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Not Enough Space on iPhone to Restore Backup

I created a backup on my iPhone 5, reset the iPhone (Deleted all data), and am I trying to restore the iPhone from the backup. However, it won't work because:

iTunes could not restore the iPhone "My iPhone" because not enough free space is available on the iPhone.

Given that this was a backup from the same iPhone, there should be enough space to restore it.

More background information: when I did the backup, the storage space on the iPhone was almost full. Most of this storage space was used by what iTunes categorized as "Other"--space that stayed full despite deleting almost all data from the phone, including all photos, movies, Messages history, Safari history, etc. There were only a few apps on the phone, and nothing that would use much space. The Usage configuration pane didn't show any apps that were using this amount of space.

To try to resolve the problem, I took the backup and reset the phone. Now it won't even restore. Any suggestions on how to get the phone set up again, with all the (useful) app data that was there before, such as app data for game progress?

Thanks!

Posted on Feb 4, 2013 11:12 PM

Best reply

Ogen23

Level 1

25 points

Posted on Feb 5, 2013 12:31 AM

This sounds a lot like a corrupt backup. The other has been growing, and I would say it has grown beyond the iPhones size and your only option is to restore the iPhone as new.

However, good news does exist. There is a program which can grab your contacts, messages, calendar, voicemails, and notes directly from the backup. Pictures look a litle harder.

If you download this program http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/

This program is also recommended on OSX daily and is one of the very few programs which will let you transfer music from your iPhone to your computer.

For your purposes here though, it is going to be the best solution.

Good luck.

View in context

36 replies

Oct 26, 2014 10:52 AM in response to Tvaudioman

This is an old post but along with Yosemite on my Mac Pro I also added iOS8 on to my iPhone 5.

I used iBackupBot to access my phone backups file on the hard drive, transfer all Messages attachments to another folder, then delete them from the same backup folder. This freed up 7GB from my phone making it useful again.

NOW...I cannot send attachments of ANY KIND either from Mac Messages window or my iPhone!

I had to run that process, as I had so little space on my phone left it wouldn't let me even upgrade to iOS8.

How on earth am I going to reset things so I can send attachments again?

HELP!!

Oct 26, 2014 11:43 AM in response to belmont_sniper

That is interesting-- I've accidently removed my attachment files before, but didn't notice problems sending new attachments.

Let's see if we can track down the proble. I'm going to ask what may seem like a strange line of questions:

Do you have any problems receiving attachments?
Do you still see the old messages (just with no attachments) from before removing the photos?
Do you happen to know if the entire MediaDomain Library/SMS folder was removed?

My hunch is that the parent folder of all of the various attachments was erased, but since the SMS database was still there, the Messages app doesn't realize the folder needs to be recreated.

You're also welcome to email me through my company's website http://deciphertools.com/support.html we can help collect log files from the phone if needed to get a more specific error message from the phone.

(Note: the link I provided is to the company I work for, so I may benefit financially or otherwise from my link.)

Oct 26, 2014 12:01 PM in response to Kelly Wilkerson

Hi Kelly, I was referring to the original postings about iBackupbot and the video I learned from here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZyUCRU89YI

It all worked great until I tried to send messages.

I rebooted both iPad & iPhone, restarted my Mac Pro.

Somehow I'm able to send attachments again! But every direction possible - Mac Messages, phone or Pad, sending attachments would produce the red "!" and when clicking that it would prompt "Your message could not be sent - Click Try Again to send this message".

I too thought I damaged the directory and such but I've sent to friends and it all seems to be good now!

Jan 7, 2015 3:00 AM in response to crimsonium123

Same thing here. Not enough space on iphone after restore backup. I made a copy of backup just in case. Then I star to restore the iphone like a new iphone. Then I opened it and what a surprize ....all was there (contacts, movies, pictures, notepads). Maybe this it will help a desperate one.

Jan 25, 2016 9:45 PM in response to crimsonium123

The fix for me was to allow enough space on my iphone to restore the full 7 Gigs of my backup file. It does not wipe the phone prior to restoring...rather it needs that much free space on your phone BEFORE it restores. Just resetting my phone to factory defaults and then restoring fixed it for me. A pain in the butt but it makes sense now.

Feb 28, 2016 7:23 PM in response to Ogen23

Thank you so much for the iexplorer link, it was very helpful

Not Enough Space on iPhone to Restore Backup