ITunes 12 can't detect iPhone 5 device

Question

I've been connecting to the iPhone fine for days but ever since the iTunes 12 cam out my Mac can't find my iPhone. It may not be able to find any other similar devices but all I have is an iPhone, no iPad or iPod or anything. The keyboard and mouse through another USB port work fine.
Yes I've tried turning both the MAC and the iPhone off and on again separately a couple of times. It's not asking me to verify "whether I trust it".
The only temporary fixes I've found involve reverting to iTunes 11. However, all the guides for this strongly recommend backing up first. I don't have a MAC formatted hard drive to back up to and so this would take a couple of days to do as I'd need to obtain one. No fix at the moment and it's just stopping me from doing any development because XCode also relies on iTunes for finding devices.
OSX 10.9.5
iPhone 5 MD298B/A
iOS 8.1 (12B411)
iTunes 12.0.1.26
Thanks in advance
Ben

Answer 1

If you are using Mac:
01- Quit iTunes 12 and unplug your iPhone.
02- Download iTunes 11 at http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1774
03- Download Pacifist http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/6812/pacifist
04- Hold down ( Command + Shift + G ) and a screen will pop-up.
05- Key in this ( ~/Music/iTunes/ )
06- Find a folder called ( iTunes Media ) and move this folder into your Desktop. Do not delete this. This is your music library.
07- Launch your Pacifist app.
08- Open your downloaded iTunes 11 but don't install.
    When you opened your downloaded iTunes 11 you should be able to see 2 files,
    ( Read before you install iTunes.app ) file and ( Install iTunes.pkg ) file.
09- Drag the ( Install iTunes.pkg ) file to Pacifist.
10- Now you need to uninstall your iTunes 12 by using sudo code.
      Go to open your Terminal app.
           Type this: sudo killall iTunesHelper
                 Hit Enter/Return and ( if you have password it will ask you to key your password )
           Type this: sudo rm -r /Applications/iTunes.app
                 Hit Enter/Return
11- Now go back to your Pacifist screen.
          Select this ( Contents of Install iTunes.pkg ) and then click ( Install ) on top of the Pacifist menu bar.
12- You should see a message pop up and asking you if you want to install with Admin's privilege? Click ( Yes ).
          Another screen will ask you if you want to replace the files.... Select ( Yes ) to replace all the files.
13- Hold down ( Command + Shift + G ) and a screen will pop-up.
          Key in this ( ~/Music/iTunes )
               Delete this file ( iTunes library.itl )
                    Now move back your folder ( iTunes Media ) that you moved to your desktop.
14- Close all the screens now.
15- Open your iTunes 11. It should be at your Applications.
16- Plug in your iPhone and your iPhone should be appearing on your iTunes 11.
17- If yes, do a back-up.
          After finished back-up now check your iTunes for updates and you can go ahead to update your iTunes to iTunes 12 and
               everything should work like normal again.
Please let me know if this help!