IOS 5 update deleted everything

Interesting, I have now updated three iPhones (2-iP4, 1-3GS) and two iPad 2 devices without a single error.

I have 5500 tracks on each of the devices and of those only about 150 are purchased from iTunes. All the rest are rips of CDs I own.

Not sayin' you aren't having problems, just point out that some don't. BTW, I have never had a problem updating any iDevice with a new OS. The updates have always gone off without a hitch.

I do take a little preventative action--I always reboot my iMac, run DiskWarrior to fix any drive errors, then reboot again before attempting an iDevice OS update.

Okay...good for you...not saying your answer sounds like the company line but, would this forum even be here if the normal experience was such as yours...granted there are millions, dare I say billions one day, of users not posting problems so some may be just as good as you but, others are not or would like something a bit more seamless.

My iMac is brand spanking new and should not have to go through too many reboots (as I did three times) or drive fixes I would think. I retrieved all of my apps (manually one by one). Good luck to all. Continue to spread your knowledge and wisdom, thanks.

Hi there,

I'm having the same problem. Have a mid-2009 MBP updated to Lion, and iTunes to 10.5. Decided to upgrade to iOS5 and now my computer thinks it's a new device. I have lost all my text messages, it has not synced my music or photos, and it has attempted to install all ~250 off my apps.

The main thing is my text messages; I run a business and there are text messages from customers that I would have liked to keep for my own records, so it is very important I recover them.

I cannot find any previous backups, despite religiously syncing my phone prior to the update (and including right before said update). I am at a loss as what to do, anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks very much

Same here... lost 41 apps.

Folders all messed up.

Did a backup restore to a month old backup... apps still missing, folders a still a mess.

PLEASE GET RID OF THE MUSIC STORE.

I LOVE MY IPHONE - I HATE ITUNES.

I DON"T WANT TO SYNC..

I WANT TO DRAG N DROP

I WANT TO BE ABLE TO... ah never mind

thanx apple!

Although, I have a PC, Mac's have this capability, as well (but you'll have to google instructions on where to find this info). Your iTunes back ups are in hidden files on your computer. I researched this within the last year because I was syncing my phone and iPad on my lap top and wanted to switch to syncing the devices on my desk top. BUT, I didn't want to lose all of my data. So, I found the tip (in one of these forums, actually) to look for the previous back ups in the hidden files. On my Windows7 machine, the path would be click on start>computer>organize tab at top>click "folder and search options">under navigation pane, click "show all folders", then you'll be able to search for the itunes backs ups. Once I found the back up (they're dated so you can gauge how far back you want to go), I copied it onto a jump drive and then plugged that up to my desk top and transferred it over to the hidden files on there. It worked pretty well, I didn't lose any info on either device. This might help with those who know they have a previous back up but don't know where to find it.

Hopefully this helps someone.

iPhoNettie

I am not sure about the music, but here is my problem and so-far solution: I transferred purchases, synced, backed up, and triple checked before downloading and updating. when it was finished, I had my photos, music, etc but NO apps. My folders and settings were there, but all my apps were gone. I tried to restore from backup but no luck. I restarted my computer and iPod and synced and restored multiple times to no avail. Before I called customer service, I clicked on the Apps tab in iTunes and checked the Sync Apps box. It put all my apps back on, but I had to reorganize them again. It is currently syncing......

10 minutes later...

They are back and my data is back too! You have to check the Sync Apps box on the Apps page in iTunes and it will put them back on. You must reorganize them but it at least gave my apps back with their data. *sigh of relief*. Hope this helps.

I also had the same problem. All my books were gone, so I downloaded the ibooks app to my phone just now and then clicked on "store" and all my books are there! So try that and hopefully yours will be there too!

Hi Everyone!

Need your help and your advices on this one.

The same thing pretty much happened to me.. After I updated my iOS, the backup that the system restored was the older backup that i had, which was sometime around September. 😟

In line with this, not only where some of my apps got lost, but the 2 most important things from me; photos and my messages.

The weird thing was that as i watched the upgrade happen, it did say at one point that it was backing up my phone first, which actually took the longest part of the entire process. So i assumed that it created an updated backup already, which was supposed to contain the data that i have up until today. But what it restored instead was an old backup, and when i tried to search for the latest backup that was supposedly created today, there was nothing. 😟

Is there some way i can still retrieve that? Help please. Thanks!

Thanks for the info, but it's only uncovered something slightly more concerning – the folder which is supposed to have my iphone backups is empty. Also, under 'Preferences > Devices' there is no indication of any backups.

Has either the latest version of itunes, ios5 or a combination of both deleted my backups? If so, how??

You know that there are 2 restore options in iTunes. The big restore button, this restores the phone to factory default. The second option is to right click the device icon and choose restore from backup. this then lets you choose which backup to restore. Now, before you upgraded I assume that you made sure that iTunes had finished backing up your device, so there should be a backup with a time stamp prior to the upgrade. Choose this and as if by magic all your setitngs etc will be put back.🙂

Here is my problem that I have Bren working on since 11pm central time last night...

I first synced and backed up my iPhone 4. Next I downloaded the new update. After that I manually installed the new update (iOS 5). I then started the latest version of iTunes, plugged in my iPhone, transferred any purchases that might still be on my phone (sometimes it seems to take a couple of times to actually get them transferred), then told iTunes that "Yes" it may update my software. iTunes then went through the process of backing up my info then updating my phone, then restoring my phone. At what appeared to be the very end of the restore process I received a message telling me that that restore process was interrupted. By what, I have no idea. It asked me if I wanted to continue with TH restore process. Seemed like a silly question to me but I told it yes any,how. Then I get the message that "an error occurred while restoring your iphone (-50)". Wuderbar! I am then given the option to restore from backup or restore to factory settings. Why gee, I thought ton myself, I think I might actually like to keep my data so I'll choose to restore from a previous backup. You know what I find? There is no backup of what I just backed up! It says the last time I backed up my iPhone was the time immediately prior to the one I just did.

I went searching through support docs, finding all I could, and did their suggestion of going to the pilst files. Still didn't help.

I found songs that I backed up (date and time confirmed it) so I clicked on that file and iTunes immediately tells me "an error occurred while restoring your iphone (-50)"before even trying to do anything. Now the update of iOS 5 is on my phone.

So I tried to restore from the last time iTunes shows a backup for and the same thing happens again, I'm told the process was interrupted. No, I don't think so! So I try to do factory restore and it tells me the same thing again. Finally it tells me it is done. I check my phone. No, it's not... There is only empty folders or minimally filled folders with apps. iTunes said I had 164 apps and now says I have 138.

It is now twelve hours later and I'm what you might call "slightly frustrated". Does anyone have a solution that works? Please?

I lost all my purchased iTunes as well and I fixed it after some experimenting. Go to iTunes STORE, click on Purchased (on the right hand side it is label 'New!') Once there you can choose to add all your purchased music to the Cloud. It automatically added it to my iTunes library, and when I plugged in my phone to the computer it started to sync.

I now have all of my purchased music. Every last one. Again - go through the iTunes STORE.

how does this help if most of our music is from CDs or music not purchased through the Apple Store?

Haha, well obviously it doesn't help that, since I was talking about purchased music. Silly rockholly.

All the music from my CDs synced with no problem, you see, so I was trying to help the many people who lost their purchased, that's purchased-not from CDs, music.

Good luck to you, I hope your day improves 🙂

My day will improve when i can listen to my music and watch my videos again 🙂 🙂