How to move massive files off your iPad – when all else fails

I record many practical projects on my YouTube channel. In many cases, one or more stages of a project must be recorded in one take. That’s because once I’ve finished anything I’m doing, it’s done.

For example, please unboxed videos. Some of the items I open are in huge wooden frames. The wooden frame must be actively disassembled to access the internal gear. Once that disassembly is complete, there will be no redos. The same can be said for cutting the materials in a project. When it is cut, it is cut.

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My point is that I don’t have many opportunities to start over. If there is an error in my video, my only option is creative editing. But starting over and retrying is not usually an option.

To give myself a pretty good chance to get a good video, I arrange some iOS devices around the worksite. Each pointed to my project for filming. The editing then sews together the multicam recordings, jumping from the view to view the view, and showing things from different angles.

My collection of iOS recording gear consists of three iPhones, two base iPads (9th and 10th generation), and an M1-based iPad Pro. Base iPads are often first used because they are inexpensive. If they fall into concrete in the rather unlivable environment of my workshop, I would be $300 instead of over a thousand dollars.

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My 10th generation iPad only has 64GB of storage. This ability was never a problem. There are only shooting-related apps on your device. Clear the iPad every time you have a recording session. But last time I was caught.

My 20GB recording

I recorded 20GB of video in an hour and 14 minute take. While recording the process with another camera, the iPad Take was the only one that was correctly framed with a huge 3D printer I had taken out of the wooden frame.

In other words, without this 20GB video block, YouTube videos would look like crap.

Unfortunately, the iPad does not allow you to extract videos from its precious memories.

My usual practice is to record the use Black Magic Camera. This feature-rich, free app lets you record in a large number of settings, record Bluetooth audio, and control up to four iOS devices at once.

I usually store and move the completed video from the storage of a black magic camera to a photo. This syncs the video to your Mac using iCloud. However, the iPad didn’t have enough storage to make a 20GB copy in the Photos app.

I tried to broadcast the file, but the process continued to fail.

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So I tried using USB-C to connect my iPad to my Mac and using Finder to transfer the files. This process failed. I connected an external USB-C drive directly to my iPhone. The BlackMagic camera still doesn’t transfer videos, and the phone file app doesn’t do that either.

Everything was broken. And videos that are longer than my hands will not move to my editing environment. I was stuck.

Why doesn’t it work?

This is a snapshot of your iPad’s storage when almost everything was deleted. Photos are set to iPad storage optimization, so only small proxy images are stored on the device.

As you can see, iPados and system data account for the lion’s share of storage allocation. Even in practically air, the device uses 64GB of 37.3GB. Add one 20GB recording to that allocation and the device is free for under 7GB.

My guess is that the iPad didn’t have enough storage to make a temporary staging copy outside the Blackmagic Container directory, so each previous attempt to move files from the device failed. The app’s storage is sandboxed and cannot be used for other apps.

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If you move a file to another app, you must first move it out of the container directory. I was stuck like an Amber bug because I had a 7GB spare on my device, so I couldn’t move 20GB files.

That tool that saved me

As you can imagine, I didn’t want to give up. I did a crazy round of Google and chat. I ended up getting caught up in the name of several utilities that promise to extract damaged photos and move files that go in and out of iOS devices.

Unfortunately, after digging into some of them I found that they weren’t helping. Most had the forefront of something like a loud shading landing page for consumers that didn’t inspire trust.

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And I found imazing. Imazing didn’t scream about its features and benefits. There was a regular landing page, practical trials and a clean interface.

I loaded the app to my Mac, connected my iPad via USB-C, launched Imazing, and was quickly disappointed. There were no apps or Black Magic Camera icons. Then I increased the button and tapped to find the file system option. There was a promise in that situation.

Click on that option to see a set of folders. After opening the app, I opened Black Magic Cam and delved into the media. I had my 20.35GB file:

At 32 megabytes per second, my 20GB file took about 10 minutes to transfer. Nothing made me happier than seeing the Percent Dawn indicator steadily fill up after a minute.

And finally, I got this output.

boom! The file made it on my Mac. I imported the video into the final cut. The rest is YouTube history (that’s right). I was able to create and share videos.

imazing didn’t need temporary storage on your iPad. I believe that I will keep the software in my kit bag for large-scale recordings of the future. We also do our best to segment the recording, but that’s not always possible.

For over $40, imazing isn’t cheap. App licensing can be confusing. The company has annual licenses that allow up to three or more devices to be connected, as well as separate permanent licenses with different numbers of devices. Once you register an app with a device, it cannot be transferred to another device. Like I said, it’s confusing.

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The company provided me with a review copy of Imazing. But even if they weren’t that kind of thing, the app would have been worth a $40 investment. I was happy to spend it. I use that iPad for almost every shoot, so I’m sure Imazing will continue to be useful.

Have you ever hit a wall trying to move large files from your iPad or iPhone? What tools or workarounds have saved you in a similar situation? Have you tried imizing? If so, how did it work for you? Are there other utilities to manage iOS storage and transfer files? Please let us know in the comments below.

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