Pre-upgrade backup - what's going on?

[SimonW500]

Hi,

A normal backup of any of my iDevices from within iTunes takes around a minute at most, normally a lot less (dependant upon how long & what's changed since last backup I guess). However as part of the IOS 5 upgrade process it seems to insist on carrying our a 'backup' before it gets going (despite having just done a normal automatic backup as part of the sync when I plugged the iDevice in prior to hitting the Upgrade button) and this backup seems to take an age.

Now what I want to know is exactly WHAT this backup is backing up, and where it is backing it up to and how I could potentially use this backup..

I ask as so far I've upgraded two iDevices (iPhone 4 & iPad 2) and both had differing quirks during their upgrades.. I'm now upgrading my third an final iPad and while watching it do its 'extended' backup I can't help but wonder if there's a way I can possibly get to (and restore) the two backups that were taken during my earlier two iDevices upgrades.

Any clue??

(thanks)

 

[SimonW500]

Bump. Can no one provide any input? Please! #

 

[zorinlynx]

They've changed the procedure.

A normal backup of an iOS device is just app data and settings.

The backup done before a restore is a complete backup of everything except media (because media can be resynced). This backup includes ALL your apps as well. This allows the restore to do a "bulk restore" of everything which is a lot faster than individually reinstalling all your apps.

 

[SimonW500]

Hmm, figured as much - thanks!

My only complaint with this is you don't get a proper progress bad when it is restoring (just the type that scrolls indefinitely) and thus when I'd had this on my screen for 30 mins and a blank iPhone I unplugged it thinking it'd hung. Seems I recovered though as my apps sync as normal when I reconnected.

 

[LizKat]

Yes I also noticed the different backup/restore process. So where do they put the backup or is it temp and they discard when they're done? Gulp. Where is what to restore from if right now the BadLuckDog eats my 3GS iPhone's lunch?

As soon as I sync'd (and software-updated) one smart device, my 3GS, after going to iTunes 10.5, all of my MobileSync/Backups backup files disappeared, not just the one for the device I software-updated. All of them. I was surprised but I guess that's Apple's way of saying after the fact of the iTunes 10.5 update, "oh btw your old backups are no good now." Fine but where's the 3GS backup after that backup-upgrade-restore process?

Edit: Ok the lost are found. The backups are in my library in Application Support/MobileSync/Backup folder. Not the first time I have looked for them in Application Support/iTunes/Mobile Backups and found that folder empty. Afraid to delete that empty folder though. Have no clue why it's still there and always empty. But I did have to make a backup for the 3GS by ctrl-clicking on the 3GS in the source list after connecting it to iTunes again. I'm going to wait awhile before I update the software on my iPad, and I'm going to strip out stuff I don't need first, too!

 

[zorinlynx]

Hmm, figured as much - thanks!

My only complaint with this is you don't get a proper progress bad when it is restoring (just the type that scrolls indefinitely) and thus when I'd had this on my screen for 30 mins and a blank iPhone I unplugged it thinking it'd hung. Seems I recovered though as my apps sync as normal when I reconnected.

If there's anything I've learned after years of dealing with this, it's best to just start the upgrade procedure, and once it's going, just walk away and not think about it for a couple of hours.

Some parts of the process aren't good about telling you progress, so it looks hung. It's best to not worry about it and let it do its thing.