IPhone Backup Experiences

I'm curious to hear from others how long their iPhone backups take when syncing to iTunes. I have an 8g original iPhone which is only half full. I have downloaded 27 apps. Sometimes my backup takes less than 5 minutes and the longest time has been 45 minutes!!! There has been no consistency. Just wondering why it would take 45 minutes to back up about 4 gigs.

There was an article on this at MacWorld ("Two steps forward and one big step backing up"). Seems that you're not alone.
There are 4 phones in my family. All experience widely variable backup times. It seems dependent on App usage, but not 100% on that.
At the moment, I'm about 1 hr into my sync's backup, with 60% complete. I have 38 apps installed, with 2GB free on 8GB iPhone. Even with most disabled, backup still could take an inordinate length of time.
The only "work around" I've found (and mentioned in article), is to click the "x" to stop the backup. The sync will then complete normally. I would only recommend it if you've both: A- had a recent completed backup, and B- have a copy of the backup folder saved elsewhere, in case you run into the "corrupt backup" problem on recovery. Which brings up another issue: this folder appears to be excluded from Time Machine, so I'm manually making copies for now (it's in ~/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync).
Hopefully this will be addressed soon.

Similar Messages

ITunes won't recognize my password to restore my iPhone backup file after upgrading to ios5

iTunes won't recognize my password to restore my iPhone backup file after upgrading to ios5.
Tried every password I've ever used and tried resetting my password. Nothing works!
Any advice?

Nope. You obviously didn't read (or didn't remember) the User Guide. I will include a link for you. If you use the iPhone as Apple recommends (so that you do NOT experience data loss), frequent backups are advised, as are synching contacts/calendars with an appropriate cloud service or computer-based contact manager like Outlook.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iphone_user_guide.pdf

HT201269 itunes cannot see my iphone backup. I have a backup of the backup on an external HD, but even tech support cannot figure this one out. I copy and paste backups into the correct folder but itunes still does not see it. All I need are my contact

Sorry for short novel I am writing. I just wanted to cover as much backround as possible.
So, here it goes. I backed up my iphone 4 after renting a movie. The movie only played the starting credits before I was called on for daddy duty. A few days later the movie would not play, so I restored my phone from my backup. The movie would still would not play so itunes support refunded my purchase and ended my viewing privileges for that rental after verifying that I had not viewed the movie. I then had a problem with my contacts showing up twice in the contacts list after the restore. So I attempted another restore. All was well at this point. I then started having trouble with my pc and decided to copy the internal drive to an external source. A week later I had a system failure and did a factory restore on my computer. I re-installed itunes and tried to copy and paste the old backup into the new itunes. Now itunes just flat out does not see the backup file (I failed to mention that I did a factory reset on the iphone after the last backup, hopping to start fresh). Tech support had me uninstall and re-install itunes and then copy and paste the old backup into the newly installed itunes with no luck. The files are all there, but itunes just doesn't see them (itunes says the device has not been backed up to the cloud or to the local machine). We then tried backing up the factory restored iphone and replacing that restore file with one of my old backups on the external drive. Ok, this is where it gets weird. We replaced the guts of the folder but left the folder itself so itunes would continue to recognize the new backup folder with the old files. Whoohoo, itunes now see's a backup folder full of old files, or so we thought. The new files were deleted using shift delete so they would be gone for good and not mix with any files or folders. When I restore my phone, it restores the files that were deleted from the restore file (pause here for a moment and imagine the stupid look on the face of tech support and I while we silently wonder how files that were permanently deleted were restored). This left tech support and I both scratching our heads. My service issue was escalated to the next level. I waited for the phone call the next day that was scheduled at 10am to my wife's phone, but the call never came through. As usual, apple disappoints again. I just bought an iphone 5s and still have the iphone 4, and am looking for a solution to retrieve my contacts and restore to the 4 or 5s. I am guessing that files in other folders must be associated with the iphone backup in order for itunes to retrieve the files. Any ideas or support in retrieving my contacts would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for short novel I am writing. I just wanted to cover as much backround as possible.
So, here it goes. I backed up my iphone 4 after renting a movie. The movie only played the starting credits before I was called on for daddy duty. A few days later the movie would not play, so I restored my phone from my backup. The movie would still would not play so itunes support refunded my purchase and ended my viewing privileges for that rental after verifying that I had not viewed the movie. I then had a problem with my contacts showing up twice in the contacts list after the restore. So I attempted another restore. All was well at this point. I then started having trouble with my pc and decided to copy the internal drive to an external source. A week later I had a system failure and did a factory restore on my computer. I re-installed itunes and tried to copy and paste the old backup into the new itunes. Now itunes just flat out does not see the backup file (I failed to mention that I did a factory reset on the iphone after the last backup, hopping to start fresh). Tech support had me uninstall and re-install itunes and then copy and paste the old backup into the newly installed itunes with no luck. The files are all there, but itunes just doesn't see them (itunes says the device has not been backed up to the cloud or to the local machine). We then tried backing up the factory restored iphone and replacing that restore file with one of my old backups on the external drive. Ok, this is where it gets weird. We replaced the guts of the folder but left the folder itself so itunes would continue to recognize the new backup folder with the old files. Whoohoo, itunes now see's a backup folder full of old files, or so we thought. The new files were deleted using shift delete so they would be gone for good and not mix with any files or folders. When I restore my phone, it restores the files that were deleted from the restore file (pause here for a moment and imagine the stupid look on the face of tech support and I while we silently wonder how files that were permanently deleted were restored). This left tech support and I both scratching our heads. My service issue was escalated to the next level. I waited for the phone call the next day that was scheduled at 10am to my wife's phone, but the call never came through. As usual, apple disappoints again. I just bought an iphone 5s and still have the iphone 4, and am looking for a solution to retrieve my contacts and restore to the 4 or 5s. I am guessing that files in other folders must be associated with the iphone backup in order for itunes to retrieve the files. Any ideas or support in retrieving my contacts would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I'm just wondering if someone can tell me how to specify a different location for my iphone backups in itunes on my pc?

