Photo downloading / saving / management

Having a couple unusual problems in something that I've done previously without problem.

Recently downloaded approx 300 photos from iPhone to PC. I've done this a lot. I've let it name the folder automatically before I think, so that you would have like 9_2024 etc.

This time, once downloaded and double checked to make sure they were on desktop, I deleted from phone via PC, and it deleted out of the desktop folder as well.

Can't figure out what I did this time different than last. Perhaps I renamed the folder last time but doesn't seem like it.

was the phone still connected to the pc when you went to delete the pics?

Definitely. But I've done that many times, way more efficient to delete a few thousand photos.