Mich111

Q: Restore iPhone from older backup

Hello,

 

Let me start out by saying thank you for viewing and I hope you can help!  I have searched support and haven't found anything that has helped.

 

Last night I did a normal backup and sync with no problems.  Today I noticed that I lost all of my text messages.  I don't think it was from when I synced, I actually tried to send a mms and I don't ever remember it going through.  In support I have read that people sending mms have had the the screen go white and the text mesages disappear. 

 

I also read that I can restore from a backup.  I tried that and no luck, the text messages that were listed only showed 2 from last night and none from this morning so I know that the backup worked but the last backup must have been after this issue happened.  What I need is the backup BEFORE last nights.  I would much rather lose a couple weeks of text verses 3 years of text.

 

I wish it was as simple as "select the next one in the list" but it's not.  The other file names listed are my husbands iPhone and 4 other files that all have dates of 2009 and older.  I sync at least once a month.  Where are they and I how do I restore to one from at least this year?

 

Please help!

 

Thanks

 

 

 

iPhone 3GS 4.3.5

Posted on Sep 18, 2011 12:29 PM

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Q: Restore iPhone from older backup

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  • by DSmith7,

    DSmith7 DSmith7 Sep 18, 2013 5:03 PM in response to why so complicated itunes
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2013 5:03 PM in response to why so complicated itunes

    After my ios7 updates imma try this ,

    cause i backed up then erased all data to do a clean update

    and set up my phone as a new iphone , it synced so the last restore i see is from just now ,

    happen to me a while back so i looked on my pc and i see my old back up but i cant see them in itunes,

    so after my phone updates and i download itunes 11.1 , imma try what you mentioned i hope it works

  • by pricewc,

    pricewc pricewc Sep 18, 2013 7:06 PM in response to DSmith7
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2013 7:06 PM in response to DSmith7

    I'm having the same issue but I cannot locate the folder on mac osx mtn lion...anyone know?

  • by pricewc,

    pricewc pricewc Sep 18, 2013 7:37 PM in response to pricewc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2013 7:37 PM in response to pricewc

    Figured it out! Plug phone into itunes, hold down option key and hit restore backup.  It will let you select any past backup.

  • by d12dirtydozen,

    d12dirtydozen d12dirtydozen Sep 19, 2013 5:53 AM in response to pricewc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2013 5:53 AM in response to pricewc

    pricewc

    hold down option key? where? my phone got wiped out and the last backup, is of the new wiped out phone.how did you access your back up of say, yesterday after its been already wiped and a new backup already existing?

  • by Galveano,

    Galveano Galveano Sep 19, 2013 12:20 PM in response to d12dirtydozen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2013 12:20 PM in response to d12dirtydozen

    d12dirtydozen, pricewc is using a MAC... My guess is you are using a PC, such as me.

    I have the same problem, trying to recover from a previous backup in Windows..

    Has anyone found the final FREE solution? I tried dr. Fone by Wondershare but it will only let me save photos to the computer, but not contacts, notes, emails, etcetera..

    I'm losing my mind here... Itunes isnt helping

  • by pricewc,

    pricewc pricewc Sep 19, 2013 12:33 PM in response to d12dirtydozen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2013 12:33 PM in response to d12dirtydozen

    d12,

    Plug your phone into your computer and when iTunes opens it will show the screen about your iPhone.  I'm using a mac so I hold down the option key on my computer and click "Restore Backup".  It then shows a list of about 10+ of my past backups to my computer.  I just selected the one I wanted and it worked.  Took about 20 mins to complete.  Screen Shot 2013-09-19 at 3.32.09 PM.png

  • by d12dirtydozen,

    d12dirtydozen d12dirtydozen Sep 19, 2013 8:26 PM in response to pricewc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 19, 2013 8:26 PM in response to pricewc

    is that because your on a mac? i dont have the option key on my laptop

  • by BobsBlues,

    BobsBlues BobsBlues Sep 22, 2013 10:09 AM in response to d12dirtydozen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2013 10:09 AM in response to d12dirtydozen

    not sure if this helps, but I just restored from my 2nd most recent iphone backup on my PC:

    My story is that I tried to trade in my old iphone before purchasing the 5s, so I wanted to wipe out all my data etc on the old phone before I traded it in.  But after I restored the original settings (i.e. blank) my iTunes was set up to do an automatic back-up, which created a basically blank database from which I was hoping to restore to my new iphone - which was not what I wanted.

    I have Windows 7 and found the back up file in \\computer\users\[Bob = username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup - actually there are file folders there, I had 3 of them.  I figured out which one I wanted to use and then moved the others to another folder (I just created another folder called 'hold on to these" in the MobileSync folder, leaving just the good one.

    When I connected my iphone I was able to restore from the backup that comes up with the Restore Backup button.

    Worked for me.  Now I'm going to keep another folder of backups just in case.

    Hope this helps.

