How can I restore an old iPhone backup from Time Machine?

Hi there,
I lost my iPhone 4S but have a extra iPhone 4 (used for travel) that I would like to restore the 4S backup to.
The problem is that the backup of my 4S has somehow disappeared from itunes and the only one that shows up is the iPhone 4 backup even though they are set up as different devices with different names. I know that the backup for my 4S is included with my Time Machine backups (on external harddrive) but I can't find the files. Also very strange is that I don't have the folder "MobileSync" in /Library/Application Support/MobileSync on my computer. I can't find that folder anywhere.
My computer is less that 6 months old and I know that I have not deleted that folder or any other that are preinstalled.
I'm using OS X 10.9.4 and I don't want to restore my hole computer from Time Machine, just the files that hold my 4S backup.
Also note that I have not backed up everything from my 4S phone to iClould so that's not an option.
I've tried everything including:
- Restoring the settings on the iPhone 4 to factory settings and then connecting to itunes.
- Deleting itunes and restoring it from Time Machine at a date that i knew had the original iphone backup.
Who ever can solve this for me deserves a gold medal. I'm truly desperate. I've searched all forums and haven't found a solution for this.
Thanks.

caxx wrote:
Also very strange is that I don't have the folder "MobileSync" in /Library/Application Support/MobileSync on my computer. I can't find that folder anywhere.
Correct.
You need to go to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/.
The ~ indicates your User folder not the top level /Library/ folder.
Click on the desktop, then hold Option and go to Finder menu Go and Library will be there (only when holding Option as it is hidden).

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