Hi, I have a pc laptop with a partitioned hard drive, and my iphone back ups automoatically save to the C drive. I need them to save to the D drive instead, but dont know how to change the location of the backups.
Can anyone help?
Thanks, Mel

Yes, you can change the backup location. Read here:
http://ismashphone.com/2012/05/how-to-change-the-location-of-your-iphone-backup. html

How to us iPhone backup file from Time Machine drive to restore iPhone

Stupidly, I deleted my primary account on my iPhone that contained my contacts and calendar. I don't currently subscribe to MobileMe. I took advantage of the free service when I bought my phone, but decided not to subscribe as I synch my iPhone to my computer and back up my computer using a hard drive connected with Time Machine. Unfortunately, when I stopped using MobileMe, a synch to my iTunes wiped out all my contact data in my Address Book on my computer and my calendar. Therefore, all my most current information was on my iPhone.
I went to the Apple store and was told that the iTunes backup file may be used to restore the contacts and calendar information on my iPhone. I synched my iPhone to iTunes and then did the iPhone restore to factory settings. Only then did I realize that the older, correct backup file was not an available option in the dropdown.
So, I'm trying to figure out how to pull an older iPhone backup file and then use it to restore the iPhone. The only thing is that when I go to Time Machine and look at an older Library --> Application Support --> Mobile Sync --> Backup folder, there's a whole bunch of .mdbackup files in there.
How do I select what I need? How do I get the iTunes protocol to run the restore on my iPhone using those files?

Select the folder that contains the .mdbackup files and use Get Info for the folder to check the date the backup was updated. I would forget about trying to extract individual .mdbackup files and transfer the entire folder to the same location on your computer's hard drive - with iTunes quit before doing so.
After doing so, this backup should be available to select when restoring your iPhone from your iPhone's backup.
If this is successful restoring contact info and calendar events on your iPhone, if the Address Book and iCal on your Mac is empty - it does not contain any data, before syncing your iPhone direct with the Address Book and iCal on your Mac, enter one unique contact in the Address Book, and one calendar event in iCal on your Mac. Make these up if needed, which can be deleted later. This will provide a merge prompt when syncing this data, which you want to select.
Does Time Machine include a backup of your Address Book and iCal on your Mac? If so, it will be much easier and faster to restore the Address Book and iCal on your Mac from your Time Machine backup.

Does iTunes/iPhone Backup backup Application settings?

Hi guys,
it happened to me to buy a new MAC and transferring my purchased Application to the new computer via my iPhone; it happened to me to buy a new iPhone and sync my iTunes with it... in both cases I kept my Apps setting.
The question is: does the iPhone backup perform this or did I keep the seeting only because the Apps where stored in one of the two devices?
In other words, let's consider the scenario where I have both a new iPhone and a new MAC, everything lost, only my iPhone backup and applestore id and password available.
Is there a way to get in my iTunes all the purchased applications or have I to manually download one by one (even if I know it'll be for free)... ??
And after this operation, what about my application settings??
Thank you.
Luca

Contact Apple support directly. Perhaps they will help. The Contact Us link is at the bottom of this page.

