MBell7

Q: I am restoring my new phone from iTunes. It is taking a long time. Is this normal?

It is taking 2+ hours to restore my new phone using iTunes. I do not have that much stored. Is this normal? Any work around?

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Dec 22, 2015 3:08 PM

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Q: I am restoring my new phone from iTunes. It is taking a long time. Is this normal?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Lyssa,

    Lyssa Lyssa Dec 22, 2015 3:35 PM in response to MBell7
    Level 6 (17,893 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 3:35 PM in response to MBell7

    Does the process seem to be hung up?

     

    What message do you see on your phone? What message do you see in iTunes?

     

    ~Lyssa

  • by MBell7,

    MBell7 MBell7 Dec 22, 2015 3:48 PM in response to Lyssa
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 3:48 PM in response to Lyssa

    iTunes says "Restoring iPhone from backup... Time Remaining...about an hour" the phone says "Restore in Progress"

  • by Lyssa,Apple recommended

    Lyssa Lyssa Dec 23, 2015 4:44 PM in response to MBell7
    Level 6 (17,893 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 4:44 PM in response to MBell7

    Hopefully it eventually finished...if it did not, you may want to disconnect it, take a look at the phone and see how complete the restore is, and then reset it to factory settings and try again if it doesn't seem to be complete.

     

    In my experience, the restores can take a long time, even if you don't think you have much stored. Do you remember how many GB were used on your old phone?

     

    ~Lyssa

  • by MBell7,

    MBell7 MBell7 Dec 23, 2015 4:46 PM in response to Lyssa
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 4:46 PM in response to Lyssa

    I ended up unplugging it and then plugged it back in. It zipped right through the restore. Thanks for the reply!

  • by Lyssa,

    Lyssa Lyssa Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to MBell7
    Level 6 (17,893 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 4:53 PM in response to MBell7

    Sometimes the restore process gets stuck - and, unfortunately, iTunes doesn't necessarily show this unless the restore fails completely.

     

    Good to hear you got things sorted

     

    ~Lyssa

  • by dbat777,

    dbat777 dbat777 Sep 19, 2016 11:26 PM in response to MBell7
    Level 1 (13 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 19, 2016 11:26 PM in response to MBell7

    Ran into this issue with my new iPhone 7 trying to restore the contents of my 5s. Finally got a senior tech to help out and the solution is ridiculously simple. You need to erase everything off the phone through the settings. Once I did this it transferred about 54gb of data in under an hour.  Instead of the 20+ hours it was claiming it needed. I knew when the estimated time to transfer went from 1 hr and then climbing to 2 ,3, 8, 9, 11, 15, 17 and finally 22 hours over a 2 hour period, something wasn't right.

     

    The problem was in the store I kind of set up the phone with the sales staff there and apparently a full restore needs a blank/fresh phone. Hope this helps others in the situation!