How not to wipe your Iphone when upgrading to IOS 5

As I understand it the author said the back up failed and they had multiple iTunes accounts and the phone was never synced after buying it used. This is why the update didn't work. I'm faced with this now. My laptop and iTunes account were stolen by an exboyfriend. The iTunes is linked to his email. So whatever I bought on that iTunes and cd's stored on that laptop (all of my music) will be gone if I sync or update. I might just have to suck it up and lose everything and start over. :(

Dude you should just stick with a droid or some kind of drag and drop mp3 player. As a matter of fact you should back up and walk away from all electronic devices and stick to a land line.

I update the new software in the iPhone 4
Now any call if I am making hold,but the hold plece is showing face time
How I can hold. Please advice?

Thanks

Thank you for telling me!! I wuz just about to download it!!

It would be helpful

Why are some of these comments so rude. Are you guys that upset over a article about a phone.after spending 5 hours so far of my life. Updating someone else's iPhone. There update sucks. Took me 5 minutes to update my HTC Android. And my blackberry. It's a a bad way to do this. The software is so bad you got to backup,any other software doesn't loss your data on updates

It automatically back its up so why would you write. Along story about something that already happens without explanation or warning or anything..... O lord people these days right?

I use Diskaid to transfer all of my content from I phone to my PC hard drive AND an external harddrive. (I really value the content on my phone) Anyways it is super easy and there is a free version. Try it! I never use I tunes automatic sync. Too many chances to wipe stuff out. I always have it on manual. Hope this helps. Cheers!

WARNING!!! The reason to back up your phone is not because of Apps. You can download those again. You may lose ALL contacts (Yes, google the unhappy many!) and the super helpful iTunes deletes your backups, as it thinks it has no further use for them once the update has finished.

Backup and "very important"... copy backup to another location! (Yes... or you will lose your backup) You can always use 3rd party tools to recover contacts later. Even if 3rd party tools report no contacts, keep going. Use sqlite to export tables into Excel and reimport contacts into iPhone via email system. (Outlook or Google).

If you are too late and contacts and backup have gone, use an undelete program to recover the deleted backups and then proceed with 3rd party tools/sqlite. But the sooner you try the recover the deleted backup the better, so that backup files do not get overwritten by other files.

Good Luck!

I upgraded my iphone after syncing all apps to itunes,then after the upgrading is done,all my data were wiped from the iphone including my sms,contacts,pics,videos and the content of my apps.and once am trying to syncing the apps from itunes,a message box says that itunes falied to sync.plz if someone knows how to restore my data i would be so thankful.reply me on my email if possible.
Thanks in advance

I would never trust any cloud service for back-ups. I always back up to an external hard drive and then check the back up to make sure it's really there. Especially if I have something important added since the last back up.

Yes, it has saved me lots of grief with moth Windows and Apple products.

I'm IT desktop support and I have had several users reporting this same issue. iPhone wiped after iOS 5 upgrade and no backup or last backup overwritten in the MobileSync folder. I myself did do the upgrade to one user's iphone, but the restore did not restore text messages, pictures and videos. I am 100% I did not skip any backups as the partial backup was created in the the MobileSync folder. It's filesize however, was definitely too small to have included this user's videos and pictures. I definitely think that the writer of this article is right and that even if you read the prompts and do exactly what iTunes suggests, that there is a much larger than usual chance of this particular upgrade wiping out all your data.

I backed everything up first... And on timecapsule. OS5 updated and o e of two mail accounts gone,all app icons completely rearranged over 10 screens, all phone favs gone blue tooth pairings all gone... And now a teallygood phone is very very slow and it worth the few new features carried over. Wish I'd never done if.

"which could end up with a bricked Iphone."

I don't think it's possible to brick an iphone. Just do a total wipe and reinstall.

Thank you for writing this article, I wish I had read it prior to my install. On the other hand, I have to point out that, though I did have some issues, they were not catastrophic. After syncing my iPhone 4 I then synced and upgraded my wife's iPad (on her machine) and I will point out that I approached her upgrade with more caution.

I want to also point out that I have had very little (almost none) issues ever upgrading and syncing the iPhone. My iPhone experience started with the original iPhone. And I will praise Apple with making this process easy and, for the most part, trouble free. But problems do happen. And these problems may be caused by other software, virus checkers, malware checkers, MS OS, etc... so I don't want to blame Apple.

Here are my recommendations:
Create a restore point.
Back up your computer - include phone files.
Sync iPhone
Carefully follow prompts (I have been known to click away to quickly).

