Help needed with missing photos

Using Cascable 7.0.4 (4338), I have about 200 images that I downloaded from my camera and are now showing as a black box in the “On this iPad” window.

I need help understanding how to fix this please.

Brian

Hello,

We need a little bit more info please: What camera do you have? What format are the images in? What version of iPadOS are you running?

The camera is a Canon EOS R. The format will be JPG and .CR3, and the iPad is on the most recent iPadOS - 18.3.2.

B

JPEG images will be fine - they’re as standard as they come.

“Standard” CR3 images are also fully supported. However, CRAW or CR3 images shot with HDR PQ enabled can be problematic. We rely on iOS’ built-in RAW image support for working with RAWs, which can be found here: Digital camera RAW formats supported by iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and visionOS 2 - Apple Support

If you tap on a thumbnail, do you get a working preview?

No, when I tap on a thumbnail Cascable crashes.

When select an image THAT works, but when I try to do anything with it, the image doesn’t exist. I tried transferring to photo album, and sharing via messages and email.

Please help me get my pictures back.

B

Hi Brian,

Can you change the grid to a list so I can see the file names? If it’s CR3 images, can you send one in so we can see what’s going on?

Edit: Crash reports too, please!

Here’s how to get at them:

  1. Open the iOS Settings app, then navigate to Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements (near the bottom) → Analytics Data.

  2. Scroll down until you find entries starting with “Cascable” (you can search the list, too).

  3. Tap each one then tap the share button to share them with us.
    With the crash log(s), we’ll be able to figure out what’s going on and fix the problem.

Thank you!

I can’t send you any files - please see my previous message. Cascable crashes.

I can’t upload a crash file here because it says the format is not permitted. I will send them to your email thread.

B

Is there anything else you need from me?

If it helps, the set of pictures that are corrupted are only the ones I’ve taken this year. There’s over 100 from a couple of years ago which are still working correctly.

B

Can you send one of the failing JPEGs, or at least confirm that if you export it to another app, if it’s damaged or not?

I’m trying to figure out what’s going on — if JPEGs are failing, there’s something very wrong happening. If you connect the camera and try to preview the JPEGs directly, do they work?

Edit: If you copy images from the camera now, do they work?

For the 3rd time, I CAN’T SEND ANY OF THESE PICTURES. If I click them, then Cascable crashes. If I press the select button and try to email it (for instance) there is no file attached.

The images don’t exist on the camera any more. I transferred them to Cascable (and they were working fine when I did that), and deleted them from the camera.

This process isn’t working smoothly and I’m getting worried. It’s been over a week and I don’t think you yet have a good grasp on the issue. You have my email address – would a google meeting or a discord conversation be helpful?

B

Hello,

Alright, so the app is behaving as if the images have been removed from the iPad storage underneath the image database — i.e., the image database has those files and their metadata, but the files themselves can’t be located.

My last question was asking you to copy new images from the camera to see if they work and stay put in Cascable. Since you have older images that’re working fine, I want to find out if it’s only these ones “in the middle” that’re problematic.

Did you happen to be part of the Cascable 7 TestFlight?

Additionally, it’s pretty unlikely that the files are gone — it’s extremely difficult for an end user to go inside an iOS app’s files and fiddle around or delete things. The most likely situation is that, for whatever reason, the link between the image database and the files on disk has been lost.

Our next steps will be, depending on your willingness, to build some diagnostics into the app and get them to you via a beta TestFlight release so we can take a look into your files and see what’s going on.

Sorry for the slow progress on this — in the 10 years we’ve been shipping Cascable, this has literally never come up before. If those images are still in there, we’ll get them back.

Got it,thanks. Sorry for the confusion on the new images.

I’ve been reluctant to try new images. My concern being that without knowing your internal logic, I may alter the database in a way which prevents any retrieval. If you’re comfortable that’s safe I’m happy to try.

I’m not part of any program, but I assume you’d create a debug version and I’d side load it? I’m also happy to help with this.

B

It’s unlikely that adding new images will make things worse, but if you’re OK waiting a few days, that’s alright.

We’ll use Apple’s TestFlight service to get you the test release - it’s very simple to use. Unfortunately, being an Apple service they need to review new beta versions, which can take a couple of days.

We’re building a tool now that’ll give a diagnostic report on your library. Once you run that and give us the report, we’ll have a much more detailed view on what’s happening and can build a tool to fix it.

Given Apple’s extra day or two of review time, I hope we’ll have this initial step with you by the middle of next week. I’ll reach out to you directly via email once we have everything ready - watch out from an email from Daniel.

If we have a better approach, I’d rather not risk new images at this point.

The middle of next week is fine. Thanks!

B

Just a quick update: Today we’ve submitted a build to Apple’s TestFlight service for review. Once it’s through review, you’ll hear from us directly as discussed above.

Thanks for the update!

For historical purposes, I thought I’d post back here with the resolution of the problem.

My pictures were all safe, but there was a disconnect between them and the database. The Cascable team was able to fix the issue and everything is working well again.

Thanks to Daniel and the rest of the team for their hard work!

Brian

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