Deleted contacts on iPhone - How to restore just contacts from backup

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Level 1

4 points

Deleted contacts on iPhone - How to restore just contacts from backup

Hi,

I recently had a few of my contacts deleted by my friends child when they managed to get hold of the handset.

I previously made a backup of the phone and wish to restore the contacts from this.

Is there a way to restore just the contacts from the backup?

If so, how?

Also - How do I restore if I have the iPhone set to automatically sync with iTunes when plugged in. Won't iTunes read the phone and make a backup of the new contact directory (which is the one that is incomplete), overwriting the full directory and therefore reducing the possibility of me gaining my full contact directory back?

Thanks

Windows, Windows XP, 32G 3GS / WINDOWS XP MCE

Posted on Jan 3, 2010 2:34 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 3, 2010 2:54 PM in response to nishrons

You can't selectively choose which data included with your iPhone's backup is restored on your iPhone from the backup. It is all or none.

Although contacts are included with your iPhone's backup, contacts are designed to be synced with a supported application on your computer. With Windows this can be with Outlook 2003 or 2007 along with syncing calendar events, or with Windows Contacts for syncing contacts only.

iTunes includes a general preference option to not automatically sync when any iPod or iPhone is connected. iTunes > Preferences under the Devices tab.

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Answer 2

Jan 3, 2010 2:55 PM in response to nishrons

It's best to sync your contacts with an application on your computer (Address Book on a Mac, Outlook or Windows Contacts on a PC). Did you do this? When you next connect to ITunes, it should re-insert the deleted contacts into your iPhone's contact list.

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Answer 3

Nee Kun

Level 1

118 points

Jan 3, 2010 6:01 PM in response to nishrons

From my experience on a Mac, if contacts are removed from phone the next sync it will be removed from Mac as well.

So when the phone is connected and shown in iTunes. Under INFO | ADVANCED | Replace information on this iPhone, tick to select CONTACTS then sync. With this option enabled, all contacts shall be sync from PC/Mac to iPhone again after all contacts are deleted from iPhone.

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Answer 4

nishrons Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 4, 2010 7:30 AM in response to Nee Kun

Ok

For future reference it was correct. I synched it to iTunes and iTunes wiped the full contact database and replaced it with the directory on my phone (which had numbers deleted).

Luckily as it was synched to Windows Address Book and I had a backup of this I could go through each contact and could see what was missing and reinsert them back into the phone.

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