Hey all, so i have read all posts but this is my situation: i needed to restore my phone from a previous back up that wasn't listed when i go to File > Devices > Restore from previous backup to restore contacts on iPhone
It was however listed when i went to: Edit in itunes > Preferences > 'Device' section > Device Backups.
As this was very frustrating, i did the following (NOTE: only do this if you don't have anything on your phone currently that you don't want to loose):
Checked the app data folder listed in previous replys and found my older back up file that i need to restore from was there.
I then went back into itunes and deleted the most recent back up from the homescreen of itunes. Now the older back up that i need to use was the second most recent so i didn't need to delete any more but if you need an older one you will need to delete more backups until you have the backup you want at the start of the list.
I then restored my phone.
Once i restored my phone, itunes treated it like a new phone and when it first recognises the phone it will ask if you want to set up as new or restore using back up.
Now when i did this because i had deleted the back up which was at the start of the list (empty back up of the previously restored phone), the back up i needed was listed as the most recent back up (with all my files).
I then chose to restore phone using this back up and everything i needed was restored.
IMPORTANT: Because itunes only shows and allows you to restore the most recent back up, you must delete all the back up files until you get to the one you really need.
Hope this gets everyones files back as it has mine!