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What does the 101APLE, 102APPLE, 103APPLE, 104APPLE, 105APPLE, 106APPLE, 107APPLE, 108APPLE in the DCIM/ folder mean ? these folders show up in windows explorer in win10. Also, how come the folders continue from 108APPLE and dont go back to 101APPLE after the DCIM folder is all clear and there no more photos ? what is the logic for having these 10XAPPLE folders ?
iPhone 6, iOS 12
The general convention is taken from how digital cameras store photos on memory cards. A top-level DCIM directory containing multiple directories named with three leading digits and some following letters determined by the manufacturer. Often some index or information files are added.
The exact management of the leading digits seems to vary by manufacturer, but the cameras I've had have not always reset to 101xxxx at every erasure.
My first digital camera (Canon PowerShot G1, Christmas gift in 2000) used 100CANON, 101CANON, et cetera, and changed folders every 100 photos. This was all on a classic FAT-formatted card, so the folder names were only eight characters long, and the file names were eight-dot-three format. The 100-file limit probably has the same derivation.
My wife's current Canon (not new, but the handiest one to grab and check) uses a different pattern within the DCIM folder: 123___07, 124___10, 125___04 on the current memory card -- same increasing serial number prefix but an inscrutable variable suffix pattern. Still holding to eight characters. Looks like that camera starts a new folder after 384 files but continues file and folder numbering across memory cards and erasures.
Canon adapted the convention to its own needs at some point. So did Nikon and Canon. Although they have diverged, they retain enough of the common basics that they all still "look like" camera cards or cameras to other devices.
My Nikon Z 8 uses the same folder structure. When it gets to 5000 pictures or something (I don't have it next to me,) the new pictures go into a new folder named something like the Apple system, with 101, 102, etc. I haven't seen, yet, what happens when I get to 10000-- I had to reformat the SD card before that.
My first digital camera (Canon PowerShot G1, Christmas gift in 2000) used 100CANON, 101CANON, et cetera, and changed folders every 100 photos. This was all on a classic FAT-formatted card, so the folder names were only eight characters long, and the file names were eight-dot-three format. The 100-file limit probably has the same derivation.
My wife's current Canon (not new, but the handiest one to grab and check) uses a different pattern within the DCIM folder: 123___07, 124___10, 125___04 on the current memory card -- same increasing serial number prefix but an inscrutable variable suffix pattern. Still holding to eight characters. Looks like that camera starts a new folder after 384 files but continues file and folder numbering across memory cards and erasures.
Canon adapted the convention to its own needs at some point. So did Nikon and Canon. Although they have diverged, they retain enough of the common basics that they are still recognizable as camera cards or cameras by other devices.
Why does apple sort photos into 10xAPPLE folders ?
