Failed iPhone 4.3 update - please help

[whaff123]

The story:

I updated my 4.2.1 iphone 4 (at&t) to 4.3. I got a 3014 error partway in, and it left my phone in permanent recovery. At that time I decided to try to restore it. After restoring, it was on version 4.3. I tried to restore my 4.2.1 backup, but couldn't. As it stands, I have a lot of valuable photos and data on my phone, and I can't get any of it off or any of my data back. What I really need is a way to get my photos back. I've tried a variety of file recovery programs, but none seem to be coupled with a program to get past Apple's wall of idiocy.

If anyone can offer me any help on these matters, it would greatly be appreciated.
1) Is there any way for me to recover my deleted photos?
2) Is there any way for me to recover app data? I still have my 4.2.1 data saved.
3) Is there any method through jailbreaking (I did it on my old 3g but not on the 4 so far) that will let me either recover the app data/photos, restore to 4.2.1 (I don't have my SHSHs) or merge my backup onto the phone?
4) If there will be a way in the future, what should I do with my phone now?

What I think went wrong:
I'm going to attribute my problem to 2 things: 1) I was not updating from the US, so maybe there was a location problem. 2) the ipod service service was disabled. I am running on Windows 7 64, with itunes 10.1.0.56.

Any help would be great, thanks!

 

[CBR900RR]

This is the location of you backup file

C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Make a copy of the backup file before you messing with itune.

You can also download the free trial iBackupBot (Backup Manager Software for iTunes) 3.0.11 2.74Mb English to open up your backup file.

 

[whaff123]

I have the backup, but I am unable to restore it because its a backup of 4.2.1 and I'm on 4.3 now, due to when I restored the phone it went to 4.3 and I'm unable to downgrade. Is there any way to load that backup information (4.2.1) into my 4.3 phone? Also, is there any way to turn my iphone into a disk to pull the data off? I don't care if it needs another restore.

 

[sorepheet]

Try this: Downgrade guide
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

 

[whaff123]

I think that this method relies on having saved SHSH to Cydia before upgrading, is that true? I am on 4.3 and have no SHSHs saved.

 

[whaff123]

please, can anyone help me with this?

 

[2CentsWorth]

Try this

please, can anyone help me with this?

I've had this same issue occur twice now using a Dell E6400 Windows XP notebook to update my iPhone 4. Most recently yesterday when trying to upgrade my iPhone 4 to v. 4.3. Very frustrating! I could neither upgrade nor restore and my iPhone was stuck in recovery mode.

When this occurred last time, I called AT&T iPhone support. Long story short, what worked was using using a different computer to upgrade my iPhone. We have a very fast HP desktop (Windows 7) that I used. First, I made sure it had the latest version of iTunes installed. then I proceeded with the iPhone firmware/software upgrade to v. 4.3. No issues. After the upgrade, I then went back to my Dell XP notebook and performed an iTunes sync to restore all of my data prior to the upgrade.

Hope this helps - good luck.