How we got my wife's photos back with a subject access request (UK). Account still disabled

Some of you saw me ask about the Appeals Centre thing in Feb (it doesn't cover the UK). This is about my wife's Instagram, disabled in January, appeal rejected, 9 years of photos including our wedding and our son's first year. We've given up on the account for now and went for the data instead. What we did: 1. Found Meta's privacy contact form for data requests via the Instagram help centre (the route for when you can't use Download Your Information because you can't log in). We searched the help centre directly, didn't click links from emails or other sites. 2. Wrote a short subject access request under UK GDPR: her full name, username, the email and phone linked to the account, the date it was disabled, and that she wants a copy of all her personal data including photos, videos and messages. Attached a screenshot of the disabled notice. 3. First reply (about a week) told her to use Download Your Information. Which needs you to log in. We replied saying exactly that, and that the request still stands. 4. Roughly 4 weeks after that a download link arrived. Photos and videos were all there. DMs were patchy. If they'd stalled we were going to complain to the ICO (the UK data regulator). Didn't need to in the end. Not legal advice, just what worked for us. And everyone: back up your stuff while your account still works!