my digital cameras when on a long trip. Initially, no problems - each thumbnail displayed on screen as the photo transferred via the camera connector, and whole folders could be brought up and checked via the clickwheel. Suddenly, no images display, and in each little frame there is simply a question mark ? in a circle. I can't think of anything I have done, except install the latest software upgrade 1.2.1. The problem probably began then. Being able to see the photos is critical to having confidence that the photos have really been saved - I'm reluctant to erase the camera card without knowing. What's the problem, and what's the fix? Suggestions please!

[Kuma]

just an idea.. mount the ipod as a disk.. and see if you can pull the photos off..
if you can do that... then the next step would be to restore the ipod (after you are confident everything has been backed up successfully..

Im no guru.. but this would be my next step..

[Currawong]

I encourage people to run Disk Utility (Mac) or Scandisk (PC) over their iPod's, especially if they've ever been hard reset, as this will prevent weird issues caused by disk directory problems caused by crashes & resets.

[Fortuna]

Thanks Currawong and Kuma. I will try your suggestions in that order.

[Fortuna]

Mac's Disk Utility will not allow me to repair permissions on an iPod. However it will check and repair the disk if there are volume problems. This is what I got:

Verifying volume “ iPod”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair_
The volume iPod needs to be repaired.


1 volume checked
0 HFS volumes verified
1 volume needs repair





Repairing disk for “iPod”
Mounting Disk(S,"Checking HFS Plus volume.",0)
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair_
Repairing volume.
The volume iPod was repaired successfully.

Repair attempted on 2 volumes
1 HFS volume repaired
1 volume could not be repaired

It seems the volume for photos is the problem. A Reset doesn't fix anything, and a Restore will erase everything on the disk. Disk enable is already set. Seems as if I will have to download/save my photos and then try a restore. The music will easily sync up again. I think the problem was the changes that came about with V 1.2.1.

[melton]

Have you started taking photos in something other than jpeg format (ie a format that the ipod cannot display)?
It does appear from your later posts that the volume in which the photos are being stored is problematic. Try Diskwarrior as a second attempt (given you have run Apple's Disk Utility) to repair directory damage on the volume. If that doesn't work and you need to recover the photos from the ipod, you may need to consider a tool like Datarescue (about $AU130). I think the cheaper 'photorescue' tools look for a memory card, rather than a hard disk (ie so may not work with an ipod), but you could always give a trial version a go.

[Fortuna]

There may be a clue there..Some of the first photos on this trip were shot in RAW. However, in the past when I have shot RAW or RAW+JPG, the JPG photos have been displayed, and the RAW images come up with the word RAW in a circle. The iPod manual and advice had made it clear that it could not handle formats other than JPG.