Trying to transfer photos from iPod onto Mac

I recently found my 2008 120GB iPod Classic (model A1238) with nearly 11,000 photos on it, all with significant sentimental value. They must have been transferred onto this iPod from a long-lost hard drive and there are pictures on there that I had no idea existed. My goal is to use this iPod as a device strictly for music (and the, like, 5 games and handful of Simpsons episodes that are on it already lol), but these photos are taking up nearly 10GB so I want to get them off the iPod and keep them elsewhere. However I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do that.

I'm only semi-computer-savvy but I like to ask questions, research, and figure it out myself. It took me two full days to figure out how to mod The Sims 4 with zero familiarity with the process, but goddamn it, I did it. Reddit has been the most reliable resource in situations like this, and I couldn't find solid answers through research so I'm asking folks here directly! (FWIW I'm willing to put in work, and a little $ on this.)

What I do know so far is this:

- the iPod seems to work perfectly. The battery life is surprisingly good. (it was made pre-enshittification, so, yeah)

- my Mac recognizes the iPod. When I connect it (using a 30-pin to USB-c adapter) it shows up in two separate "locations" in Finder: the iPod itself, and the iPod's hard drive. Under the "Photos" folder on the hard drive it shows a ~10mb Unix executable file and only couple dozen thumbnail files (which I'm unable to open, at least with the apps i have on my Mac) - perhaps concerning, considering there are nearly 11k photos? Idk

- I understand from my research that the photos on the iPod aren't going to be full-resolution, and that I may or may not be able to use a tool to make them higher-res. Immediately, I'm more concerned with preserving these photos, crappy-looking or not.

- I know how to turn on & off disk mode. Not sure if that will be of help lol but I know how to do it now!

- I can probably get my hands on a Windows PC if needed, and since it's so many thousands of photos I'm willing to spend a little money on software to transfer them if needed. But I've seen so many recommendations and most are for transferring music (predictably) I don't know where to start.

If it means anything in this process, I'm running Tahoe 26.5.2 on a 2020 Macbook Pro.

Thank you for any help!!