IOS 5: iTunes could not restore the iPhone "John's iPhone" because the backup session failed."

I've been battling to get my iPhone onto iOS 5 for 2 days, during which time my phone has been rendered unuseable, and is stuck on the set up menu. When I select "Restore from iTunes Backup," it tells me to connect to iTunes, so I do. I've tried to back it up 20 million times, and I think sometimes it failed, but other times the backup worked. But then, when I go to restore, I get the error message "iTunes could not restore the iPhone "John's iPhone" because the backup session failed.
So what do I do. My phone is unuseable and it doesn't seem like theres any solution.
Also, are you able to tell whether or not I've lost all of my data that is not my music/apps. Please tell me if you think I have.

Good luck. My iPod Touch did the same thing. I now have a very expensive paperweight that I'd like to stuff up someone's nose over at Apple. The "resolutions" offered by Apple don't do anything for me (they never do). There are a variety of resolutions that others have discovered but none of them have worked for me either. This is my second Touch and the second major malfunction that is probably unfixable. If I can't get this fixed and get my data restored I'll probably give this thing to my toddler to play Angry Birds and I'll go buy a device from a company that knows what their doing.
Do a search on Google (or whatever) with the error message and you should find some suggestions from others who've had this problem, some seem to have found solutions. If I find a fix that actually works I'll make a follow-up post.

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HT4972 After upgrading iPhone 4 to iOS 5.1.1 getting the error "iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored" HELP!

I attempted to upgrade my iPhone 4 to iOS 5.1.1. I selected 'back up' from the phone in the device menu and iTunes confirmed that the phone had been backed up. I then installed iOS 5.1.1 which wiped everything on the phone & now I am getting the error "iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored".
I have tried restoring factory settings but iTunes simply will not restore from back up & I'm not sure what else to do!
Any advice would be much appreciated.

I have the same issue and I KNOW my backup IS good. What happen is when you try to restore your phone apple says something like can I check for new updates and if you choose no, it just takes you back to the restore screen and a loop from then on. If you dont update from you phone then when you back up you will have the 5.0.1 back up and then when you update to 5.1.1 and then try to restore the backup from 5.0.1 it say it EITHER corrupt or incompatible.. It is incompatible and its hard as **** to restore back to 5.0.1. I followed the restore to a T and still getting errors. I lost all text history and have to reset up email. All just because I wanted a 1.2 Gigs of "other" space back.

Itunes could not restore the iphone because a session could not be started with the iphone

Recently I sent my iPhone 5 to apple service centre as my phone could not turn on and stuck at apple logo. The technician use DFU restore and successfully reboot my phone. However, all my data and content are being erased. Now I tied to restore from my back up using iTunes 12.1.0.71 with iPhone 5 iOS 8.1.3, error message pop up. itunes could not restore the iphone because a session could not be started with the iphone. However, I still can sync my iPhone to iTunes. I am so frustrated as I need to get all my contact back from my previous back up. Please help. Thanks.

Hello brendalhl,
After reviewing your post, it sounds like a session could not be started to restore from a backup. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help the issue.
If you can't back up or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using iTunes - Apple Support
"... a session could not be started."
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Have a nice day,
Mario

ITunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup could not be saved on this computer

Dears,
Today I planned to update my iPhone 4 to iOS7.
After update while my iPhone was connected to the computer, it didn't work and iTunes asked me to restore my iPhone before I can use it.
Well, I had to click Ok and iPhone was restore to factory settings and removed everything.
Now I went to iTunes again to restore the entire backup I created eariler for the photos, videos, contacts and everything 20+GB.
The iTunes starts the restore process but stoppes in the middle of the progress and gives the error:
iTunes could not restore the iPhone"My iPhone Name" because the backup could not be saved on this computer.
I tried 3 times but no avail.
If my C: drive is almost full and it might be the issue, can I move my backup files to another location D: drive for example and restore them to my iPhone?
Please help me.
Thank you.

I get the same issue w/ an iPad that I just updated to the latest iOS. I made the backup before upgrading the iOS. Now when i try to restore that backup made 35 min or so ago, I get this error. Help!

ITunes could not restore iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored...

