Restoring Lost Contacts

I'm new here but need help.. I have an *_I Pod Touch 2gen_* and I recently did the update that was recommended 4.0. afterward all my contacts were wiped out ***?? I spent a lot of time entering those. Is there any way to go back ?
The Ipod backed up every time I plugged it in the the computer it has to be out there somewhere. The update seemed to keep the apps and other stuff I don't understand why it would not keep the contacts....

After upgrade, I also had no contacts or phone numbers or songs when I opened ipod. I tried to import from sim card. Did not work. I went to ATT and they shrugged their shoulders and said it was an Apple problem. I've searched high and low for my contacts and phone numbers on my laptop and can't locate them. I've tried running a backup/restore to no avail. Nothing I've tried has worked. I'm in the process now of contacting people through e-mail to ask for their phone numbers. I guess I've learned my lesson on accepting an offer for an upgrade in software. I was going to contact Apple for support but they were going to make me pay for their services and wouldn't tell me how much. I've had my 3GS for 6 months. Loved it until two days ago! My laptop had a message for 2 hours that it was backing up my phone. Actually, it was destroying my itune songs that I've purchased, and all of my very important contact information. I had addresses and e-mail addresses in my phone that I do not have anywhere else, HELP!

Before any upgrades, you should always back up and sync your iPod or iPhone using iTunes. This way if anything should ever go wrong, you can easily do a full restore from the last backup.

As long as you have iTunes set up properly for your iPod/iPhone, syncing your devices will save Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Music, Pics, and can easily be restored if you lose those info. So one should make a habit of syncing every so often.

This is absolutely ridiculous! I've lost all my contact information. Importing SIM data and attempts restore both did nothing! Fix this **** now!

adamythos,

Nobody can give you any help if you don't give out some information first.

i.e. what you local setup is, how you store and save your contacts, etc.

If you start there, calm down and don't yell ('cause that's exactly how your post comes across) and try to give a description of what has happened and what you have done to try to rectify it, someone may be able to return some useful information to you.

SIM cards do not store your contacts, calendar, or songs. SIM cards store info about your phone (serial number, IMEI, etc...), these info give validation about your phone to your cellular carrier so that it can connect to their network.

Make sure that in iTunes, the sync tab is checked off for all the categories/tabs you want synced, ie. Contacts, Calendar, Music, Photos, etc... Without it checked off, even if you sync your phone they won't be. If you didn't do a backup of your phone in iTunes, there will be no info for you to restore. Also make sure that whenever you connect your phone to iTunes that you see it syncing.

Unfortunately, if you've already done the upgrade, and you didn't do any of the above, you will have lost all info prior to the upgrade. Can't do anything about that anymore. Just make sure to back and sync everything up from here on in.

Okay, no help yet. SIM card doesn't do it. Since the message onscreen was that iphone was being backed up, where would I find the back-up info? Please help! I need the info on contacts and numbers that I HAD stored in my phone! Can't believe Apple did this to us!!

There is a restore from backup setting in iTunes.

Plug in you phone
Right-click on your phone in the left column
Select Restore from Backup.

Unfortunately, from the way I read your posts, I don't think the info you are after will be there anymore, as this option will only give you the last backup, and I have no idea how you have your iTunes set up or how many times you have backed it up since the start of your problems.

Also depending what you have changed on you iphone since the last backup will be lost if you restore without syncing the phone first.

There are ways of retrieving the information, however they are quite complex and I would suggest that an IT profession did it for you

Here is one site that may offer a solution: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/10/scanning-your-iphone-backup-files/
And another http://www.reincubate.com/labs/iphone-backup-extractor-how-extract-files-iphone- backup-windows/#/res/i/labs/iphonebe/3_wizard.png

Again, I would suggest the an IT profession do these for you

Generally, iTunes backs up to a particular folder. On Windows C:Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. But again that depends on you computer setup

This folder should have previous backups that may be able to be extracted using a method like the ones mentioned above, or do google search for other solutions.

One of the most important things you need to do from now, is to treat your phone as a temporary storage device. Meaning that it can go missing, or info lost off it at anytime, so you need that information available on your computer. With iphone, the best way to do that is to sync it using iTunes on a very regular basis.

Hope this helps

Message was edited by: actionmarker

BAMAGRL wrote:
Okay, no help yet. SIM card doesn't do it. Since the message onscreen was that iphone was being backed up, where would I find the back-up info? Please help! I need the info on contacts and numbers that I HAD stored in my phone! Can't believe Apple did this to us!!

No, Apple didn't do anything to you.

If you lost your contacts, it is because you did not have them set up to sync anywhere and did not have them backed up.

Why exactly did you not sync your contacts with the address book application on your pc, utilize mobile me, utilize google syncing of contacts, or sync to some other supported service?

It really ***** for you that you lost all that information, but blaming anyone other than yourself is just ridiculous. Take some responsibility for yourself.