where are my contacts backed up on my PC

You should have been syncing them regularly with outlook or other program that you chose when setting up the sync process for your iphone.

If you failed to sycn them, then you can try restoring from last backup. If that does not retrieve them then they are gone.

The back that itune sperforms is not one that you can access. It is only there to be restored to iphone.

The iphone is designed to be synced to your computer.

"So when I select to "backup my phone" including backing up all the contacts etc, then it didnt actually back up anything?!!"

No. It does backup some things. It does not store them in a useable format. The backup is solely for use in restoring the iphone.

iTunes will back up the following information

"I have restored from the last backup but Itunes says that that was tonight so doesnt have any of the previous contacts on it"

Then they are gone, if you failed to sync them to your computer.

Please note the following form the link provided by roaminggnome:

Contacts* and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).

* Your contacts are part of the backup to preserve recent calls and favorites lists. Back up your contacts to a supported personal information manager (PIM), iCloud, or another cloud-based service to avoid any potential contact data loss.

Contacts themselves are not part of the backup other than the information necessary to preserve the call list and favorites.

If you were not syncing them to an address book or cloud service, then they are likely gone.

It seems crazy not to sync your iphone to your computer.

I guess it would have been wise to read the manual.

Wow, I came on this SUPPORT page to get some information on how to get my contacts off my iphone but so far the only thing I've found on this page is criticism. Why are you even replying to this person if you don't want to help?? Regardless of whether or not she did the right steps the first time, she's asking for some instruction. She's not asking you to make her feel stupid! If you don't want to share, find a singles chat room to throw your ego around in.

Your contacts should be there. I just did the same thing and mine loaded onto the iphone no problem. not sure what happened to yours...good luck!

As the message you responded to was posted 9 months ago, with no followup, I think its safe to assume that the problem was resolved.

Believe it or not after mfing apple for not making it easy to find, I found out they are actually saved in my address book on my computer (xp). Start/all programs/ accessories/address book.

Thanks Apple for putting a little faith back in your company.