Can't restore individual iPhone backup file via Time Machine

Hello,
I was hoping someone here might be able to assist me. I seem to have lost my iPhone backup file, but when I access the backup files in time capsule under user, in library under mobilesync, I can't even make it that far in time capsule, all I get to is a sparse image file of the username, is there a way I can access these files without a complete restore?
Thanks!

If you mean you're using the Finder, that's not how to restore from Time Machine.
See #15 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum).

Encrypt iphone backup does not appear at iTunes

hi
I do an encrypted back up to my iPhone4 4.2.1 and upgrade to 4.3.3 and when i complete the upgrade i did not find the encrypt iphone backup at iTunes
please help me
regards

i forgot to till you that the folder of the back up appear at "" C:\Users\dr\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup "" but at itune did not

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).

Is there a way to recover iCal data from computer or iPhone backup through iTunes?

I synched my iPad with my computer and my ALL of my iCal information disappeared from my computer. I tried put my calendar information back on my computer from my iPhone, but instead the reverse happened, and all of my calendar information disappeared from my iPhone, too.
I am using an older MacBook Pro (15-inch Core 2 Duo), running Mac OS X Lion version 10.7.4, an iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod Touch, all using iOS 5.1.1 (9B206). I regularly use iCal on my iPhone and on my computer, but not on the iPad and iPod Touch.
I do not use iCloud because my personal calendar and contact information was appearing on other family member's iPhones. (We share an iTunes library in under my Apple ID, and I did not want to create a different Apple ID for iCloud yet.).
Is there a way to recover my iCal info on my computer? Or alternatively, could I recover it on my iPhone from my iTunes backups (my iTunes backups are encrypted)?
Of course, I learned my lesson, and if I recover my data, I will back up my calendar daily, but for now, valuable information is lost, and I would like to recover it if at all possible.
Any help at all will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

You'll have to confirm with the developer of Keeper whether the data is stored as part of the iPhone backup or not. If it is, then restoring the iPhone from your latest back should restore the data to Keeper. My guess, though, is that since the free version of Keeper won't allow you to create a backup, the data is not part of the iTunes backup and hence won't be restored.
Regards.

If I restored my new iPhone from iCloud backup, and I delete the old iPhone backup to make room on iCloud to back up my new phone, will it delete everything on the new phone?

If I restored my new iPhone from iCloud backup, and I delete the old iPhone backup to make room on iCloud to back up my new phone, will it delete everything on the new phone?

I have this exact same issue. Replaced my iPhone 4s with the new iPhone 5s, setting up my new iPhone 5s to restore from iCloud. This completed and now I am unable to delete my old iPhone 4s iCloud backup (consuming 15.1 GB of my 20GB allocation). How can I delete it, so that I get my 15 GB back? I am not going to invest in additional iCloud storage, because I will be 15 GB down from the off.

By backing up the iTunes Library via saving the iTunes folder on an external drive, is it also backing up all iPad and iPhone backups as well as App Data and Documents from your devices?

If I backup my iTunes Library by saving the iTunes folder on an external hard drive using the instructions contained in the link below, will it also back up all my iPad and iPhone backups as well as App Data and Documents from my devices? In other words, will it also create backups for the backups? Thank you.
Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive
Furthermore, when it is time to restore the iTunes folder I copied to my external drive to a new iTunes program on my new computer, how will it merge the information once I plug in my iPad or iPhone to that new laptop to sync? If I did the iTunes library backup a couple months ago and I've added documents/music/pictures on my devices since then, what will happen when I try to sync it with the new laptop now working off of the iTunes library backup from a couple months ago since the information is no longer the same? Which information will dominate and thus be kept? Will it delete the new information/data/pictures/documents/music off of the devices since it is not on the iTunes program when it syncs?
Sorry for so many questions, but they are all related to backing up and restoring iTunes. I am not very tech savvy if you cannot tell

It would be a good idea to look into a bigger hard drive. They are not that expensive any more and can save a lot of headach. This is even more important if you are buying music from the iTunes music store. If you lost those files they are gone.
The point of having it on your PC and iPod is to have a backup. If the iPod fails, or you need to go back to the DVDs and find they are scratched, or just can not be read you have lost days of work converting and organizing all of those songs.
Or the iPod could hard drive could fail and then you will have to try to bring all of those files back from DVDs. You end up with a mess since some songs will probably be on multiple DVDs, have different names ect. Trying to reorganize it all can be a pain.

HT1386 How do I move my iPhone backups etc from 1 Laptop to another?

