Restore wipes out ATT text messages!

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Level 1

21 points

Restore wipes out ATT text messages!

My sister got a new iPhone 4 last week to replace her iPhone 3. She had trouble with the GPS app and was told the only way to fix it was to do a Restore. She that. Then realized that deleted all the text messages stored in her phone!! And she REALLY wanted to keep them.

First, not sure why that procedure needs to wipe out iPhone users text messages (or why THAT was the only way to fix the iPhone 4 GPS app), but is there anyway she can get her messages back?

Thanks,
Jeff

Posted on Nov 28, 2010 12:54 PM

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Answer 1

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Nov 28, 2010 12:58 PM in response to JeffNY

If she did a backup of the iPhone before the restore and has not backed up since, they would be included in the backup. If you restore the iPhone from the old backup, they would come back. However, to restore from the old backup, you need to ensure you do not create another backup of the phone in its current state. When you start to restore the phone and it begins to backup, cancel that portion of it. Then once the phone is restore, it will ask if you want to restore as a new phone, or from a backup and it will let you select the backup.

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Answer 2

JeffNY Author

Level 1

21 points

Nov 28, 2010 10:29 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks for the reply. I think that is the problem, she did not "Backup" before the "Restore". Having just got an iTouch 4G last week myself, and I never really thought about it, but in my mind I would have thought a "Sync" operation may keep some of that info on the computer. But she did not ask my help after the AT&T rep told her what to do, and the rep may have told her to do a backup first and she forgot, but in any case she is bummed out. I will have to read up on "Backup" on iPhone/iTouch. Maybe Apple will bring a "Time Machine" like feature to iPod/iPhone so whenever you connect your device to the computer it will backup your data automatically...especially if an operation like "Restore" can wipe it all out! I do wonder if iTunes gave her a warning to do a backup before proceeding with the Restore...? It's hard for the average user to be so tech savvy to know how all this stuff works to avoid such pitfalls. Anyway, thanks.

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Nov 29, 2010 12:34 PM in response to JeffNY

Generally the first thing done before a sync is a backup. That is part of the process. Also, when the iPhone is connected to iTunes, you have the ability to create a backup by right clicking on the phone in the device pane. You can also backup your computer drive and that would save backups incrementally as well. One thing iTunes does when it does a backup of the iPhone is overwrite the last regular backup. Only time a backup is saved intact is prior to a restore.

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Answer 4

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:11 PM in response to JeffNY

For future reference, in the US, Apple handles all warranty & support issues for the iPhone, NOT AT&T. In my experience, AT&T reps are less than knowledgeable about the iPhone.

Your sister most likely restored as a new device in Itunes and yes, this would erase all user data from her phone. However, the first thing done when you restore is an iPhone backup. Included in that backup are SMS's. So, if your sister were to restore her phone from that backup(it will be time/date stamped), her SMS's will be restored to her phone. Note: if her original problem was related to corrupt data on her phone, restoring from backup will merely restore the problem.

Restore backups are time/date stamped and are not overwritten.

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