CANNOT backup iPhone 5s! PLEASE HELP!

[Markeology77]

I am trying to do a full backup of my iPhone 5s on my new iMac before upgrading to a new phone.

My main concern is that I am able to transfer all of my Voice Memos to my new iPhone once I get it because I record all my lectures at school and also my music memos since I am also a full time musician! For the last two years, I have recorded over 1,000 voice memos, each with something extremely important to me, so if anyone can help me out, I would be so grateful! I do NOT want to do anything that would possibly result in the deletion of any of my voice memos! Even if there was a way to put all of my voice memos into their own folder on my iMac, that would be great too!

I am not extremely proficient at troubleshooting this kind of stuff, so please dumb it down as much as possible. What are my options? Has anyone else dealt with this? It is seriously so frustrating.

I have attached a screenshot of this death message I keep getting when I try to backup which says,
"iTunes could not backup the iPhone "iPhone" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone. Delete the backup for this iPhone then try again." I don't know what it means to "delete the backup" but I'm scared to do it because what if I do it and then can't backup after that and i never get my voice memos back!

I'm using if this helps at all:
- iPhone 5s
- iOS 8.1
- iMac 5k
- iTunes Version 12.2.1

 

[Jack426]

I am trying to do a full backup of my iPhone 5s on my new iMac before upgrading to a new phone.

My main concern is that I am able to transfer all of my Voice Memos to my new iPhone once I get it because I record all my lectures at school and also my music memos since I am also a full time musician! For the last two years, I have recorded over 1,000 voice memos, each with something extremely important to me, so if anyone can help me out, I would be so grateful! I do NOT want to do anything that would possibly result in the deletion of any of my voice memos! Even if there was a way to put all of my voice memos into their own folder on my iMac, that would be great too!

I am not extremely proficient at troubleshooting this kind of stuff, so please dumb it down as much as possible. What are my options? Has anyone else dealt with this? It is seriously so frustrating.

I have attached a screenshot of this death message I keep getting when I try to backup which says,
"iTunes could not backup the iPhone "iPhone" because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone. Delete the backup for this iPhone then try again." I don't know what it means to "delete the backup" but I'm scared to do it because what if I do it and then can't backup after that and i never get my voice memos back!

I'm using if this helps at all:
- iPhone 5s
- iOS 8.1
- iMac 5k
- iTunes Version 12.2.1

It appears that the backup on your Mac is corrupt. The first fix I found would be going to iTunes>Preferences and click Devices, and delete your iPhone backup on your Mac. Then try backing up your iPhone to your Mac again.

If you don't want to delete your backup, there's another option that might work mentioned on osxdaily.com. Honestly, I'd try this first. Here is the excerpt:

• Rename the backup file* so it does not conflict with a new backup by appending something like “-OLDBACKUP” to the folder name – the iTunes & iOS backup files are located in the user folders depending on the desktop OS:

• Mac OS X – ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/MobileSync/Backup/

Also, it seems you accidentally posted this on the Apple Watch forum, you might want to try posting in the iPhone/Mac forum. Here is the link to the excerpt above: http://osxdaily.com/2014/07/16/fix-a-itunes-could-not-backup-iphone-error-message/

 

[MonstaMash]

Honestly, if those voice memos are super important, I'd suggest AirDropping them to an iPad or Mac first. It will be tedious but at least they are saved somewhere else.

Also I'd try to see a full iCloud backup works, just so you could also have it on iCloud incase iTunes fails. You can go to Settings > iCloud > Backup and try to start one. You may be over the 5GB iCloud limit, but it's probably worth the 99 cents storage upgrade to back your stuff up.

 

[pinebeltdesign]

What you need to do (after restarting your computer and iPhone) is reset the lockdown folder. Instructions are here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203887

Let me know if the issue persists and I will help.

P.S. While an iTunes backup will include the voice memos, you may not get them if you restore on a different type of device (such as to an ipad). See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136

 

[Newtons Apple]

Yep, like the other poster said AirDrop the recordings just to make sure you got them if that important. The delete or remove the current backup and create your new one.

I would then try, but not do another back up or restore just to see if your new backup is good.