Downloading pics to hard drive from iPhone and iPad

[parabellum]

Running into silly problems, Windows 7 and using ACDsee programme. Messages like, "no pictures to download", wrong, 1645 actually. Other times only admits to four pictures when there are nearer four thousand. No HDD capacity problems, it is a new HDD. Would appreciate any thoughts on what might be the problem. Should I try to transfer pics to an independent external drive and then up load to PC HDD?

[ExXB]

From: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201302

Import to your PC

You can import photos to your PC by connecting your device to your computer and using Windows Photo Gallery:
Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes on your your PC. Importing photos to your PC requires iTunes 12.5.1 or later.
Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your PC with a USB cable.
You might need to unlock your iOS device using your passcode.
You might also see a prompt on the iOS device asking you to Trust This Computer. Tap Trust or Allow to continue.
Then, follow the steps in these Microsoft knowledge base articles to learn how to import photos to Windows Photo Gallery:
Windows 8 or later
Windows 7
When you import videos from your iOS device to your PC, some might be rotated incorrectly in Windows Photo Gallery. You can add these videos to iTunes to play them in the correct orientation.
Photos and videos that you sync from your computer to your iOS device using iTunes can't be imported back to your computer.
Learn what to do if you can‘t import photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your computer.

[G0ULI]

If push comes to shove, there are a couple of free programs on the Internet that will allow you to view the directory structure and files on iOS devices. A certain degree of caution is advised when using these programs because of the unproven sources and possibility of introducing computer viruses. But you will be able to see all the files on your device and copy whatever you want to a PC or Mac. A Google search will bring them up.

I have used a program that is rather confusingly called Windows Explorer. It isn't the Microsoft one! I'm not recommending it, but it worked for me.

[parabellum]

Thanks to both of you. Will carry on with iTunes rather than ACDsee and also look at the Windows Explorer route you suggest GOULI

[Biggles78]

What version of ACDsee?
I think that with images then you can connect a cable from the iPad/iPhone directly into the PC and copy them to the HDD. The DCIM (I think that's what it is called) folder will be the only thing showing up under the Apple device when you open Windows Explorer when the iPhone and computer are connected.

[Jhieminga]

Just last week I had a colleague who had an iPhone issue. When connecting the phone to a Win10 laptop it recognised the phone, offered him a multitude of Windows options that would like to help him in managing said phone, but iTunes would not recognise it. We found out that Windows prefers to install its own USB driver, allowing Windows access to the phone and basically treating it as a digital camera, but this prevents full use through iTunes.

We followed the steps on this page to restore normal communication between the phone and laptop: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204095

Worth a try in situations like this.

[parabellum]

Thanks again. One of my problems was that the computer simply didn't recognise several hundred pictures on the phone so they couldn't be downloaded! Still working on it but have been very busy.