How to restore from MobileSync backup without ipsw???

[lPHONE]

I just got my phone replaced.
Before I did that, I backed it up via right-clicking the iPhone icon in iTunes.
I copied the MobileSync folder to my desktop because Apple documentation says it would be overwritten in the next sync.

Anyhow, I've restored many iPhone's before by option+clicking restore and finding my ipsw but there is no ipsw file to be seen in that folder, just a bunch of mddata files. How do I restore my old data?

 

[Night Spring]

You don't need an ipsw to restore data (restoring from an ipsw and restoring data are different processes, even though they are both called "restore" -- one reinstalls the OS, the other just restores data w/o changing the OS). To restore data, a copy of the backup files needs to be in the location where iTunes originally created them. When you connect a new, or in this case a replacemnt, iPhone to iTunes, you should get a prompt asking you if you want to set it up as new or restore from a backup. If you didn't get this prompt, you must have moved rather than copied those files, and must recopy them back to their original location. If you still don't get the prompt, right-click on your iPhone icon inside iTunes, and you should get a menu option to "restore from backup."

 

[elidman]

got a similar problem

I believe i have the backup on my pc, can't seem to restore my ipod touch from it on itunes. any other way to access the files (photos, etc) in the backup folder?