How do I restore from backup?

[pianoman]

I must very strongly disagree with comments that suggest all will be well if I use iTunes. As I explained way back at the beginning of this thread, my wife and I both use apps bought with my Apple ID while she continues to buy her own. iTunes is quite incapable of handling the sync of apps and data by allocating them appropriately to the two different phones. We have had all my addresses added to her address book, and/or hers to mine, and my music--bought and paid for through iTunes--deleted from my iPhone. I have also lost valuable time and irreplaceable data thanks to upgrade failures and sync errors. An Apple representative apologized for the loss of the music and replaced it all free (that's pretty rare). So I am not prepared to have anything more to do with it than I absolutely must.

Also your assumption that it is errors within the backups that will propagate themselves back after restoring from them is quite contrary to the diagnosis and advice I got from an Apple technician at the Apple store. He diagnosed iOS corruption, reinstalled it, and cured the problem, warning me that it might be a hardware problem, which would reappear if that was the case. It has, so I assume it was. He said the iPhone would be replaced in that case.

I resent the frequent downloads and significant space that iTunes requires and I don't really want to buy any more music through it. To me, it's just a necessary evil.

Just to recap, the problems that started this whole thread is a failure of the Apple camera app. First symptom is that the reverse camera cannot be used, and the app locks when you try. The app then refuses to open the shutter. 3rd party camera apps like Camera+ continue to work in normal camera mode but the reverse camera cannot be revived. And I'm right back there again now. <sigh> Back to the Apple Store!

Yes,Roger - I know your situation. I've been going to bat for you for the whole thread. I was agreeing with the idea that a full restore is always a better option in general and that one backup earlier can get you back 99% of your stuff. I never said to use iTunes for all your needs. So you misread there.

But I will also say that what you're trying to do with iTunes is not what it's designed to do. No backup app for any of the phones out there - including Droids will allow two people to share one back source and keep the data streams "individual" as you're wanting to do. This is not a 'dysfunction' of iTunes to not do so - it's perfectly in keeping with its design. Sharing music between two phones is illegal. Period. So therefore iTunes was designed to only sync one phone at a time to it. It's a pretty simple and flawless design. The reason iTunes doesn't work for you is you're asking something of it it was never designed to do and its instructions will tell you that if you read them.

But as you've rightly noted about your situation - your problem has been a hardware one all along. So how we got sidetracked to iTunes in the first place is a little fuzzy to me now.

Bottom line. iTunes is for one phone + computer + iPad at a time -- Not 2 different people's devices. It will fail "anybody" trying to use it that way - from a design standpoint.

And we also discovered in this thread that you don't need to intersect iTunes at all as long as your phone hasn't frozen completely and won't restart at all. As long as you and your wife have separate Apple IDs in the cloud your phones will always be uniquely backed up with calendars, contacts and mail. Your music has to be tied to a single Apple ID. I think with Home Sharing you could hear each other's music. But that can start a new thread.

 

[zig9449]

I must very strongly disagree with comments that suggest all will be well if I use iTunes. As I explained way back at the beginning of this thread, my wife and I both use apps bought with my Apple ID while she continues to buy her own. iTunes is quite incapable of handling the sync of apps and data by allocating them appropriately to the two different phones. We have had all my addresses added to her address book, and/or hers to mine, and my music--bought and paid for through iTunes--deleted from my iPhone. I have also lost valuable time and irreplaceable data thanks to upgrade failures and sync errors. An Apple representative apologized for the loss of the music and replaced it all free (that's pretty rare). So I am not prepared to have anything more to do with it than I absolutely must.

Also your assumption that it is errors within the backups that will propagate themselves back after restoring from them is quite contrary to the diagnosis and advice I got from an Apple technician at the Apple store. He diagnosed iOS corruption, reinstalled it, and cured the problem, warning me that it might be a hardware problem, which would reappear if that was the case. It has, so I assume it was. He said the iPhone would be replaced in that case.

