Restore an old displaced backup to a newer phone model

Question

Restore an old displaced backup to a newer phone model

I previously backed-up my iPhone 6 with encryption on a Windows10 machine. Later that backup was moved to a portable hard drive from the default location of windows iTunes. Now I have a newer model iPhone 12, and I would like to restore that backup. I have tried to make a backup of my iPhone 12 to see where the default location is for the Backups on the latest iTunes. After I've learned where the default location is, I dragged-and-dropped my backup file there from my hard drive. But it does not detect anything. Is there anyways for me to recover my data? I also have a Mac, and I tried to pull the folder of backups there too from my hard drive. But apparently, the folder is full of .exe. So I doubt that the backups created from Windows' iTunes would work in Mac.

On a side note that might or might not be relevant, the iPhone 6 backup was created in 2017 on a different windows machine.. It has a snapshot folder, whereas the backup I created to see where the location is inside the windows has no such a folder.

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Aug 6, 2023 3:01 PM

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Answer 1

alma1090

Community Specialist

Aug 7, 2023 1:39 PM in response to BritishShirthair

Hey there BritishShirthair,

We understand you're having trouble restoring a backup from your computer to your iPhone. We'd be happy to provide information to help you address this.

If the backup was created on a Windows machine and then moved over to a hard drive formatted to be used with Windows, you'll want to use that machine to restore it. The steps here should help you get the backup restored back to your iPhone: Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Kind regards.

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Answer 2

destiny241

Community Specialist

Aug 8, 2023 7:32 AM in response to BritishShirthair

Hello BritishShirthair,

Given that the method chosen is not supported by Apple Support. Your best path may be to revisit the original iPhone 6, that had the backup in the first place and transfer the data from that iPhone to your new iPhone.

If you still have access to this iPhone, you can use these steps to accomplish this: Transfer data from your previous iOS or iPadOS device to your new iPhone or iPad

Hoping this helps out.

Take care.

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Answer 3

Aug 7, 2023 2:18 PM in response to giantcat

I used a third party software "iPhone Backup Extractor" to see if something is up. When I entered the password to decrypt, I found that the photo counts were right but the software was throwing me errors. Saying that the backup is incomplete. Maybe that is why?!

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Answer 4

Eric--F

Community Specialist

Aug 7, 2023 2:30 PM in response to BritishShirthair

Hello BritishShirthair,

That's possible, but we can't provide any info into what third party software "iPhone Backup Extractor"says or how it interprets the data.

If you can't restore the backup the Apple way: Back up iPhone - Apple Support

Or restore it the Apple way: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

Then you can try the troubleshooting option: If you can't back up your iOS or iPadOS device to a computer or restore it from a backup - Apple Support

Anything else would not be supported. Thanks.

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Answer 5

Aug 7, 2023 2:04 PM in response to alma1090

That Windows machine has being sold. I only have my Mac now. And the backup is encrypted with that being said my Finder can't detect a backup even I dragged it to the default backup file location in Mac

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Answer 6

giantcat

Community Specialist

Aug 7, 2023 2:16 PM in response to BritishShirthair

HI BritishShirthair,

If it was relocated correctly, the backup would be in the backup folder. If it was renamed, relocated from that folder, edit in any way, it wouldn't be able to be retrieved. Since you don't have the folder type/name it was created on, most likely it is not able to be retrieved.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 7

Aug 8, 2023 8:19 AM in response to destiny241

Hi destiny 241,

Well, that link would work with the assumption that I still possess my old phone. What I no longer own that phone, is there an alternative approach?

Would it help if I describe what is in the folder?

UUID/

├── file1 # Encrypted

├── file2 # Encrypted

├── ... # More encrypted files

├── Snapshot/

│ ├── More files # I believed it is hashed and encrypted too

│ ├── Manifest.mbdb

│ └── Manifest.mbdb.original

└── Status.plist

This does not seem like regular backup folder structure I have seen on the internet (at least the latest version of backup folder layout and format.) This backup was created back in 2018 running iOS 9.x.x from my old iPhone 6Plus. That's all the information I could find from a third party software. Oddly, my backup file is of 60Gb; however, when it is loaded to a backup previewer/extractor it only shows 30Mb which is the size of my Snapshot folder. This made me wonder whether that is why iTunes does not recognize my backup folder.

Edit: All the files are named by a long string of alphanumeric. E.g.: 0b0b15f7jaskljdaoiu12jlkajsdas12

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Answer 8

Aug 7, 2023 8:58 PM in response to Eric--F

Yeah, I have tried them all. I tried to look for previous encountering before raising this question in the community. I guess that I would need to contact the Apple Support.

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Answer 9

Aug 8, 2023 8:34 AM in response to BritishShirthair

Edit: A typo on my post: "my iPhone 6 backup was created in [2018]".

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