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I made a major Mistake
- Thread starter Scarpad
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Sorry mate, no way for the contacts to come back.
That's why I don't really use iCloud: you forgot sometimes that you have exactly the same content on 3 different devices.
That's why I don't really use iCloud: you forgot sometimes that you have exactly the same content on 3 different devices.
K
Kink
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.but then what would happen in this scenario:
What if you had all your Contact in iCloud and obviously had them on an iPad and iPhone 4. But then you want to get rid of your iPhone 4 and upgrade to an iPhone 4S (for example). If you signed into iCloud on the iPhone 4S it would obviously download all your Contacts onto the 4S, but then, when you go to delete them from the iPhone 4 would it then delete them from all the devices?
Your contacts are gone, sorry!
This is why iCloud kind of "sucks" a bit, I mean the service is great, but some people and some app developers confuse it for a backup service, where it's just a syncing service, not a backup service.
Also, I'd suggest you to use Google Contacts or Yahoo! Contacts in the future, if you delete a contact from your contact, they get moved to a "Recycle bin" on the website and you can recover them.
It's best to completely reinstall the OS to the machine you are selling with at least a 1-Pass Erase of the drive. Otherwise, in theory, all data is recoverable with simple software.
Just boot from the OS DVD and use Disk Utility to format the drive with an erase option. Then, reinstall the OS.
Just boot from the OS DVD and use Disk Utility to format the drive with an erase option. Then, reinstall the OS.
What? It IS a backup service. But you have to actually turn backups on when you set it up.
OP, do you have a Time Machine backup on your Mac?
Do you have an iPhone backup in iTunes?
Do you have an iPhone backup in iCloud?
Surely you have at least one of these, right? I can't believe that so many here are saying iCloud is the problem when there are so many ways to protect your data. In fact, there's so many I'm betting that the OP has one of these and just didn't know it.
And even if not, rather than telling the OP to turn backups on, you've convinced him to turn syncing off? Seriously?
If you signed into iCloud on the iPhone 4S it would obviously download all your Contacts onto the 4S, but then, when you go to delete them from the iPhone 4 would it then delete them from all the devices?
If you deleted them one by one off the iPhone 4 then it would remove them from all devices. If you used the erase all content and settings from phone option then I don't think it would go on to iCloud and delete all the contacts as well.
It's one reason I keep an old iPhone 2G around... it has all contacts and info so just in case that ever happens you can retrieve them from your older device.
If you are using iCloud syncing of contacts does it still back them up (I was under the impression that it doesn't back them up) on your iOS device?
All you have to remember is to delete your iCloud account from the mac/phone that you are getting rid of, rather than deleting the contacts. This will remove them from the device but won't have any impact on your other devices.
Just because the iCloud isn't Idiot Proof does not make it imperfect. Thats like saying the car sucks because you got in to an accident.
20+ years later it still applies.. rtfm.
20+ years later it still applies.. rtfm.
Contact syncing and phone backup are 2 different options in iCloud. If backups are turned on then contacts are a part of that backup in addition to syncing.
If the OP finds he does have iCloud backups on, he should erase his phone and when setting it up again choose 'restore from iCloud backup.' This will restore the entire phone to the way it was before, which takes time.
It's a lengthy, annoying fix, but it'll get the job done.
The ideal solution would be to find that he has a Time Machine drive for his Macbook. Then he can just restore the contacts and JUST the contacts. The Mac Time Machine is much nicer to deal with than the phone backups, which are all or nothing.
Ah, that is good to know. For some reason I thought that iCloud didn't backup contacts if you had iCloud contact syncing turned on.
It's a backup service that is pretty much useless.
Even if the OP has the backup on, and considering the phone automatically did not backup and overwrite the data, can he restore the contacts only? Nope, he has to restore the whole phone, which is not a very good solution, what if he entered some new data in some other application that he wants to keep? That'll get overwritten with the old data from the backup. If you could pick and choose what to restore/overwrite individually from the backup that would be great.
Ok, but having a poor restoration method doesn't mean you can say it's "not a backup service."
You can say it's not a great solution (I agree and said that Time Machine would've been better if he had it) but to say it doesn't back up is just incorrect.