I resent the frequent downloads and significant space that iTunes requires and I don't really want to buy any more music through it. To me, it's just a necessary evil.

Just to recap, the problems that started this whole thread is a failure of the Apple camera app. First symptom is that the reverse camera cannot be used, and the app locks when you try. The app then refuses to open the shutter. 3rd party camera apps like Camera+ continue to work in normal camera mode but the reverse camera cannot be revived. And I'm right back there again now. <sigh> Back to the Apple Store!

Camera app freezing even after restores? In yeah...you restored from a backup.

Well you will know for a fact that it is the backup that is causing it if it happens to your new phone after restoring from a backup.

And another thing. I don't recall you saying you and you wife share one iTunes.

That always makes iTunes a pain. Me any girlfriend did this at first, and while I did figure out how to resolve it....it wasn't worth having all of our apps and music mixed together.

So the fix is simple. Make a guest account on your computer. iTunes is already automatically downloaded as soon as the guest account is made. Once you log into the guest account, click the iTunes logo on your desktop, install it.

Open iTunes and configure the right settings,....obviously disabling automatic syncing.

Plug in device, rite click on your device in the left pain, click transfer Purchases. Wait. Done. Absolutely nothing can go wrong there.

And you both have our own iTunes with all your own apps and music. Jut can't be messed up.

And it's not an "assumption" that the backup contains errors, it's a suspicion.

I really do suspect that if you would have just transferred everything to iTunes, restored with iTunes, setup as new and not from a backup, then just clicked "manually manage Music" in the summary tab, then just dragged and dropped whatever you wanted to your phone that it would have probably been fine.

At least then you would known whether or not it was a hardware problem right away.

It's like tell most users...restoring from a backup is fine, but when you are restoring to fix a problem, it is best to restore and setup as a new device. Reconfiguring everything isn't that bad. And thanks to iCloud, you can easily restore as a new device and keep all your contacts, bookmarks, app data, and whatever else you have toggled on in iCloud's settings.

Its little more work, but solid an true when trying to resolve a problem.

 

[Roger1122]

The restore from backup did NOT reintroduce the error. The camera worked JUST FINE afterwards. But over the subsequent days camera operation became "iffy" and eventually packed in completely. This is a completely different issue from backups and restores. What cured it was a reinstall action of the software. I also did a restore from backup. You are confusing too different things. Apple says it's probably a hardware problem and are prepared to swap my phone.

 

[Roger1122]

Yes,Roger - I know your situation. I've been going to bat for you for the whole thread. I was agreeing with the idea that a full restore is always a better option in general and that one backup earlier can get you back 99% of your stuff. I never said to use iTunes for all your needs. So you misread there.

But I will also say that what you're trying to do with iTunes is not what it's designed to do. No backup app for any of the phones out there - including Droids will allow two people to share one back source and keep the data streams "individual" as you're wanting to do. This is not a 'dysfunction' of iTunes to not do so - it's perfectly in keeping with its design. Sharing music between two phones is illegal. Period. So therefore iTunes was designed to only sync one phone at a time to it. It's a pretty simple and flawless design. The reason iTunes doesn't work for you is you're asking something of it it was never designed to do and its instructions will tell you that if you read them.

But as you've rightly noted about your situation - your problem has been a hardware one all along. So how we got sidetracked to iTunes in the first place is a little fuzzy to me now.

Bottom line. iTunes is for one phone + computer + iPad at a time -- Not 2 different people's devices. It will fail "anybody" trying to use it that way - from a design standpoint.

And we also discovered in this thread that you don't need to intersect iTunes at all as long as your phone hasn't frozen completely and won't restart at all. As long as you and your wife have separate Apple IDs in the cloud your phones will always be uniquely backed up with calendars, contacts and mail. Your music has to be tied to a single Apple ID. I think with Home Sharing you could hear each other's music. But that can start a new thread.

