A couple of basic questions

[dangleheart]

I have been a iPhone user for the past couple of years with Windows iTunes. I recently upgraded to a 3GS and the resync did not go quite well. This leads me to ask a couple of basic questions.

1) On my windows, by default, where should I look for the sync'd data for the various applications: Stocks, weather, contacts, Clock, calendar, notes, photos, SMS Messages, Phone ( with all the recent call info as of last sync ), Mail accounts configuration etc. I have not messed with any configuration that changes the applications on my windows to which these sync to, so I suppose only the defaults would have been used.

2) Is there a Windows application that can show me all of the information that has been sync'ed back to my Windows PC in one interface instead of having to look in various places?

3) What is the difference between Backup and Sync. (I was horrified to find that the backup iTunes found was from 8 months back when I know I had connected my iPhone to my windows machine many times after that. Before swtiching to 3GS I did upgrade my 2G phone to OS 3.0 and I am almost confident that it did a backup then. )

The end result is, my 3GS is not an exact replica of the data I had on my 2G and slowly, upon discovery, I am adding one at a time. I still have not found all my old SMS messages.

This basically told me I do not have a good mental model of what this whole sync and backup procedure actually does. If some can clue me in on this, that will be great. Thanks.

 

[AiralynRose]

It should backup the phone everytime you sync, check your settings. You can also right click the phone and force it to backup.

If you still have your old phone, plug it in, force it to back up, then restore from that backup.

 

[-aggie-]

this first part is from a post from AiralynRose awhile back:
Backups contain the following:
call logs, recent call list, call timers, voicemails
settings
saved app data (like saved games and app settings - however, this is partially up to the developer to implement)
text message history
notes (if not being synced with notes on your computer)
stocks
weather cities
camera roll photos (no other photos)
app locations/placement (on 3.0 ONLY, saves what pages and locations you kept your apps)

It does NOT backup:
Contacts
Calendars
Emails
Apps
Music
Videos
Photos
Ringtones
(Basically everything that you should have saved on your computer or mail service by syncing)

Your backup is located:

On Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

On Windows Vista:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\AppleComputer\MobileSync\Backup

On Mac:
/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

 

[dangleheart]

Thanks AiralynRose, iphone.aggie.

That is the kind of detail I was looking for. Is there an Apple link where this kind of information is described? iphone.aggie has already given pretty much the gist of it. That is great help. Thanks.

I see one backup file from November 2008 and then one from a couple of week back. That is quite strange.

One more question. How will I know what apps contain the data that is not in backup. Music and applications are obviously itunes. What about the rest? Where can I find a mapping of the standard iPhone apps to apps on windows?

Given the split between what the backup contains and what the rest, what is the procedure to get a complete copy of everything from my iphone back and forth. Does the following sound right?

From iPhone to Windows:

Sync and then back up ( does the order matter )

From Windows to iPhone:

Restore from backup and then Sync ( the order probably matters )

 

[-aggie-]

SNIP...One more question. How will I know what apps contain the data that is not in backup. Music and applications are obviously itunes. What about the rest? Where can I find a mapping of the standard iPhone apps to apps on windows?

Given the split between what the backup contains and what the rest, what is the procedure to get a complete copy of everything from my iphone back and forth. Does the following sound right?

From iPhone to Windows:

Sync and then back up ( does the order matter )

From Windows to iPhone:

Restore from backup and then Sync ( the order probably matters )

I don't understand what else you're asking, since the first part that I copied from their thread tells you what is in the back and what is in the sync.

From iphone to windows, it always backs up your iPhone and then you do the sync.

 

[dangleheart]

If it automatically creates a backup when I sync, I do not understand why it did not create any backups for more than 8 months. That is still a mystery.

The two specific questions still in my mind is,

1) To make my new iPhone whole, I will make sure that the old phone is backed up, sync'd up and then connect the new iphone, restore from back up and sync.
Just wanting confirmation if this procedure looks OK.

2) Second, what windows applications are used for the sync data?

Sorry if I am being a pest. I want to understand all this clearly.

 

[Night Spring]

1) To make my new iPhone whole, I will make sure that the old phone is backed up, sync'd up and then connect the new iphone, restore from back up and sync.
Just wanting confirmation if this procedure looks OK.

2) Second, what windows applications are used for the sync data?

1) Yes, that is the correct procedure.

2) Music and Videos are synced with iTunes. The exact location of the music and video files on your computer depends on whether you set iTunes to manage your media files, or you chose to manage them yourself. Just do a search on your computer drives for media files if you are unsure where they are.

Photos sync from the My Pictures folders by default. Any pictures you take with the iPhone have to be imported to your computer using Windows Photo Import Wizard, which you can invoke by right-clicking on the iPhone icon in My Computer. (It appears there when there are importable pictures on your iPhone.)

The rest of the stuff, like Calendar, Contacts, etc, are controlled from the "Info" tab for your iPhone in iTunes. The Info tab gives you a selection of installed apps that you can sync with, and you pick one. If you don't have a compatible app for a particular Info type, you won't have any options to sync that Info. If you haven't picked an app to sync with, then these information don't get synced. They are, however, backed up -- I know I don't have my Calendar synced, but every time I restore from a backup, I get my Calendar entries back.

 

[dangleheart]

Continuing on, I encountered a silly problem. I backed up my old iphone and I see it created a new directory. When I go to restore it on to the new phone, it gives me a list of choices to restore from but they are all named the same without a date ( Except a couple which have date in the name but they are old ones ). How can I tell which is which? If there is no good way, I am planning on moving the other ones out of the way from Windows Explorer so the only ones is the latest one. Not sure if that will confuse things further if meta data about backups are kept somewhere else.