  • by d12dirtydozen,

    d12dirtydozen d12dirtydozen Sep 22, 2013 12:01 PM in response to BobsBlues
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2013 12:01 PM in response to BobsBlues

    Hey bob

    I see them in the folder, but when I try to do it on iTunes it only pulls up my iPod backups, not my iPhone

  • by WorkingHen,

    WorkingHen WorkingHen Oct 14, 2013 2:04 AM in response to Mich111
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 14, 2013 2:04 AM in response to Mich111

    iTunes has a nasty habit of deleting the previous backup every time it does a backup. If you really have an old backup intact, there is a way to restore from it. I forget the procedure, but I'm sure you can Google it. It's a good idea to manually go into your backup directory and manually copy it over to a new name once in a while. That way iTunes won't touch it, and you can use it in an emergency such as yours.


    Here's a website that describes how to do it:

    http://gg.gg/kwbp

  • by PTTP,

    PTTP PTTP Oct 18, 2013 5:56 PM in response to Mich111
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 18, 2013 5:56 PM in response to Mich111

    It's Control instead of the Option key if you're using a PC; so hold the CTRL and left click the "Restore Backup..." button in iTunes if you'd rather use an older backup version that's existing on your PC. You should see the same list image that pricewc screenshotted in his last post.

  • by noobiesg,

    noobiesg noobiesg Oct 22, 2013 11:28 AM in response to Mich111
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 11:28 AM in response to Mich111

    i had the same problem of not being able to restore to an earlier back up and here's a solution that worked for me.

     

    itunes does some overwriting of the previous back up when a later backup is done (ie. once you plug in and aren't fast enough to prevent an instantaneous backup which does the overwriting - yes the irony)

     

    i was lucky that the version i was trying to back up to was pretty recent, so i was able to restore the entire backup folder to a previous version (the non-overwritten state)

     

    to restore your backup folder to the previous state, go to:

    \Documents and Settings\(username)\Appdata\Apple Computer\MobileSync\

     

    right-click on the Backup folder and select properties and select one of the tabs called 'Previous Versions'.

     

    i did a back up on Sep 30, but it was overwritten when i plugged in today, so i restored the folder to a 'previous version' that was between Sep 30 and Oct 23. this would bring the folder to the state before it was overwritten today. then when i selected restore backup in itunes, i was only able to see the Sep 30 back up and restored to that.

     

    to find the backup folder in your PC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

     

    i am on Windows 7 and wasn't able to locate the appdata folder as stated. go to start and use the search function on "%appdata%" and it appears. think it's because it is a hidden folder or something like that

     

    hope this works for anyone who has the same problem. i was really distraught until i was able to this restoration.

  • by noobiesg,

    noobiesg noobiesg Oct 22, 2013 11:29 AM in response to d12dirtydozen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 11:29 AM in response to d12dirtydozen

    i had the same problem of not being able to restore to an earlier back up and here's a solution that worked for me.

     

    itunes does some overwriting of the previous back up when a later backup is done (ie. once you plug in and aren't fast enough to prevent an instantaneous backup which does the overwriting - yes the irony)

     

    i was lucky that the version i was trying to back up to was pretty recent, so i was able to restore the entire backup folder to a previous version (the non-overwritten state)

     

    to restore your backup folder to the previous state, go to:

    \Documents and Settings\(username)\Appdata\Apple Computer\MobileSync\

     

    right-click on the Backup folder and select properties and select one of the tabs called 'Previous Versions'.

     

    i did a back up on Sep 30, but it was overwritten when i plugged in today, so i restored the folder to a 'previous version' that was between Sep 30 and Oct 23. this would bring the folder to the state before it was overwritten today. then when i selected restore backup in itunes, i was only able to see the Sep 30 back up and restored to that.

     

    to find the backup folder in your PC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

     

    i am on Windows 7 and wasn't able to locate the appdata folder as stated. go to start and use the search function on "%appdata%" and it appears. think it's because it is a hidden folder or something like that

     

    hope this works for anyone who has the same problem. i was really distraught until i was able to this restoration.

  • by Eastern Huron,

    Eastern Huron Eastern Huron Oct 22, 2013 9:24 PM in response to Mich111
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 9:24 PM in response to Mich111

    My problem is similar. I lost all my contacts a few days ago. When I went to restore on iTunes it did the whole backing up thing first, so my restore would be to that version I just "backed up" with the blank contacts. I went to the location on the hard drive that noobiesg suggested and I see three  folders, two of which are from previous users (this computer is a hand-me-down from family). The one that's mine has inside a bunch of files from today when I "backed up" and a bunch from the last time I backed up, sometime last year. I don't have a "Previous Versions" tab on my properties. I don't know if it's because I have Windows XP and the newer versions have that option and this doesn't, or what. So how do I get to the info from last year from just the files in that folder?

  • by BobsBlues,

    BobsBlues BobsBlues Oct 23, 2013 4:08 AM in response to Eastern Huron
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2013 4:08 AM in response to Eastern Huron

    Huron -

    try moving  the empty backup to another folder so that your older backup is the only one there - this worked for me before I heard about the right click to find older backups.  I had only had one other older backup, but it worked.

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