First of all let me say there was no attempt to get iTunes to transfer music from my phone to my wife's. Our tastes are completely different. Since I can access my music on the PC we share at home, she could listen to it if she ever wanted to. But Japanese pop music is so different from 20th century classical music that hell will freeze over before she does. (Fortunately we're a bit more compatible in other areas! <Big Grin>)

But I while I accept that this iTunes behavior is, as they say, not a bug but a feature, I do think it should cope better with managing apps that I have purchased and installed on her phone. App sharing is definitely an OK thing and it's easy enough to detect, for goodness' sake.

ITunes got dragged in because another contributor to the thread told me I HAD to use it and assured me that it was really simple to get it to do what I wanted.

I've learned a lot through this thread, and am grateful to all those who contributed. But frankly, the whole experience wasn't much FUN.

Roger and out

 

[zig9449]

The restore from backup did NOT reintroduce the error. The camera worked JUST FINE afterwards. But over the subsequent days camera operation became "iffy" and eventually packed in completely. This is a completely different issue from backups and restores. What cured it was a reinstall action of the software. I also did a restore from backup. You are confusing too different things. Apple says it's probably a hardware problem and are prepared to swap my phone.

Okay? So you are experiencing a completely different camera problem the before? Because the fact that it didn't come back right away does not mean it want the backup.

 

[pianoman]

But I while I accept that this iTunes behavior is, as they say, not a bug but a feature, I do think it should cope better with managing apps that I have purchased and installed on her phone. App sharing is definitely an OK thing and it's easy enough to detect, for goodness' sake.

Sorry Roger, no. App sharing is illegal too. One app per phone NOT "per family". iTunes is the "guardian" of what is legal to have on any one phone. That's why it does things people don't expect and hate. You and your wife must keep separate backups for your phones either through the cloud or iTunes. There's simply no alternative. You can 'listen' to each other's music through a feature called "Home Sharing". But you can't share any music or apps on two phones UNLESS you want to mix EVERYthing together including contacts, calendars and bookmarks.

It sounds to me like you want separate music, shared apps but then separate contacts and calendars. That combo of things is not possible - by design, my friend. It's all mixed or nothing mixed - your only two choices with iTunes OR iCloud for that matter.

 

[zig9449]

Sorry Roger, no. App sharing is illegal too. One app per phone NOT "per family". iTunes is the "guardian" of what is legal to have on any one phone. That's why it does things people don't expect and hate. You and your wife must keep separate backups for your phones either through the cloud or iTunes. There's simply no alternative. You can 'listen' to each other's music through a feature called "Home Sharing". But you can't share any music or apps on two phones UNLESS you want to mix EVERYthing together including contacts, calendars and bookmarks.

It sounds to me like you want separate music, shared apps but then separate contacts and calendars. That combo of things is not possible - by design, my friend. It's all mixed or nothing mixed - your only two choices with iTunes OR iCloud for that matter.

That is why I said its best to install iTunes on a guest account, and one of them transfer everything to that iTunes, so they both have there own iTunes with there own apps and music.

 

[Roger1122]

Okay? So you are experiencing a completely different camera problem the before? Because the fact that it didn't come back right away does not mean it want the backup.

I have seldom encountered such persistence in believing something that isn't true despite clear and frequent statements of fact to the contrary. The problem I am experiencing is--if you go back and read the early exchanges--exactly the same as what triggered this whole thread. However, it is not my job to convince you you are wrong about this any more than it was to convince you of your error in denying that the Cloud could effectively substitute for iTunes. Let's leave it there, as I see no point in further exchanges. However, you might note that your obvious willingness to help (which is gratefully acknowledged) would be more effective if (1) you took care to establish the facts and (2) read more carefully the accounts given by the person experiencing the problem. I hope that doesn't sound ungrateful.

