Disabled iPhone 3G. Access without wiping?

[Red Storm]

Here's the situation:

GF's old iPhone (8GB 3G) got disabled a while ago. Long story short, a bratty relative tried to get in and ended up disabling the phone trying to guess the pin. It now says "iPhone disabled, connect to iTunes" in a giant red banner. GF has since moved on to an iPhone 4. However, she wants to retrieve the pictures from the phone but she can't access it now even though she does know the password. She took it to Apple and they told her they'd have to reset it to get access which would delete all data which she doesn't want. She asked about data retrieval and they told her to go Google it. :|

So now here I am asking you guys, is there anyway to gain access to this thing without wiping it?

 

[GWestphal]

Did you connect it to the computer you had previously sych'd with?

 

[Red Storm]

That computer is no longer with us I'm afraid.

Edit: Apparently there never was a computer. According to her they never hooked it up to iTunes.

 

[amdhunter]

Only way to get in is if it was previously jailbroken and ssh was installed. If not, you are out of luck.

 

[Red Storm]

Yeah, seems like the only option is to attempt a data recovery after restoring.

 

[manly]

Yeah, seems like the only option is to attempt a data recovery after restoring.

A restore is about the last thing I would do.

I'm not familiar with disabled iPhones but Apple iPhoto connects with the iPhone to pull off photos (perhaps Photoshop Elements for Windows too, I don't know).

I'm using iOS 4.2 and iPhoto doesn't require the passcode to get access. Seems like a big loophole to me, but iPhoto is worth a shot.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Try using iFunBox on your PC, and see if it lets you browse the phone contents. No jailbreak is necessary.

If it doesn't work, you might still be able to jailbreak the phone if you manage to get into DFU (google it.) And with that comes your chance to retrieve the photos.

 

[GWestphal]

It was never synch'd to a new computer once the old one was sold/broken?

 

[Red Storm]

It was never synch'd to a new computer once the old one was sold/broken?

No, apparently it was never synced to a computer.

I will try iFunBox, iPhoto on a Mac machine, and anything else I can find before resorting to data retrieval.