Error 14'd, can I restore and then restore from backup from iOS 13.5?

[pioneer9k]

Hey all. Here's what happened. My phone said it was full. "Other" was 10gb. I deleted some pics. Still full. Other was now 13gb. I deleted 400 pics, 5 huge chat threads, 8 100mb+ apps. Other was 18gb.

I was going to back up and reset my phone. I was trying to back it up and it kept saying "iPhone disconnected". So I thought, ill restart it. I did, and it didn't boot. Just stuck on apple logo. I then tried to "Update" through recovery mode on my Mac with Catalina. Error 14.

Tried USBC to lightning directly to my Mac, different ports, using the IPSW, etc. Ive error 14'd probably 10 times at least. So I decided I would restore from an old back up.

I realize that if I restore my phone in recovery mode with finder, it will update to 13.5.1. Does this mean my backup is useless? Cause once its restored it will be 13.5.1, so I dont think I can restore from my back up from last month using 13.5?

I'm pretty scared right now. I deleted so much stuff to make space and then my phone bricks on me. It's an iPhone X that was running 13.5

 

[pioneer9k]

for anyone who finds this: you can. my life was saved. I am now buying an external to backup my laptop because I am traumatized.

 

[0128672]

for anyone who finds this: you can. my life was saved. I am now buying an external to backup my laptop because I am traumatized.

Really glad to hear you were able to resolve this, and it's an awful thing to experience. Yes yes and yes to backing up your laptop regularly and your iPhone too. I sleep better at night knowing my iPhone and iPad are backed up automatically to iCloud daily. It's also great to backup your iOS devices to your Mac (using the new Finder utility that used to be in iTunes), which then gets included as part of your laptop backup. Can't hurt to have multiple backup methods.

 

[pioneer9k]

Really glad to hear you were able to resolve this. Yes yes and yes to backing up your laptop regularly and your iPhone too.

I can't even begin to explain the relief. I thought 2 things: that my backup was useless unless I found a 13.5 phone, and that my back up (being 63.9gb) wasn't going to be able to fit on the a factory reset phone. Thankfully, it worked perfectly, and now my "other" is 4gb instead of 18gb (at its peak) and I'm ordering an external for Time Machine for my Mac and any future Mac.

 

[0128672]

I edited my post while you were responding.

One thing I found to regularly increase the size of the Other category were iMessage photo attachments. Now I delete those regularly.

 

[pioneer9k]

One thing I found to regularly increase the size of the Other category were iMessage photo attachments. Now I delete those regularly.

No, like I said, anything I deleted made the Other category grow. I had already gone back previously and deleted a ton of attachments, and then yesterday I had also deleted a bunch of large chat threads. It just made "Other" grow larger. 450+ pics and vids, 10 apps 100mb+, 8 chat threads.. yet my phone would just fill back up 1 hour later even when I wasnt using it. My "Messages" was under 2gb. When I deleted some stuff like "large" attachments, messages would go down, and Other would get bigger.

 

[TerenceYong]

HI i am in the same place
What do you mean by?
recovery mode with finder

 

[pioneer9k]

HI i am in the same place
What do you mean by?
recovery mode with finder

Huh?

 

[TerenceYong]

how you managed to resolve it?