I can't restore from backup? Advice from Genius bar. Can this be true?
I setup a Genius Bar appointment, described the problem and the steps I went through. He said to me my mistake was restoring from a previous backup that I had made, and that I should have set it up as a new device then just synchronized it. I asked him if my app data would be retained and he said he couldn't make any promises and that it depended on the authors of the applications as to whether or not their settings and history would be backed up under a normal sync. I went home after he "DFU reset" my iPod and followed his steps.
Not one third party application has retained any of my history or settings. I have also lost my Notes. I find it so incredibly hard to understand why restoring user settings has an adverse effect on the OS itself it's jaw dropping. I don't consider myself a heavy downloader of apps, but the apps I do have contain history and content that is valuable to me and represents a lot of invested time.
Was what I was told at the Genius Bar true? Is the only advice for me that I can use the device, but I can't keep my personal history if the device malfunctions because restoring it may reintroduce the problem? Why is the OS and the user data not separated? The backup feature of iTunes for the iPod seems completely useless for this scenario. It's a very fragile part of the iPod/iPhone experience. I'm hoping I'm wrong and someone will provide better advice and that this is not just bad design. I have backed up my previous backups, and will likely restore it anyway as it's preferable to not having it at all or trying to rebuild it.
iPod Touch 4th Gen, iOS 4