restore from backup, 2 iphones, 1 computer, 1 itunes account

Question

Level 1

8 points

restore from backup, 2 iphones, 1 computer, 1 itunes account

I want to recover some deleted text messages on the phone when I hook it up go to :
"restore from backup" it keeps coming up the other iphone in the dropdown box even though it shows the connected phone on the left box

Posted on Dec 19, 2010 8:33 AM

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Answer 1

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 19, 2010 8:48 AM in response to bc57

iTunes>Preferences(under the edit menu if using Windows)>Devices...how many backups are shown? If more than one phone, they should be listed for each device.

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Answer 2

bc57 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2010 9:08 AM in response to bc57

It only shows the backups to the original phone I did not hit the restore button on the second phone because it kept showing the backup from phone 1 in the dropdown box and I was afraid it was going to transfer the data from phone 1 to phone 2 and wipe out all the info on phone 2

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Answer 3

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 19, 2010 10:29 AM in response to bc57

If the backup is not listed, that means it either doesn't exist or you're not logged into the right iTunes account. I realize you've already stated you only have one iTunes account, but are you absolutely positive about this?

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Answer 4

bc57 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2010 3:09 PM in response to bc57

the other phone is new and has never been backed up, the itunes account was just set up yesterday for phone 1 and the computer had not had it on it before

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Answer 5

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 19, 2010 3:11 PM in response to bc57

he other phone is new and has never been backed up

Then how do you expect to restore from backup?

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Answer 6

bc57 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 20, 2010 8:56 AM in response to bc57

I guess you can tell I am new to all this, If I go to "backup" which I believe is in the drop down when you right click on the device in the left bar, then should that back up everything including the deleted text messages? At that time will it then give me the restore option on that phone when I go to "restore from backup"? I have tried not to do anyhting that would delete things or cross the information between the two phones

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Answer 7

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 20, 2010 9:05 AM in response to bc57

You can sync as many devices as you want to the same iTunes account, there is no limit. You can have the same content on each device or different content, the choice is yours, iTunes will keep everything straight, by device, upon subsequent syncs. It is easier for you to keep everything straight if you give each device its own unique name I.E.-"Sam's iPhone", "Sam's iPhone Two". That way, you can select the proper backup if you need/want to restore. The first thing done when you sync is an iPhone backup. Only one normal backup is kept by iTunes for each device. It's actually an incremental backup in that only the content that has actually changed is backed up.

About iPhone backups, how to restore from backup, what is backed up:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766

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Answer 8

bc57 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 20, 2010 12:13 PM in response to bc57

From everything I have red I do not want to sync or I am going to lose the deleteed texts can I do a backup without syncing to recover the text, do a restore from backup and then sync. What is the correct process

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Answer 9

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Dec 20, 2010 1:30 PM in response to bc57

Let me make sure I understand this: 1. You deleted these SMS directly on the phone. 2. You've NEVER synced or backed up this phone. Is that all correct? If so. there is no backup to restore to your phone in order to recover these SMS's. Backing up now will do nothing to recover these SMS's. They are gone.

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