 

[Roger1122]

Sorry Roger, no. App sharing is illegal too. One app per phone NOT "per family". iTunes is the "guardian" of what is legal to have on any one phone. That's why it does things people don't expect and hate. You and your wife must keep separate backups for your phones either through the cloud or iTunes. There's simply no alternative. You can 'listen' to each other's music through a feature called "Home Sharing". But you can't share any music or apps on two phones UNLESS you want to mix EVERYthing together including contacts, calendars and bookmarks.

It sounds to me like you want separate music, shared apps but then separate contacts and calendars. That combo of things is not possible - by design, my friend. It's all mixed or nothing mixed - your only two choices with iTunes OR iCloud for that matter.

Oh dear. You surely are wrong to say that apps cannot be shared. Read the small print! They CAN legally be shared between man and wife (and other members of the same family) but they have to be downloaded using the original purchaser's Apple ID, which is one of the reasons why there is option to sign out and then back in again with a different ID. Incidentally, I am dead against piracy and paid for every copy of all the software used in my company. It was an App seller who told me I wouldn't need to buy another copy of his software for my wife, provided I was willing either to share my Apple ID and password (nope!) OR handle all the upgrades for her. And when I explained to the Apple guy in the store that part of my trouble with iTunes probably arose from the mixed ownership of apps on my wife's phone he agreed this was OK but said "unfortunately iTunes isn't very good at keeping tabs on that kind of usage. There was no hint that is wasn't officially sanctioned.

Here in Japan there are several first class apps that require a monthly subscription, and being able to spread usage over two devices halves the rather high costs.

Roger

 

[Roger1122]

That is why I said its best to install iTunes on a guest account, and one of them transfer everything to that iTunes, so they both have there own iTunes with there own apps and music.

Why do you suppose a guest account would be any better at managing an iPhone with apps on it, some of which were purchased with different IDs, than the original iTunes account. THAT I really don't get!

 

[zig9449]

Why do you suppose a guest account would be any better at managing an iPhone with apps on it, some of which were purchased with different IDs, than the original iTunes account. THAT I really don't get!

The point is to keep music separate......n whatever else you want. Self explanatory why one would do this.

 

[Greasemuntney]

I have set and read this complete thread and must say I have known and have learned a few small things from it. I hate that it was started and the slow outcome that followed but many valuable info was placed here and if people set and read the thread they will learn what and what NOT to do from it. Thanks for all the info that has been passed on here and hope everyone can learn something from here. Good thread.

 

[pianoman]

Oh dear. You surely are wrong to say that apps cannot be shared. Read the small print! They CAN legally be shared between man and wife (and other members of the same family) but they have to be downloaded using the original purchaser's Apple ID, which is one of the reasons why there is option to sign out and then back in again with a different ID. Incidentally, I am dead against piracy and paid for every copy of all the software used in my company. It was an App seller who told me I wouldn't need to buy another copy of his software for my wife, provided I was willing either to share my Apple ID and password (nope!) OR handle all the upgrades for her. And when I explained to the Apple guy in the store that part of my trouble with iTunes probably arose from the mixed ownership of apps on my wife's phone he agreed this was OK but said "unfortunately iTunes isn't very good at keeping tabs on that kind of usage. There was no hint that is wasn't officially sanctioned.

AH yes. Okay, Roger - I will stand corrected and do myself remember seeing my wife's iPad ask for my son's AppleID once on a certain app he downloaded for her to use. There is flexibility in families for APP usage - but WITHIN families (or obviously anybody's Apple ID you know). That is a salient point to this discussion. Thanks for the correction. But there's still an overarching "principle" in this discussion that I'm not convinced yet that you understand about the nature of this "new world" you're entering with digital usage of everything. So I will restate my one point here from last message:

"iTunes is the "guardian" of what is legal to have on any one owner's account (Apple ID) and personal iDevices. That's why iTunes can tend to do things people don't expect and hate. You and your wife must keep separate backups for your phones either through iCloud or iTunes. There's simply no alternative if you want no "mixing of resources". It has sounded to me like you want separate music, shared apps but then separate contacts and calendars. That combo of requirements is not easily possible (if at all) in the iWorld of Apple - by design, my friend."

