Apple Land - When backup doesn't really mean backup.

aware

I wanted to update to IOS 5 on my iPad. I connected to iTunes and clicked on backup. Then proceeded to update. After updating, I looked to restore from the backup. I opened iBooks to look at some PDF files and to my horror, saw the list just disappear. I have restored over and over again and the same thing happens. Open iBooks, see list, then it goes blank.

These are important work documents. Is there any way of retrieving them?

Before you ask did I back up - YES I DID. I've got my notes, bookmarks, etc.

Antomus Prime

Is the ibook app set to sync automatically, could be a case that you have to manually drag and drop the documents from itunes into the ipad on the left of itunes.

aware

I had all syncing options unticked. I thought it very reasonable to expect that backing up the iPad meant all the data would be backed up. Why the hell do Apple have this backup option at all?

The docs are not on the PC.

obried26

aware wrote: »

I had all syncing options unticked. I thought it very reasonable to expect that backing up the iPad meant all the data would be backed up. Why the hell do Apple have this backup option at all?

The docs are not on the PC.

Have you searched through Explorer (or Finder if you're on Mac) to locate the backup file?

The same thing happened when I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS5, except I lost all my photos, contacts, messages etc. When I looked at the actual backup file in explorer, I could see everything.

However I still haven't figured how to get it all back on to my phone though.......:(

aware

obried26 wrote: »

Have you searched through Explorer (or Finder if you're on Mac) to locate the backup file?

The same thing happened when I upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS5, except I lost all my photos, contacts, messages etc. When I looked at the actual backup file in explorer, I could see everything.

However I still haven't figured how to get it all back on to my phone though.......:(

On an Win XP machine, he backup file is at C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. There are just a heap of unknown file types in the folder.

hideous ape

There are apps out there that allow you to extract the individual files from an iTunes backup but I think you have to pay for them.

Found this though I've no idea if it works but I'd guess if it does then all you have to do is copy all those unknown files in that backup folder into another another folder and simply add .pdf onto the end of each file. The ones that are actually PDF's should now work as normal:

http://modmyi.com/forums/general-iphone-chat/370201-extract-photos-iphone-backup-files-2.html

To recover pictures you don't need any special app.
iTunes copies the files to the backup and uses unique file names
in Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows Vista/7: C: \Users\[username]\AppData\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ (or something real close)
you will see a folder for every iPhone backup made - pick one
sort the files by size, for the 3gs and older .jpg files will be about 900kb or smaller (3mb camera) and copy them to a temp folder, then rename all of them to *.jpg (in CMD window: ren *.* *.jpg)
change you view to thumbnail and you will see your pictures
the 4g has a 5mb camera so the pictures will be larger but not over 3mb, files that size are usually video.

Video files are also stored here and are .mov (Quicktime) files

aidan_walsh

iBooks data doesn't get backed up, IIRC. You need to sync it with the computer. What is getting sent back when you are restoring is likely the old iBooks library, and it removes the items when it notices that they are no longer on the device.

iTunes only backs up the data listed in this article, anything else needs to be synced.