Help Recovering Photos from Damaged iPad

Elppa8 on 22/09/2016 - 11:39

I have been given the task of recovering photos from a damaged iPad Air 2. It was severely damaged in a fatal car accident and the partner (owner of the iPad) would like to recover the family photos.

1) The iPad screen was severely damaged and mostly separated from the damaged case.
2) The LED screen had backlight but no display or response to touch.
3) It is recognised by both iMac and PC but needs an "Trust" or "Allow" response from iPad screen.
4) When connected via HDMI to a TV it shows the iPad unlock screen.
5) There is no lock on the iPad and it has never been connected to a computer before or backed up to iCloud.
6) Due to the damage to the case a screen can never be refitted to normal although the connection are ok.

After removing the screen and cleaning out all the glass I took it to a few repair booths at our local shopping centre and although they were keen to help (for free) none of them keep a iPad Air 2 screen on hand as they only order in as required.

Unless there is some other way I need help to access a functional iPad Air 2 screen either damaged or undamaged to temporarily connect the iPad long enough to upload the photos to a laptop and then reset the iPad to remove all data. In Sydney southwest Campbelltown area but travel to other parts of Sydney no problem.

Thanks in advance for suggestions

Computing

Comments

  • giu on 22/09/2016 - 11:42
    +1

    Apple store?

    • Elppa8 on 22/09/2016 - 12:31

      Tried that, Apple will only replace the iPad and don't do data recovery

  • k-rokfm on 22/09/2016 - 12:15
    +1

    Apple store or talk to a professional IT place that can do data recovery (note: not one of the kiosks in the shopping centre)

  • supnigs super skids on 22/09/2016 - 12:28

    I'm pretty sure if this iPad has been synced before on a particular pc it wouldn't ask for permission again.

    • Elppa8 on 22/09/2016 - 12:32

      Unfortunately the iPad has never been connected to a computer.

      • supnigs super skids on 22/09/2016 - 12:35

        Ok. Good luck

      • rambao9 on 22/09/2016 - 12:41

        It will always ask for permission. You are in a bit of trouble. Sounds like you might have to pull the data out of the memory directly…

      • supnigs super skids on 22/09/2016 - 12:45
        +1

        Just remembered, photos may also be on Icloud too. Depends how it was configured

        • kiribatian on 22/09/2016 - 13:36

          Agree. I had my phone stolen in America recently. I was a classic Apple fanboy and bought a new one the next day. I plugged it into the wall and set it up. Came back after an hour and all the photos up until about 5 hours before it was stolen were uploaded to iCloud and already on the phone!

        • Elppa8 on 22/09/2016 - 13:41

          There is no lock on the iPad and it has never been connected to a computer before or backed up to iCloud.

          Just need to temporarily connect the iPad to another LCD assembly long enough allow permission to upload the photos to a laptop and then reset the iPad to remove all data

  • sparkles on 22/09/2016 - 14:00

    Could you buy a secondhand condition iPad 2 and get the screen moved over? Use the screen to download, then replace screen back and resell the bought iPad 2?

    • Elppa8 on 22/09/2016 - 17:51

      I am looking at that but an iPad Air 2 are still selling for a few hundred dollars and then perform a risky operation of removal and replacement daunts me a bit.

      Hoping to find someone selling a cheap cracked but functioning screen assembly that they changed out.

  • apple2016 on 22/09/2016 - 14:10

    You could try professional Data recovery but its going to be expensive.

  • Master Bates on 22/09/2016 - 22:14

    This is just a theory:

    The LCD is not the part that makes the iPad screen touch sensitive; that is the job of the Digitizer. Maybe you can get away with just purchasing the Digitizer and not the LCD (I don't know for a fact whether the Digitizer works independently of the LCD, so you will have to research this, perhaps by asking on tech specific forums).

    Macfixit are having a 15% off sale(credit to sparky13) and are selling the iPad Air 2 Digitizer for $99 + $9.90 shipping -15% (Proof of price). It is on backorder, but the white version is $50 more expensive.

    Given the situation I think $100 is a small price to pay to try to unlock the iPad.

    • Elppa8 on 23/09/2016 - 07:33

      That might work, I will seek more information on that idea.

    • Elppa8 on 27/09/2016 - 20:13

      Thanks for the idea, I picked up a digizer from a local supplier on ebay for $55, printed out a screen shot of the iPad for reference, trusted the PC and was then able to see the photos on my netbook and download them.

      • Master Bates on 27/09/2016 - 21:56

        Glad it worked and thanks for the update; it's always good to know the solution to the problem!

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