Hello,
I have my iPhone backed up on a crappy old laptop and want to move everything to my new laptop.
How can i do this without a) having to wipe and re-sync my phone and b) without losing all my backup data from the old laptop.
Thanks
KT

To avoid data loss, copy your entire iTunes folder from your current computer to your new one following one of the methods in this guide: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527. Then authorize the new computer for any Apple IDs used to purchase media from iTunes or App store. Then create a new iPhone backup on your new computer by:
Before connecting your phone, open iTunes and disable automatic syncing (iTunes>Preferences>Devices>Prevent...)
Now connect your phone and right-click on its name when it appears on the left sidebar of iTunes and select Backup
When this finishes you can go back and re-enable automatic syncing if you prefer this. Also be sure to migrate your contacts and calendar to your new computer prior to syncing if you are syncing with Outlook or another supported program using iTunes. If you fail to do this you will lose your contacts and calendar.
FYI, your backups are located here:
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista/7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

How do I delete my old iPhone backup since I can not back up my new phone. Will I lose any pictures? Can you ever see what is actually on the cloud? Last, how do I delete the old iPhone back up. Thanks, been trying to do this for a long time.

I want to delete my old iPhone backup since I can not back up my new phone. Will I lose any pictures? Can you ever see what is actually on the cloud? Last, how do I delete the old iPhone back up. Thanks, been trying to do this for a long time.

Deleting the backup only permanently deletes the backup from iCloud. It doesn't do anything to the data currently in your account or on your devices. To delete it, go to Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup>Manage Storage, tap the name of the device that you want to delete the backup for, then tap Delete Backup.
You can't see anything in an iCloud backup, if that's want you're asking. You can only restore it to your device. You can, of course, see your other iCloud data.

Having a great iPhone 3G experience? You're not alone.