I had the same problem this weekend.
The thing is I did the backup too but when iOS5 was installed it could not restore my files!!!
I tried to restore from a previous backup and got the same error.
This is an Apple bugg!!!
My solution was to use iPhone Backup Extractor software and it did extract all my files from Friday backup.
But I still have other issues with this new OS: google voice, teamviewer ...

It's Apples fault for not providing a drag and drop file manager so that users can touch their own data. Backip and syncing never work. By default, Apple erases your apps and data and overwrites your single backup file!

It's amazing how many people commenting seem to have missed 1 point. The author says they did not back their phone up in any way other than relying on iTunes and Apples automatic backup. Which if you read a little bit further than that you'll notice that they say that process failed without giving any indication of the failure. So maybe rather than criticising the author all you Apple fanboys could offer some useful constructive criticisim so that this does not happen to others!

Madeline Bennett, eh?

The Inquirer, you have set the bar very low when it comes to allowing who to write articles for your site.

Complacency over the years.

Cliff and Kelly show their blatant ignorance to computing in general.

Kelly: There werent any flamatory comments made. You seem to be living in an Apple dreamland by which you took too many of the red pill. You are pathetic in the most genuine sense of the word.

Cliff: Just because you get a virus (albeit from your reckless cruising of pr0n sites) does not mean that your entire filesystem is dead. If you had a shred of tech knowledge (ie. ability to google search) you would know that file recovery is rather easy.

Android updates arent without their own issues but I dont feel so bad about them since I'm not being enslaved to iJail to manage all my media.

GLTA,

Power 10.

...because Apple doesn't make this easy...

Never thought I would live long enough to hear that!

Article is factual.

Itunes reports "cannot restore iphone "name" as backup failed.

On Win7, check contents of MobileSync folder in Appdata - roaming - apple computer - mobilesync - backup folder.

Previous iphone backup should be stored in this location.

Attention - following restore failure, should itunes sync the iphone, the previous backup is permanently lost.

Suggestion - backup contents of mobilesync folder to external hard drive.

At this point, you can opt to set up iphone as new and use one of the many third party applications to read the itunes backup contents and extract them on your pc. Manual re-input of all info is necessary...OR

Setup itunes on a separate computer, copy backup of mobilesync backup into mobilesync folder location as above and from itunes select restore from backup. This worked perfectly in my case with all contacts, calendar and messages restored to the new ios 5 updated iphone.

I am not surprised. In the many times that I have upgraded to newest IOS almost always something goes wrong. I also lost all my contacts, pics, text, settings, apps, pretty much everything. I was up until midnight looking for a solution. The Apple support website is full of blogs from other people that had some type of upgrade problem.
Since I have learned from this in the past, I actually did everything in different steps one at a time. I first downloaded the newest iTunes software on Wednesday, then on Thursday I began the whole process. First I synced my iPhone, then I backed it up (at least 4-5 times, not kidding). Then I downloaded IOS 5 to iTunes, and then I began the installation. Everything went well until it was time to back everything up. It said it could not restore the iPhone because the backup session failed. I have tried it at least 25 times, all kind of ways, closing iTunes, restarting the iPhone, restarting the computer, restoring, updating all of Windows updates, etc. But at least I now have IOS 5 installed on my iPhone 4.
I have to say I have at least spent a good 8 hrs between yesterday and today trying to fix it. Something went wrong and I am not sure what it was. By the way I have a PC running Windows 7 x64.

never trust this piece of software. it just feels counter intuitive and makes no sense to anyone but apple followers (and is so sloooow) . not sure if ifunbox software can recover lost data but it surely shows stuff long deleted on the phone (running "time proven" 3.1.3, 3G won't take anything newer). ifunbox brings back the sanity of file system access to iphone (though file system structure is not as familiar as on pc).

This woman wrote an article to help people, and most of you made hateful comments and called her ugly names. You are mean and ought to be ashamed of yourselves. We all make mistakes. You act like she wiped out YOUR iphone! How would you like someone to treat you like that?

This woman wrote an article to help people, and most of you made hateful comments and called her ugly names. You are mean and ought to be ashamed of yourselves. We all make mistakes. You act like she wiped YOUR iphone out! How would you like someone to treat you like that?

