backupiphonerestore
all my contacts, notes and calendars are gone. when the iphone backs up does it copy everything? is there a way to get my important stuff back?
note: I didn't check 'sync contacts, notes, calendars' because I was travelling and had to use a different computer to sync our stuff. I assumed 'backup' and 'restore' meant something in this topsy turvy apple worldy. was I wrong?
It appears there are multiple ways. The first, is outlined by Apple here.
Automatic Downloads and downloading previous purchases are not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Automatic Downloads and downloading past purchased music and TV Shows is supported only in the US and is not compatible with iPhone 4 (CDMA Model). Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store. Downloading past purchased TV Shows requires iTunes 10.4 or later.
It details the following methods:
Open the iTunes Store on your device.
Make sure you are signed in with the same account used for the original purchase.
Tap Purchased from the bottom navigation bar.
From the Purchased tab, tap the artist name for the content you intend to download again.
Once you've located the music you are looking for, tap the download button.
Note: To download all songs from a purchased album, tap on the Album's toggle button to switch to Album view.
Once you redownload the music to your phone, they will transfer to your iTunes library when you sync the device.
And an alternate method using the new iCloud service can be found here (it's of note that when I tested this method, I could redownload books and apps but not music; your experience may, however, differ).
Note: This is all done on a Mac. Just look up the PC equivalent of the following steps if required.
How to recover past information:
Option 1 - Restore iPhone 4 directly from old computer:
Option 2 - Copy iPhone 4 backup from old computer, and place on new computer to recover:
On the old computer, go to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, and copy the most recent backup of the iPhone 4 and transfer it to the new computer.
Connect iPhone 4 to old computer, open iTunes, put the iPhone in DFU mode, (while holding alt/option key) select Restore after iTunes has detected the iPhone 4 in recovery mode, and select the most recent backup of that iPhone 4.
How to create the ability to sync all purchased/future purchases of music and apps:
Open iTunes.
Sign out any pre-existing AppleID/iTunes Account once iTunes loads.
Sign into desired account of individual (your relative's I'm assuming).
In iTunes, select Store -> Authorize This Computer...
Rejoice!
Have your relative use iCloud for backup to make life easier in the future.
Let me know if you have any more questions, or need any futher explanation. Enjoy!
Best Answer
The backup function backs up all application data, system settings and user preferences. Data such as contacts, notes and calendars are only synced on request unless you are using something like MobileMe which syncs this data in the background.
If you didn't sync your contact, note and calendar data whilst you were travelling then your only backup remains on your primary machine. Restore from there and your contact, note and calendar information will be synced back from whatever applications you have designated as managers of that data.
From my own personal experience I have used and restored from MobileMe independently of iTunes successfully many times and continue to use that service for that reason should an iTunes or system backup ever fail for me. In future this functionality will be available for all via the iCloud service.