iTunes backup/restore question

[ericinboston]

Hi all. I have iTunes 10.x running on Windows XP...my new iPhone 4S is synched with it.

Unfortunately I need to restore my computer to a July backup which means 1)it will be iTunes 9.x and 2)never synched with the iPhone 4S.

I do, however, have a backup of my current computer configuration (but I cannot use this backup for a full system restore)...which means that after doing a restore of July, I can go into the January 2012 backup and pull out files/folders that I need.

So...I can do #1 and #2 below very easily...but is it easy for me to perform #3?:

1)Restore the July computer backup
2)Install iTunes 10.x
3)Pull out from my January 2012 backup ONLY the iTunes 10.x essentials (XML files, etc. from the Mydocuments... folder) and possibly a "backup" from when my iTunes 10.x synched with my iPhone back in December and thus have iTunes all set to go and already "knows about" my iPhone 4s

or...is step 3 impossible and I will need to start all over again my registering my iPhone 4S and doing an original sync and possibly even destroying all the data on my iPhone 4S? If this is the case, can you let me know what the pitfalls will be (such as it will nuke all my iPhone data and re-copy it all which will take 4 hours, etc)

I would appreciate it if your reply is specific with instructions.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Benchtech]

Hi all. I have iTunes 10.x running on Windows XP...my new iPhone 4S is synched with it.

Unfortunately I need to restore my computer to a July backup which means 1)it will be iTunes 9.x and 2)never synched with the iPhone 4S.

I do, however, have a backup of my current computer configuration (but I cannot use this backup for a full system restore)...which means that after doing a restore of July, I can go into the January 2012 backup and pull out files/folders that I need.

So...I can do #1 and #2 below very easily...but is it easy for me to perform #3?:

1)Restore the July computer backup
2)Install iTunes 10.x
3)Pull out from my January 2012 backup ONLY the iTunes 10.x essentials (XML files, etc. from the Mydocuments... folder) and possibly a "backup" from when my iTunes 10.x synched with my iPhone back in December and thus have iTunes all set to go and already "knows about" my iPhone 4s

or...is step 3 impossible and I will need to start all over again my registering my iPhone 4S and doing an original sync and possibly even destroying all the data on my iPhone 4S? If this is the case, can you let me know what the pitfalls will be (such as it will nuke all my iPhone data and re-copy it all which will take 4 hours, etc)

I would appreciate it if your reply is specific with instructions.

Thanks in advance!

As far as I can see there should be no problem with this. However if everything is in good working order on your iPhone 4S then just take a new backup after restoring. You phone will be registered with Apple's servers and you won't have to go through the process of initial registration. I think you could come into problems with step three, and if it was successful iTunes is likely to overwrite this with a new backup.

Feel free to message me if you get stuck.
Ben

 

[ericinboston]

As far as I can see there should be no problem with this. However if everything is in good working order on your iPhone 4S then just take a new backup after restoring. You phone will be registered with Apple's servers and you won't have to go through the process of initial registration. I think you could come into problems with step three, and if it was successful iTunes is likely to overwrite this with a new backup.

Feel free to message me if you get stuck.
Ben

Ben...hate to say it...but you were pretty vague...using the term "backup" numerous times with no reference to what it means (entire pc? just the iPhone? just iTunes? etc).

If anyone else has some comments, I would appreciate it. Again, please be specific.

Thanks in advance.

p.s. restored my pc and iTunes is 9.2.0.61