I replaced a faulty iPhone 4S with a new handset today, another iPhone 4S. I was certain to backup my previous iPhone 4S to iTunes on my PC before returning the faulty unit. The new phone was 'set up' at the Apple Store and updated to the current iOS, 7.0.4, as was the faulty unit prior to replacement. Upon connecting the new unit to iTunes to restore to the most recent restore point from earlier in the day, the following message was shown:
"iTunes could not restore iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored."
I've browsed other forums and have contacted the Apple Store Genius Bar, and will hear from the Lead Genius tomorrow. In the meantime, I am hoping someone may have information for me on what I may need to do in order to restore my phone as I'd anticipated doing by now. My photos, email and text messages are what is affected and have not repopulated. My music is accessable via iCloud without a problem and my contacts were kept via SIM. I regularly copy my Camera Roll from my iPhone to my computer, and most of my photos are still viewable via Apple TV/My Photo Stream however only through the photos last saved. The 348 recent photos that were on my faulty unit, and viewable in My Photo Stream were presumedly safe, but have disappeared.
I have yet to shut down or restart my computer, nor have I exited out of iTunes, for the simple reason that I'd anticipated returning home with the new handset and plug it into my computer to restore right away. I did, but that's as far as I've gotten.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Had the exact same problem whilst upgrading my iphone 4 to ios5. Lost all my data.
Backed up ios 4.3 (8F190) iphone4. Upgraded to ios 5.1 (9B176), and then tried to restore.
No joy, repeated the restore attempts countless times - lost all my data
Tried again with a simulated test.
Created a new itunes account on a new PC (64-bit windows 7), latest itunes(10.6.1.7- 64 bit).
As my data is toast, I'm using the ios 5.1 phone to try to see if it was me or an apple bug, or something elsewhich caused this to happen.
After quite a few more hours at it, it looks like a bug in iTunes / ios. I would be very happy to be wrong, though.
Tried repeatedly restoring an ios 4.3 backup to 5.1 - no joy.
Happy to try again - it does restore partially (got the call register transferred, but no SMS'es or anything else).
Any ideas?

HT1766 I backed up to my PC and attempted restore but I keep getting an error message that "iTunes could not restore the iPhone because not enough free space is available." I have a 32GB iPhone; only 13GB used!!! HELP! iCloud backup/restore did not work

I backed up to my PC and attempted restore but I keep getting an error message that "iTunes could not restore the iPhone because not enough free space is available." I have a 32GB iPhone; only 13GB used!!! HELP! iCloud backup/restore did not work either! How can I resolve this problem to restore from back up.

If you're not a developer then you really should not have upgraded.
I'm unsure how you can fix this as you have already done a back-up on iOS 7 and apple don't support firmware downgrades.

Help itunes error message "iTunes could not restore the iPhone "rasheeds Iphone" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible..."

backed up old iphone got replacement, try to restore itunes says restore could not be done "iTunes could not restore the iPhone "rasheeds Iphone" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored" HELP,
iknow i backed up the data correcly

What version of iOS is the new one running? It may need to be updated before you can restore. You can not restore a backup made with a newer version of iOS to a device running an older version.

ITunes could not restore the iphone because an error occurred -1

Hello,
After upgrade an iPhone 4 to os 5.1, I can't restore the backup : while restore I get the error iTunes could not restore the iphone because an error occurred -1. I tried to reset the iPhone, but it restores alwayds whit os 5 and not 4. Each time I connect the iPhone, il runs un recovery mode, but recovery fails with error -1.
Any help ?
Thx

Hi i had faced the similar issue but i could resolve easily. I followed the following steps:
1. Restarted my laptop.
2. Restarted my iphone
Re-connected my iphone to laptop, opened iTunes and iTunes automatically asked for "Restore from Backup".
I selected the option and it worked.
You can also refer to following urls:
1. http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2529
2. Check for Resolution step and click the line "how to restart your ios device"
Hope it helps.

