Ipad restore problem error 102

Question

Hi All,
I've diligently backed up our iPad and used TM to archive the backups. 
Unfortunately now, when I need to restore from a backup I am getting the following error from AppleMobileBackup:
ERROR: Restore message response: 102 mkdir error: No such file or directory (2) at path "/var/mobile/Library/SafeHarbor/com.omnigroup.OmniGraffle/Container/Documents/S ite Wireframe & Mockup.graffle/QuickLook" (MBErrorDomain/102)
From reading that it looks like it is having trouble creating a directory on the iPad for some reason. I guess something wasn't getting saved correctly in the backup and thus can't get restored properly or this iPad directory was in a strange state when it was backed up.
I've searched the Web and there are some similar problems to this with different details (e.g. can't rename file) for the 102 error but no real solution.
I've tried a number of my backups going back a number of months and they all seem to have this error. I guess something on the iPad got messed up a while back and all the backups since then have it included, unfortunatley.
I'm wondering if anyone has a solution that can help me complete this restore?
I'm really not worried about Omnigraffle, I would happily reinstall it, but don't want to lose the rest of the backup. 
I wonder if there is a way to make the backup continue / complete ignoring this error?
Or perhaps to remove everything with regards to Omnigraffle from the backup? 
Thanks for any suggestions.
Cheers,
Ashley.
PS Not really happy when I have backed up all these times and now it is not working.  I think Apple's restore software seems a bit too fragile and should work around issues like this to do the best it can.
This is for an iPad 1 with iOS5.1.1 restoring from latest iTunes on Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

Answer 1

Hi BKN,
Thanks for your post and sorry to hear you are in the same situation (but it's good not to be alone ;-)
Some notes on your comments (can't seem to easily split quoted messages here):
1. I don't  seem to get the "Unexpected connection closure..." error from iTunes that you get (not sure that is significant though)
2. With regards to the special character(s) in the filename.  I have hex edited the manifest.mbdb and changed my "&" to a "A" in the filename and the problem still existed (with an "A" in the error path), so I hope we can rule that out. 
3. I have not really used Omnigraffle iCloud syncing, just turned on iCloud at the end of the change-over period and haven't used it for file sync-ing (at least not that I know of), so perhaps can rule that out.
4. I have Dropbox running on Mac and client is on iPad (and iPhones).  I don't think my Omnigraffle docs have come anywhere near Dropbox though, again not use Omnigraffle on iPad for a while.  Have used on Mac quite a bit though.
5. I am still running Lion on my MacBook Pro and the machine doing the iTunes syncing is a Mac mini running Snow Leopard Server, so I think we can rule out iCloud issues, again since I haven't really gotten into iCloud yet. 
I have done a lot of investigating and experimenting (with no luck unfortunately).  I have used iBackupRobot (free version that works well, click cancel past the registration dialogs to get full functionality I believe) and Hex Fiend as mentioned above. 
I also tried another one (called iBackupRestore or something like that but it required mono and X, which I had, but ran very slowly and failed - I think it only works for iOS4 or less). So, don't try that.
With iBackupRobot I extracted my problematic document and associated files. It gave me:
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle_data.plist
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle_data.plist.info
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle_QuickLook_Preview.pdf
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle_QuickLook_Preview.pdf.info
Documents_Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle.info
_ is for /
The .info files just contain details of the mapping from real filename to the hex filenames inside the backup (useful to find the files and remove them as I did, see below). 
I noticed that the data.plist file seemed to be empty so I filled it with content from another data.plist file in Omnigraffle's documents.  Interestingly, the error message changed a bit then (IIRC) to this:
20/10/12 10:47:40 PM
[0x0-0x37b37b].com.apple.iTunes[4493]
2012-10-20 22:47:40.605 AppleMobileBackup[30109:903] ERROR: Restore message response: 102 mkdir error: No such file or directory (2) at path "/var/mobile/Applications/8AF90D98-FB52-4E3E-877F-FD0A0F45C0A1/Documents/Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle/QuickLook" (MBErrorDomain/102)
Note the path no longer includes SafeHarbor (which I believe is the temporary storage area whilst apps are being loaded etc). So some progress but a very similar error.
I have tried removing the hex-name files from the backup but MobileBackup detects them and says the backup is corrupt and will not proceed.  The problem is I can't see how we can edit the manifest.mbdb (apart from simple hex editing). 
I've tried editing the plist files Manifest.plist and info.plist file (with Property List editor) but again no luck, deleting items (Omnigraffle application entries) is detected as a corrupt backup and MobileBackup will not proceed.
It is interesting how it is the QuickLook folder that is listed in the error.  Mine contains a Preview.pdf file which seems to be fine. 
I'm also not sure what the error message actually means.  I guess it mean that when trying to create the QuickLook directory the path up to there didn't exist (e.g. the "Site Wireframe & Mockup.graffle" directory or one of its parents didn't exist).
I could be wrong though. 
I visited an Apple Store and tried to talk to a Genius but didn't get much help from the iPad Genius (should have registered for a Mac Genius apparently), he admitted he wasn't a Mac or iPad Genius (good on him) and went out back to ask his guru colleague. 
He came back and said his colleague thought the real error was the -1, which he said indicated a hardware fault. 
I don't think they knew what they were talking about, on some Apple support pages it does refer to -1 being something about hardware / comms fault, but I also think it is just a catch-all error code for iTunes when it doesn't know what else to report. 
He suggested trying on another iPad but I don't have one and he wouldn't let me use one of theirs. I guess I could buy one and return it after testing for a refund, but I doubt it is a hardware problem myself. 
I was hoping they may have some secret way to force the restore to continue or to selectively ignore certain applications on restoring (which may come to iTunes one day I hope).  It seems the Apple stores don't specialise in this kind of suppor though. 
He suggested ringing Apple phone support / Applecare but I wasn't too keen on trying to explain this and share details over the phone.  I might give it a go, even though you had no success because I might luck out on someone who knows more etc.
I think I have done a full reset, sync'ed all apps and then tried the restore - fail.
I have tried so many things I am now having trouble remembering what I tried and how each failed. 
My restore seems to go pretty well for quite a while before it fails, so I think it is restoring it's just getting an error when doing this one document for Omnigraffle and can't get past that. 
If we could stop it restoring Omnigraffle I think we would be good to go but, as mentioned above, I can't see how we could do that without some serious editing of the backup, especially the plists and manifest.mbdb, but I am not expert ont hose.
Very sad to hear that Apple had no ways to work around a file or error.  I think it is a fault in their restore software - it is too fragile, not catching the said error and fixing the directory path. But I am not holding my breathe for them to assist (but will try to get help).
Thanks for your notes and please keep me informed of how you go / if I can help in anyway. 
Unfortunately, I am very busy at work these days and can only work on this on the weekends.
Cheers,
Ashley.