I think this phone's internal storage is corrupt - how to get the data off?

[KiwiNFLFan]

I'm trying to transfer the photos off my girlfriend's old phone (Vodafone SmartN11 running Android Go Edition), and I've come to believe that the device's internal storage is corrupt. She no longer needs the phone, but wants the photos from it.

Trying to access the internal storage in Files for Google fails, and I cannot install any apps despite Storage settings saying there are several GB available. Upon connecting the phone to a computer, no files are visible (yet when I configured an SD card as internal storage, its file structure was visible on the computer). I'm not actually sure the photos are even there (I transferred the SD card to her new phone) as it says 'Unsupported Media Type' on trying to open them (though the thumbnails will show sometimes for a fraction of a second).

So how can I recover the data from this phone? I'd prefer free options, but don't mind paying $10-20 for something if it works.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! When you connect the phone to a PC, are you also swiping down the notification panel, tapping the USB notification, and selecting MTP (or File Transfer)? If you don't, then the PC won't see anything.