Restore iPad backup to host iMac

Lawrence Finch wrote:

There are several iOS backup extractor programs you can download from the Internet to review the contents of a backup. I’m pretty sure iMazing has that feature, and there are several others. It is also a SQLite database, so if you have a SQLite browser you can use that, but it won’t have as good a UI as a backup extractor program that actually “understands” the database structure.

My knowledge has been updated.

There are several iOS backup extractor programs you can download from the Internet to review the contents of a backup. I’m pretty sure iMazing has that feature, and there are several others. It is also a SQLite database, so if you have a SQLite browser you can use that, but it won’t have as good a UI as a backup extractor program that actually “understands” the database structure.

pswca wrote:

Thanks Lawrence. iMazing isn't cheap (C$85) but it does do the job - quite easily and intuitively actually. Thanks. Why this feature isn't built into OS 14 I don't know but at least I was able to recover some info otherwise lost.

FYI, iMazing is also very useful for archiving text messages and for managing custom ringtones. So, you may be able to get more use out of it.

pswca wrote:

My first gen 12.9" iPad Pro was destroyed several months ago. It was sync'd to my 24", 2021 iMac M1 which is running Sonoma 14.5. I sync'd in the current way, using the Finder, not the old way through iTunes.

I want to restore the backup to my iMac (perhaps to a disk image) to see if there are any files I want to retrieve, but can't find any instructions how to do that.

Are you saying that you're trying to access an iPadOS backup from your Mac? To the best of my knowledge, you can't do that. You would need to load the backup on to another iPad to see what was in it.