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How many iPhone backups does iTunes keep?

I've found where you find the iTunes iPhone backup files (~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup). But I would like a list of how many backups I have. Those files are very cryptic and the dates are all over the place. I want to see if I have a week's worth, or month, etc...

Thanks.

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jun 24, 2010 1:54 PM

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7 replies

Jun 24, 2010 3:08 PM in response to Jolly Giant

Unfortunately I was stupid and went ahead with the iOS4 upgrade. ughh, it's like using a 25 year old computer now. I absolutely hate how slow it is. I was going to downgrade, but want to make sure I have a backup from the day I upgraded to 4.0.

I went from having a 3G that was a little slow a times, to having one that I have to wait several seconds just to get into messaging. 😟

Jul 10, 2010 8:51 AM in response to the_0ne

You can check in iTunes: Edit/Preferences/Devices, you should see a panel with a list of dated backups. For me there is only one. I haven't figured out yet if it's possible to make it do more than one.

The page sited in prior post says "Since iTunes only keeps one backup per device..." so maybe it's always one. Apple suggest that the directory where iTunes backups are kept should be backed up elsewhere (Timemachine, etc) to give access to multiple backups. Not so convenient.

This page ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414) implies there are multiple backups by showing a dropdown list where you can pick one. It's a bit misleading.

The dilemma I would like to solve is that, through some blunders on my part, I lost some app data that I would like to recover. I was upgrading OS on the iPhone, and in that process two backups were taken automatically. The second one did not have the data I want back. I was hoping there were several backups and that I could restore the data from one of them. Seems it's not so.

How many iPhone backups does iTunes keep?

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