Occasionally the fix for an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch problem is to 'backup and restore' your device. This tutorial walks you through the steps using iTunes 11. You basically make sure your device is synced and backed up. Then you use iTunes to perform the simple, but often time-consuming, restore.
Comments: 15 Responses to “MacMost Now 804: iPhone Backup and Restore”
James
11 years ago
Excellent video as always Gary and thank you.
Note recently I had aroblem with iPhone 4S battery life.
Several backup and restores later there was no improvement.
The apple Genius Bar advised setting up as new phone and this worked.
It appears that sometimes (very very rare) something can get cuorruptrd and each restore simply copies the corrupted file/thing back again.
Going through restore process but setting up as a new phone took my battery life back to over a day from three hours!
Joe Giacalone
11 years ago
Hi Gary,
Love the show and watch every episode!
I have two questions...One what would be making my wife's iPhone 4S lose a charge so quickly, I mean with no usage it's dead by noon. I did a backup and restore and that didn't help.
Also, I was wondering what "Other" was that is taking up almost 10GB of space on her phone.
There are lots of things apps can be doing to drain your battery. For instance, a GPS tracking app (like the one I use to track my bike rides) can be constantly using the power-hungry GPS function. It is impossible to guess what could be causing the problem. You'll need to investigate on your own or take it to an expert to have them review your app usage.
"Other" is usually mostly app data. For instance, I have a ton of books stored in my Audible app, and that counts in "other." Documents in Pages and Keynote, game data for games, images in image editing apps, etc.
Santo Messina
11 years ago
I am assuming IPads are the same? Also will Pic's on Ipad not in "camera roll" be backed up? Thanks!!
Yes, iPads are the same. Pics not in the Camera Roll were synced previously so they don't need to be backed up. It would simply re-sync them from iPhoto or wherever they came from in the first place.
Mac Carter
11 years ago
Gary, I've heard there is difference in the data stored in iCloud vs. a manual backup for an iPhone. Do you know if this is accurate? And, if so, what is the difference?
I don't think so. Both should allow you to do a complete restore. Obviously the backup is not everything -- your synced items (music, apps, videos, etc) are not included in a backup because they are restored by re-syncing. So an iCloud backup and restore wouldn't give you back your synced items until you sync again. Never tried it, though.
Mario
11 years ago
Hi Gary, as usual your videos are intresting. Can you help me with this issue : my iPhone 4s (6.01) cannot make a backup in the latest iTunes on mac os x mountain lion (also updated).
The weird thing is that on Windows computer there's no problem. Thanks for responding quickly because it drives me nuts !
Firsthand look. Imagine calling your doctor up and asking her to tell you why you are sick without him seeing you in person. Imagine calling up your mechanic and asking him what could be wrong with your car while he is miles away. It is often the same with computers. It is very hard, or impossible, to tell what could be wrong without a firsthand look at the problem -- the expert must investigate, and you just can't do that without having the device right there.
rayann
11 years ago
hi gary quick question
ive restored my iphone hoping to put an old back up on it (from a different iphone) but i cant manually restore it from backup on the new itunes...
thanks
You can. Make sure you are connect by wire, not wi-fi. And you should be able to.
Jen
11 years ago
Hi Gary, I'm doing some research on restoring my iPhone 3GS to factory settings & came across your video.
The problem I'm having is that my iPhone seems a bit buggy. The volume will spontaneously turn off & on quickly, repeatedly. I'm also having issues w/ my keyboard shortcuts working only sometimes. I want to do the factory restore but I've not backed up my phone for a long time. If I back up my buggy phone and then do the reset, when I sync with iTunes will the problems return?
They may, and they may not. Only one way to find out.
First, back up your iPhone. It will do that as part of the restore process, but there's no reason to not do it right now -- and daily or weekly on fact.
A restore may help, but you also have to consider that it could be a hardware problem, especially the volume issue -- could be a problem with your headphone jack, mute switch or volume buttons. A restore won't hep there.
Excellent video as always Gary and thank you.
Note recently I had aroblem with iPhone 4S battery life.
Several backup and restores later there was no improvement.
The apple Genius Bar advised setting up as new phone and this worked.
It appears that sometimes (very very rare) something can get cuorruptrd and each restore simply copies the corrupted file/thing back again.
Going through restore process but setting up as a new phone took my battery life back to over a day from three hours!
Hi Gary,
Love the show and watch every episode!
I have two questions...One what would be making my wife's iPhone 4S lose a charge so quickly, I mean with no usage it's dead by noon. I did a backup and restore and that didn't help.
Also, I was wondering what "Other" was that is taking up almost 10GB of space on her phone.
Please help!
Thanks,
Joe
There are lots of things apps can be doing to drain your battery. For instance, a GPS tracking app (like the one I use to track my bike rides) can be constantly using the power-hungry GPS function. It is impossible to guess what could be causing the problem. You'll need to investigate on your own or take it to an expert to have them review your app usage.
"Other" is usually mostly app data. For instance, I have a ton of books stored in my Audible app, and that counts in "other." Documents in Pages and Keynote, game data for games, images in image editing apps, etc.
I am assuming IPads are the same? Also will Pic's on Ipad not in "camera roll" be backed up? Thanks!!
Yes, iPads are the same. Pics not in the Camera Roll were synced previously so they don't need to be backed up. It would simply re-sync them from iPhoto or wherever they came from in the first place.
Gary, I've heard there is difference in the data stored in iCloud vs. a manual backup for an iPhone. Do you know if this is accurate? And, if so, what is the difference?
I don't think so. Both should allow you to do a complete restore. Obviously the backup is not everything -- your synced items (music, apps, videos, etc) are not included in a backup because they are restored by re-syncing. So an iCloud backup and restore wouldn't give you back your synced items until you sync again. Never tried it, though.
Hi Gary, as usual your videos are intresting. Can you help me with this issue : my iPhone 4s (6.01) cannot make a backup in the latest iTunes on mac os x mountain lion (also updated).
The weird thing is that on Windows computer there's no problem. Thanks for responding quickly because it drives me nuts !
Impossible to say what might be wrong without a firsthand look, sorry.
Gary, what do you mean with a first look ?
Firsthand look. Imagine calling your doctor up and asking her to tell you why you are sick without him seeing you in person. Imagine calling up your mechanic and asking him what could be wrong with your car while he is miles away. It is often the same with computers. It is very hard, or impossible, to tell what could be wrong without a firsthand look at the problem -- the expert must investigate, and you just can't do that without having the device right there.
hi gary quick question
ive restored my iphone hoping to put an old back up on it (from a different iphone) but i cant manually restore it from backup on the new itunes...
thanks
You can. Make sure you are connect by wire, not wi-fi. And you should be able to.
Hi Gary, I'm doing some research on restoring my iPhone 3GS to factory settings & came across your video.
The problem I'm having is that my iPhone seems a bit buggy. The volume will spontaneously turn off & on quickly, repeatedly. I'm also having issues w/ my keyboard shortcuts working only sometimes. I want to do the factory restore but I've not backed up my phone for a long time. If I back up my buggy phone and then do the reset, when I sync with iTunes will the problems return?
They may, and they may not. Only one way to find out.
First, back up your iPhone. It will do that as part of the restore process, but there's no reason to not do it right now -- and daily or weekly on fact.
A restore may help, but you also have to consider that it could be a hardware problem, especially the volume issue -- could be a problem with your headphone jack, mute switch or volume buttons. A restore won't hep there.