Itunes could not restore the iphone because the backup session failed

Hello,
i did a backup for my data on itunes, then i upgraded to IOS 6.1, when i tried to restore my backup it keeps giving me this message:
"itunes could not restore the iphone because the backup session failed".
although i still have the data in the backup folder, i searched the internet for softwares that can recover my data, i found a software called "Wondershare Dr.Fone"
i was able to recover all my data via Wondershare Dr.Fone, but it didnt restore the data to my iPhone, it only recovered it to my pc, as (media files, contacts,etc...)
i was wondering if there is any way to fix this problem, or any other way to restore my backup to my iPhone device without using Itunes...
one more thing , can i upload the backup files that i have on my pc to iCloud, then recover it from my iPhone??
please help i really need all my data to be back on my iPhone, media,messages,contacts,notes, even whatsapp messages.
Thank you

Hi revolc,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The article below may be able to help you with this issue.
Click on the link to see more details and screenshots.
iOS: Troubleshooting backup issues in iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2529
Cheers,
- Judy

TS4036 itunes could not restore the iphone because not enough free space is available on the iphone

On April 13, 2013 i plugged my phone in and itunes immediately started an upgrade on my iphone 4 operating system to ios 6.1.3. ONce it completed my phone was restored to factury settings. When i tried restore my backup to the phone, i got the following message
itunes could not restore the iphone because not enough free space is available on the iphone
I am so ****** because i can't figure out a way to at least get my photos from this back...its all lost
I spoke with an Apple rep that day named Jamie who was supposed to help me retrieve my data, but we couldn't figure it out and he asked me to call back in a day or so to get it done. When I called back, i left several messages and got no response. Now i try calling support and they want money before they will talk to me.
Somebody please help.
Thanks

If you restored your phone as new there should be plenty of free space on it. Check Settings>General>Usage to see how much free space you have.
Is your backup on your computer or in iCloud?

Itunes could not restore the iphone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iphone that is being restored what do I do?

I get the message itunes could not restore the iphone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iphone that is being restored when I try to restore my phones backup what do i do I downloaded itunes to my computer (pc) and it wiped out my phone and now it won't restore the backup

Had the exact same problem whilst upgrading my iphone 4 to ios5. Lost all my data.
Backed up ios 4.3 (8F190) iphone4. Upgraded to ios 5.1 (9B176), and then tried to restore.
No joy, repeated the restore attempts countless times - lost all my data
Tried again with a simulated test.
Created a new itunes account on a new PC (64-bit windows 7), latest itunes(10.6.1.7- 64 bit).
As my data is toast, I'm using the ios 5.1 phone to try to see if it was me or an apple bug, or something elsewhich caused this to happen.
After quite a few more hours at it, it looks like a bug in iTunes / ios. I would be very happy to be wrong, though.
Tried repeatedly restoring an ios 4.3 backup to 5.1 - no joy.
Happy to try again - it does restore partially (got the call register transferred, but no SMS'es or anything else).
Any ideas?

ITunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone

I backed up entire iPhone5c iOS8 to my Windows 7 with iTunes latest, and now at the restore I am receiving a massage:
"iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone"
Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had the exact same problem whilst upgrading my iphone 4 to ios5. Lost all my data.
Backed up ios 4.3 (8F190) iphone4. Upgraded to ios 5.1 (9B176), and then tried to restore.
No joy, repeated the restore attempts countless times - lost all my data
Tried again with a simulated test.
Created a new itunes account on a new PC (64-bit windows 7), latest itunes(10.6.1.7- 64 bit).
As my data is toast, I'm using the ios 5.1 phone to try to see if it was me or an apple bug, or something elsewhich caused this to happen.
After quite a few more hours at it, it looks like a bug in iTunes / ios. I would be very happy to be wrong, though.
Tried repeatedly restoring an ios 4.3 backup to 5.1 - no joy.
Happy to try again - it does restore partially (got the call register transferred, but no SMS'es or anything else).
Any ideas?

I changed my iPhone lately but i can't restore my last backup since it keeps saying "itunes could not restore backup because the password was incorrect" but I don't know where to put the password to make it happen... Any suggestions?

Hey guys,
I just bought a new iPhone but i can't restore my backup files beacuse it keeps saying "itunes could not restore backup because the password was incorrect" but I really don't know where to put the password to restore it. I really have some files that are meaningful for me so I really need help. Any suggestions anyone?

