Lost contacts and photos after restore

As long as he didn't sync/backup again AFTER the restore and losing the contacts, etc., it's possible that they still are in the backup made BEFORE restoring. To get them back, he'll have to restore the backup:

1. Disable automatic syncing on connectioin in iTunes Prefs > Devices > Disable....

2. With iTunes open, connect the phone.

3. Right-click the device tab on the left side of the iTunes window and select "Restore From Backup."

Thanks for the info, I did what you said but my contacts were not there. I am hoping they are not lost. Is there anything else I can do to get them back? Thank you for your help. Linda

Did you sync before the Restore?

If yes, click on the iPhone holding the Alt key, just like modular said, choose restore, just like modular said, then you get a window with a list of the available backups, then choose one of before the restore, everything like Modular said.

If you did not sync regularly, in iTunes (automatic sync off), on the Info page in the Advanced section (on the bottom of the page), check what you want to copy from the computer, then sync.

You do not have to uncheck that afterwards because it will only this time overwrite with everything on the computer.

jchbiggianthead wrote:

...He never synced or backed it up but continually added photos and contacts...now his settings, text messages and contacts are all gone.

Contacts are NOT part of the iPhone backup. Only the contact favorites are part of the backup. If they were not synced to a compatible address book or cloud service, they are gone.

Photos in the camera roll and text messages should have been part of the backup, assming the backup completed properly prior to the update.

Since the phone had never been synced to that computer previously, it's difficult to say what you selected when you were presented with the dialog box by iTunes when you first plugged it in, but I'm guessing that a backup was not done at all. You either told it to set it up as a new phone, or chose to restore it from an existing backup, probably the former. In that case, it would not actually have been backed up.

The data is more than likely gone for good.

THIS IS AN SCANDALOUS!!! ALL THOSE PICTURES LOST!!!

Yesterday I instaled iCloud on my iPhone and again, more than 1200 pictures LOST!!! (neather on my iPhone, nor on my iTunes. LOST!!!)

What's going on there??

Mr. Mac, you should do something about that. This is very disapointing...

I lost some of my conctacts and my notes too!!!

WE NEED AN EASY SOLUTION FOR THAT!!!

The camera roll is intended to be TEMPORARY storage for photos. You should be extracting them to your computer on a regular basis the same as you would with any other digital camera. Why anyone would leave 1200 photos in their camera roll is beyond me.

I have the same issue, with the exception I was on the phone over an hour with Apple to do the restore because of other phone issues. I followed his instructions and when the backup started we ended the call. I found after it finished it had import 4 contacts from a hotmail account I have. None of my previous phone contacts. He did indicate it would restore those, it would just not restore any of the apps from the Apple store. I've been on hold this morning trying to get assitance, but no luck yet.

Same issue here. Updated the wife's phone from 4.x to 5.x. everything went smoothly, all her photos were there, but the contactes were gone. So I did a restore and now 500 photos are gone. I thought it made a back up from today? The back up folder shows it was modified today but tthe only back up is old, hence the loss. I guess it's my fault for not properly backing up but I thought iTunes was performing a full back up/restore. It seems there's always something lost when working with iTunes.

Bullocks.

1 - We're in a 'Post PC' world (just ask Apple)

2 - When you initiate a reset it says on the screen that it won't delete data, only settings

3 - Even though I backup to icloud, my photos appear to be lost anyway