Problem- Not all data transferring from 3GS to Verizon iPhone 4

[elliots11]

Hi,

I've searched and haven't seen this problem, so I'm hoping I'm just doing something stupid and someone can help. I just got a Verizon iPhone 4 (4.2.8) and am moving over from my AT&T 3GS (4.3.3). I'm not getting my photos, texts, call log or anything. Only apps, and apps without saves or history.

I made a backup of the 3GS on two different logins I have on my Macbook Pro using the latest version of iTunes, and neither work all the way, in fact both are bugging in the same way. So I:
1. Backup the 3GS (even tried doing an encrypted backup)
2. Go with a fresh iPhone 4 (do an erase if necessary) and plug it into iTunes
3. I right click for the "Restore from Backup" option, but it's not there, even though it exists and is shown in iTunes Preferences.
4. So I click Restore from one login and I get the "The iPhone "xxxx" could not be restored. This device isn't eligible from for the requested build." This is the primary login I've used for my iPhone software upgrades, but not my usual main login.
5. So I go over to my usual main login where I've gotten it to work by plugging the iPhone in to iTunes and doing the restore option that automatically comes up on a fresh iPhone (Set it up as a new phone). Problem is that it isn't syncing from my backup, only with what I've got synced to iTunes. This means no text messages, previous calls, or camera reel. Probably some other stuff too. Apps are there, that's all I have really set to sync, no music or videos (I'll handle that later).
6. So when I click it I get a bunch of unorganized apps, no call records, texts, game saves, etc. And there's no option to restore from my 3GS's backup which would fix all of this at any step in the process.

Has anyone else encountered this? I've had every iPhone up to this one and never had a transfer issue like this. Is it because of the different OS releases? It's supposed to just work Apple! I've wasted hours of my life on this.

 

[david244]

I had the same issue, I was able to restore from an old AT&T iPhone 3G backup, but could not get the current data from my AT&T iPhone 4 to my new Verizon iPhone 4. When restoring from backup, my newer backups did not appear in the list.

Apparently it is not possible to move data from AT&T iPhones to Verizon iPhones because Verizon iPhones are running an older OS. Maybe you might get lucky if you had not upgraded your AT&T iPhone to the most current OS.

Incredibly lame of Apple to make these backups contingent on the OS version, even though it is not backing up the firmware, just config files. Also lame of Verizon reps to tell new customers that it would not be a problem, even though it effectively is not possible to do.

Unhappy I lost all my call records and years of text messages, most of the rest I managed to reconfigure manually. Apple and Verizon FAIL.

 

[kaifs]

I had the same issue, I was able to restore from an old AT&T iPhone 3G backup, but could not get the current data from my AT&T iPhone 4 to my new Verizon iPhone 4. When restoring from backup, my newer backups did not appear in the list.

Apparently it is not possible to move data from AT&T iPhones to Verizon iPhones because Verizon iPhones are running an older OS. Maybe you might get lucky if you had not upgraded your AT&T iPhone to the most current OS.

Incredibly lame of Apple to make these backups contingent on the OS version, even though it is not backing up the firmware, just config files. Also lame of Verizon reps to tell new customers that it would not be a problem, even though it effectively is not possible to do.

Unhappy I lost all my call records and years of text messages, most of the rest I managed to reconfigure manually. Apple and Verizon FAIL.

I moved everything from an ipod touch gen3 over to iphone 4 via pkgbackup and xbackup apps.