Select your iDevice in the iTunes.
Choose the Summary screen (tab) and scroll to the bottom of the screen.
Then un-select Encrypt iPhone backup.
iTunes will then prompt you to “Enter the password to unlock your iPhone backup”, enter the password you set originally.

HT1414 I just got a replacement iPhone 5 (64MB) for one with a cracked face, and tried to restore it. Got an error message saying the iTunes could not restore the iPhone because not enough free space is available on the iPhone. Now what?

I just replaced my iPhone 5 because of a cracked face. I backed up the old phone to iTunes. When I tried to restore my data off of iTunes to the new phone, I got an error message saying that iTunes could not restore the iPhone because not enough free space is available on the new iPhone. Now what?
I have Apple Care+, but I'll be darned if I can find any way to contact anyone at Apple to talk to about this. They take your money, but make darned sure they don't have to support you unless you jump through a bunch of hoops first, like this site.

I've done a restore.. The phone was completely wiped back to factory settings.. It then tells me there isn't enough space on the phone to restore from back up? How when the phone is empty?!

ITunes could not restore the iPhone "___'s iPhone" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible

Ok so bear with me here, it is somewhat of a long story.
I had been using an iPhone 4 for a while, with an old iTunes account that has all my stuff from over the years on it, on my computer. A week ago, I dropped by iPhone 4 in the sink and it got covered with water, despite quickly pulling it out, putting it in rice under a lamp, the phone was shot, and I was without a phone. My Dad, who is on the same AT&T plan with me, was using an iPhone 3. He was available for an upgrade, so he got a new iPhone, and gave me the iPhone 3. Now i'm not an apple master or anything but I have a good idea of what I am doing, normally, I backup my phone to my computer every few months. Basically everytime I plug it in to my computer which isn't very often because I just charge it with the wall charger. So got my SIM card with the same phone number and all, and obviously, while still being my number, it had my dads apps, messages, contacts and photos on it. So I bring it home, and plug it into my computer, I cancel the intial sync, and right click on the phone on the left side of iTunes and hit "restore from backup" I look through the list of backups, and the most recent one I see is from Dec 11, 2011. Which is surprsing because i'm pretty sure I had backed up since then, but I say whatever i'll still get contacts apps and most pictures back etc. So I hit it, and go through with it, and it tells me there was a more recent date of backing up, relieved, I click on that and continue, the normal bar comes up it says something like estimated time 30 minutes, so I walk away, come back 5 minutes later, and I get an error message saying, "iTunes could not restore the iPhone "____'s iPhone" because the backup was corrupt or is not compatible with the iPhone." Confused, I go back and try again, however this time I click on "old backup (the dec 11th one rather than the newer one) and the same thing happens after a few minutes. I go back a third time, and select a time from August of 2011. And I hit restore, and it goes through. However, this happened to be a backup I made right when I got my new iPhone 4, and therefore I basically restored my phone, to having nothing. Thats where I sit right now, with none of my contacts or pictures. I'm not sure if I backed up to iCloud or not and i'm not sure how to retrieve that. Some extra things: When I try to sync my iTunes library and apps onto the new iphone 3, I need to greatly reduce the number of songs and apps beacuse this iPhone is only an 8gb while the old one was 16, (I don't think that is the reason I am getting the error message though because when I sync it clearly says "Your iPhone does not have enough space). Also, this is obviously an iPhone 3, not an iPhone 4, updated with the most recent iTunes software, which, I believe is 5.1.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have over 1,400 pictures saved on my old phone (very important things to me) and a contact list of over 300 including important friends, coaches, teachers and workers.
Thank you very much, if it doesn't say my email on here try me at [email protected]
Thanks again
-Drew
Edit: The current phone is an iPhone 3G, not a 3Gs.

ashleyfrg2,
you will need to restore your phone as a new device and NOT from backup. If you've been using your phone as recommended, you should have minimal data loss: Photos should have been imported to your computer right after taking them; contacts should be safe in a cloud service or on your computer. You CANNOT downgrade to 4.3.3.

IOS 5: iTunes could not restore the iPhone "John's iPhone" because the backup session failed."

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