So, Roger, if you wish to only share apps - and keep the rest of yours and your wife's world separate - you would need to have 2 separate AppleID's. Forgive me if I don't read back through the entire thread to find out if you in fact DO have 2 separate AppleID's. Some of us "work for a living" and have to be brief when answering here. IF, and ONLY if, you and your wife have separate APPLE IDs then you can indeed only use the cloud for restoring your phones - or when you get new ones. The only trick will be that you'll have to keep a record (on paper, sadly) of the apps you wish to share and log in with each other's APPLE ID's when you want to redownload one your shared apps. Apple's world can only remember whose AppleID downloaded a given APP. It is "device blind" to that process.

I also have to say that this process WOULD be easier if you learned how to properly use iTunes (this process= the specific way you've described the way you and your wife work with your devices). And it's as Zig suggested. On your computer you set up a GUEST access account that's your wife's. iTunes keeps a completely separate iTunes library and backup member for each user account on a computer. Remembering whose music is whose and which apps went with each iDevice is also something iTunes does well that the Cloud cannot do - since the cloud is only AppleID aware and not 'iDevice aware'. iTunes is 'device aware'. I don't want to lead you down a garden path here since we've covered so much ground already and you've made it clear you don't wish to ever use iTunes. I get it. Neither do I. But you need to know that before the cloud - I used iTunes since it started and never once did I mix a contacts list with my wife or get music mixed up or lose my apps. Basically put - I know (learned) how to use iTunes properly and have had zero problems with it since it came out. So it IS possible and it DOES work according to its design. With due respect - all problems with iTunes (mixing things up or deleting things) is user error or more aptly stated - user misunderstanding of the nature and design of iTunes.

I think I've said too much... :-/ - but I just wanted to clarify a point or two now that I'm pretty sure I know how you want to use the iWorld between you and your wife.

Have a great day!

 

[Roger1122]

Thanks Pianoman. I didn't quote your mail as it's a bit on the long side. I appreciate your knowledge, patience and time.

Your explanation helped me to understand the recommendation to set up a guest account on my computer. Actually, I have already set up a named account for her with the right level of authorizations. She uses a MAC at work and likes things set up very differently from me. She doesn't have admin privileges, for instance, and Safari is her default browser, things like that.

Unfortunately her copy of iTunes bombs every time we try to set it up. Specifically, it freezes when we try to edit any of the preferences. That's a hard freeze that takes Task Manager to break! We really need to make the default language Japanese, for instance.

So I can't follow the advice that Zig gave and this hasn't exactly increased my respect for iTunes. Could it be that I installed it on my account using admin privileges so it won't take editing from her? Should I perhaps uninstall and then reinstall my version? Or hers? I did check the version number on hers and it's the same as mine, the latest, greatest (ahem) version. So her version was updated simultaneously when I updated mine. It costs me nothing to uninstall iTunes as I have trusted it with nothing I value... But IF it can behave reliably and well under the proper circumstances I'd be a fool to let prejudice stop me creating those circumstances. All suggestion welcome!

Roger

 

[jasonmaner]

I backup to iCloud, but how do I restore my iPhone 4 using the backup?

I recently had a problem that the Apple store guy said was due to corrupted files and/or memory and he restored things from backup. I'd like to do the same but I can't duplicate what he did. He said NOT to do a complete reset, so please don't suggest this. In spite of this I got desperate enough to try it and it didn't work...

The process is quite easy provided that you have the Apple ID and password to feed there. Just hop to Set up assistant in your iPhone 4 and there select Restore from iCloud Backup option. There you will observe a number of backups probably the most recent ones. Just choose the one which is the most recently built and go.

Next, restart your iOS device for the changes to take effect. Following this, you will see that all your settings, apps, music, books and more get downloaded or 'restored' in your phone. The download process can be checked from the progress bar that runs below the interface.

Reference: iCloud: Backup and restore overview, http://iphonedatatransfer.info