Given that this is a support forum, it's to be expected that it's primarily composed of people with issues with their iPhones. However, since several people in other posts have mentioned they are dropping by here to do some research before purchasing an iPhone, I thought I'd discuss my experience with a new Black 16 GB iPhone 3G.
Reception
Reading many of the posts in a few threads, I get the impression that people base their entire opinion of the iPhones reception on the number of bars the screen displays. This is a very flawed method. This [review|http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/iPhone-3G.htm] does a great job of describing why and is a must read for anyone considering a purchase. It's also a must read for those who think their iPhone is defective because it gets 1 or 2 bars while their buddy's Nokia gets 3 or 4. Basically it's up to the phone manufacturer to decide how many bars to display based on signal strength. Some phone makers, like Nokia, are much more generous with the bars than Apple is on the iPhone. The article I linked to uses actual signal strength measurement to compare and shows with identical signals the iPhone will show fewer bars than the Nokia. Bars do not tell the whole story when it comes to reception, and I'll describe my experience with the iPhone which backs up that claim.
I live in Pasadena, CA. With my original iPhone I got very average reception. In my office, the iPhone was all but unusable, and this was true of most people's phones. Around town reception was all over the place, but generally acceptable.
With the the iPhone 3G, things have improved. Around town I generally get 3 to 5 bars of 3G reception. In the Old Town area I've got 5 bars. Making calls is no problem, and the voice quality is far superior to my original iPhone. I've had no dropped calls and no service issue. In terms of data, the iPhone screams. Using this [speed test site|http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html], I'm getting results between 920 and 980 kbps (1275 highest, 580 lowest). In the exact same spots, using my wife's original iPhone, we're getting 70-95 kbps, with several failed tests. That's a huge improvement!
Moving indoors, the 3G reception drops considerably. In my office, the iPhone switches automatically to Edge. However, unlike my original iPhone, I'm now getting good Edge reception in my office, usually 4 bars. Far more importantly, I can actually make and receive calls! At my home, 3G drops to 1 bar. However, I can still make calls without a problem. Data drops in half, with results between 390 & 550 kbps. This is still much faster than Edge however, but not as fast as areas with better reception.
Keep in mind that 3G reception indoors is expected to drop. AT&T keeps 3G on the 1900 MHz band, which isn't nearly as good as the 850 MHz band for penetrating buildings. For now, as there are far more Edge phones, AT&T is keeping Edge on the 850 MHz band. As this changes, indoor 3G reception will improve. I read in one of the other forum topics that one poster was furious with Apple and returning his iPhone 3G because he only got 1 bar of 3G service in his basement and he got 5 bars of Edge. He can be furious at Apple all he wants, but AT&T's 3G service, as currently implemented, isn't going to give you good reception in basements.
In my home and my office I have WiFi, so the 3G reception isn't nearly as critical as when I'm out and about. On the WiFi front, I'm happy to report that the iPhone 3G has improved range. I can actually walk out to my driveway, get in my vehicle, and drive away before losing signal. With my old iPhone, as soon as I closed the front door, the connection to my network was lost. This is a very nice, and unexpected, improvement!
GPS
GPS works great, and the "assisted" part really makes a difference. Using the GPS on the new iPhone is much, much more accurate that the old iPhone's methods of locating you. That's not a surprise, but what is surprising is how fast it locates me. Doing a side by side test with a Hertz Neverlost system, the iPhone pinpointed my initial location about 40 seconds faster than the Neverlost. That may not seem like much, but it feels like a long time when you're sitting in the car waiting to move.
+Creepy side note: I was playing around with the GSP in my house the other day. I zoomed in real close in Google maps and got right on top of my house. Walking from the back of my house to the front, the blue dot actually followed me. Yikes! I can't say why exactly, but it kind of bothered me. I guess I watch too much "24" and the like. :)+
_Speaker Volume_
The speaker volume is much improved with the iPhone 3G. If my old iPhone was in another room, there was a better than even chance I wouldn't hear it ring, even with the volume turned all the way up. With the new iPhone, I actually have to turn some of my ring tones down. Calls on the speaker phone are much louder with better clarity. I suppose it'll never be loud enough for some, but it's a big step up from the original iPhone and is just right for me.
_New Software_
As this is something available to all iPhone owners, I won't talk much about it, other than to say the app store is simply amazing. I've got 4 screens of apps already (some complete time wasters, some really useful) and the store just launched. With everything 1.0 atm, there are some bugs to be sure, but not as many as I feared. Most apps run great and are very addictive. My favorites include Loopt, Shazam, Pandora, Mobile News, Remote (best app if you have an AppleTV), Tap Tap, and iPint. I can't wait to see what the future holds!!
Battery
Battery life has been better than I had expected. I thought I'd have to charge my iPhone at least once, maybe twice, during the day. That's not been the case. If I leave the house in the morning with a fully charged iPhone, it's good for the entire day. This includes a ton of texting, music/audio book listening on my drive, dozens of calls, email, and web browsing. In fact, because it's so new and cool, I play with it much more than I typically would.
I've got a MobileMe account set up with Push. I get around 20 messages an hour pushed to my MobileMe account. When I wake up in the morning, there will often be 100 messages waiting in my inbox. I mention that to say that even with a lot of pushed email, my battery is still lasting a full day. I should also note that I'm on WiFi most of the day, and keep all services (3G, WiFi, Push, etc.) turned on at all times.
Issues
There are a couple of issues, which is to be expected with a new product and new software. I've run into the typing lag issue a few times. It's inconsistent however and not always present. I can usually text and type email without any lag, but if I'm on a web page and typing something into a search field, for example, it can get very laggy. This is something I expect to be fixed in a future software update.
The iPhone doesn't fit in my dual dock for my Apple bluetooth headset & iPhone and they aren't making a new one!!
Summary
I'm very happy with the new iPhone. It's everything I hoped it would be and then some. The 3G service is more than twice as fast for me than Edge, and has worked very well when I've needed to use it. WiFi range is improved. The ringer and volume is better. GPS works well and I will no longer be using a Neverlost system on my business trips. I recommend one highly!

KBeat wrote:
It's great to see that narcissism is alive and well (Raul, I'm thinking of you buddy). Apparently if Raul's iPhone isn't working, then no one has an iPhone that is working. If you think your iPhone is working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know how to make or receive a phone call properly.
Unfortunately many posts of people who claim to have no issues with their 3G iPhones sound pretty much the same.
"If my iPhone 3G is working, then nobody can have one that is not."
"If you think your iPhone is NOT working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know how to make or receive a phone call properly."
"If you think your iPhone is NOT working, then it's because you're an idiot who doesn't know squat about cell networks and 3G.
Please note, this is not aimed at you, but a general observation.
If their Iphone 3Gs work great then all of them have to work great and those of us who have a really bad iPhone 3G experience are just too dense to use them, are one the wrong network, clueless about 3G or generally just technologically challenged dimwits who don't understand neither the wonderful world of 3G nor how beautifully the iPhone 3G works, even when it doesn't.
Again, I had more dropped and failed calls with the iPhone 3G in four hours than I had with My Nokia 6280 on the same 3G network in almost two years. The network is also very clearly not overloaded, since I never had another another dropped or failed call after yanking SIM card out of the IDoorStop 3G and putting it back into the Nokia.

IPhone Backup Experiences

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