Isync duplicated all contacts

Question

ok, so my contacts on .mac reset - well, there was a prompt saying so when I accessed my Addressbook from .mac. I choose Sync rather than reset, because, that is what iSync does, right?
But now, on .mac, all of my contacts have been duplicated - meaning there are not two entries for every person and company.
When I go home, and turn on my computer, it will automatically sync with my .mac and I will then have duplicates on my computer also.
What should I do?
This is annoying. I continuously have problems with updating contacts also. I will make a change on my computer, or on .mac Address Book and I will go back to that contact a couple days later and the change will not be there. That usually happens when I try to delete an old phone number from a contact. It alsways comes back.
My understanding is that when there is a sync, that it takes the most recently edited data as the correct data. So, if I delete a Home Phone number on my .mac, iSync will override the Home Phone number on my Computer's Addressbook and delete it there also.
Am I wrong in my thinking?
Please help and thank you!

Answer 1

Here is the dilemna you face: iSync seeks to balance or equalize the data content of applications, devices and servers during each synchronization event, incorporating any additions, changes or deletions you have made anywhere in the data stored everywhere.
If you do attempt to synchronize with .Mac in an effort to restore the records you removed, what will actually happen is that the matching records on .Mac will be deleted—in response to your manual deletions in the Address Book—and they will no longer be stored anywhere.
Normally, you would perform a reset to correct this, but according to what you have posted, you do not have an intact set of records to reset from. That's a serious problem. You will need to manually add back the missing records to the Address Book, then synchronize with .Mac to perform the update. If you restore all of the records by hand and find that the Address Book therefore contains a complete set of records, then you would be well advised to perform a reset, but use your computer as the source of the records, and overwrite the records on the .Mac servers.
Some advice: back up your Address Book and iCal records periodically, particularly before making major changes to your data—using the built-in back up commands under the File menu in each application—so that you do not find yourself stuck in this position again.