For a journalist your ill informed and a apple hater I've never had a problem updating apple constantly tells you to back. Up all your data befor upgrading iTunes works fine on window there's never been as much as a glitch AND FOR ANYONE TO EVEN THING OF CHANCING TO ANDRIOD GOOD LUCK WHEN YOU GET A VIRUS ON YOUR OS WITH IN MONTHS AND IT NEVER WORKS AGAIN AND YOU LOOSE ALL YOUR PICTURES MUSIC CONTACTS EVERTHING FOR GOOD
THINK IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU STARTED WRITING ABOUT SOMETHING YOU KNOW ABOUT

I had no issues at all updating my iphone4, update completed and it restored all my files and apps.

All,
If you experience this problem, first make sure that Settings|iCloud|Contact is not turned on. If it is, you contact is stored in the Cloud. Turn this off and you will receive all of your contact.

Al

Madiline

First off the first thing iTunes does when you update to iOS 5 is tell you that it is WIPING your device and will restore it from your latest backup. Like most your warning is there if you would simply read the instructions.

Apple cannot send a representative to your home to prevent make you read the pre upgrade instructions. If you fail to do so and fail to adequetly back up your information that is your fault Madinline not Apples.

Of coruse though it is always easier to blame someone else than admit your a moron.

Also iCloud is working just fine, it has had intermittant outages during PEAK business hours because that is when most people are trying to set up iCloud I set it up two days ago in the wee hours of the morning with no problem. STOP trying to access the service in the middle of the day during the release week and your problem is GONE!

Nothing in this article contains anything remotely related to "How not to wipe your iPhone". It's mostly "how not to get shafted" after a failed iPhone update like you experienced. Rather, this should be titled "How to recover your junk after a failed upgrade", "iPhone updates for dummies" or something similar.

Also, backing up should be an automatic action to any person who works with data-enabled gadgets. Blaming Apple for not reminding you is the act of a person who won't accept responsibility for their own idiocies and lack of foresight.

I backed up and I still had a problem. I'm not upset by it, I just KNOW that if you are one of the first people to do something less than 2 days after an update you are going to be the guinea pigs.
I've never updated and not been told to backup, but rather than insult the author, I'm going to assume he either missed it or something went wrong.. Unfortunately a Tech author should have known better, and it sounds like he realized that -- give him some slack.
My update went OK. It seemed to restore everything, but is still telling me to update each time I connect my machine.. I'm confused about that, and will be calling apple in the near future to have it explained. Just taking it in stride as one of the pitfalls of being an EARLY ADOPTER! If you aren't then wait till the kinks are worked out before trying to do things. There WILL ALWAYS be kinks for every person who things went well for, there are ALWAYS going to be people who had problems! Be glad it didn't brick your phone -- it happens!

This article got attention that it did not deserve. I did my iphone 4 upgrade and although it took longer than the usual time, it did well. It backed up everything and then restored it all - without my intervention at all. A smooth upgrade. Unless the author has some statistical data of at least 10 samples, it is too early to tell. But heck, he still managed to make me write this comment & all these comments will show "statistically" that he is a popular author.. darn!

I too had my Iphone wiped.
However, I was TOLD by the update to back up my phone, which I did, and I restored.
Following proper procedures it seems it the key to a successful and enriching upgrade experience.

Be all you can be, BACK UP AS SUGGESTED!

First off, man people can be harsh. Im sure everyone who had something negative to say has lost some sort of data because they forgot to back it up. Second millions will be switching to IOS5 so thank you for reminding them to back up there files. I say them cuz I'm running android and would like to see you switch, that and it seems like most iphone users have there nose way to high

Really?... multiple iTunes accounts and syncing to multiple computers...you would have lost those apps,music, etc a long time ago.
One iTunes account and one computer is the only way if you want to keep your stuff. ...By the way, sync regularly.

Seriously, you get paid to write tech articles? By google, maybe.. The first step to updating any device is to not be an idiot. The second step is to READ THE SCREEN! The reason you lost your content is because you're a frickin idiot! And some how that's Apples fault? I switched to Apple after an OTA android update bricked my android device and haven't looked back. I updated both my iPhone and iPad with no issues at all, just by following the instructions and leaving the devices alone until the update and restore process completely finished. Again, you're too stupid to write a tech article and Apple won't miss you so go ahead and move to Android. No, I'm not an Apple fanboi, just a satisfied Apple user that used to be an avid Windows/Android user.

I backed my iPhone up and (seemingly) did everything I should have, but for some strange reason the backup I did got wiped and after installing iOS 5 it restored with factory settings and none of my apps. I did retain photos, contacts and calendar entries, but everything else had to be restored manually. This update was poorly done by Apple and a big fuc*ing "F"!!!

how to upgrade ios without wiping your phone?

you could start by reading the directions. the first thing it does is backup your phone. you have to pro-actively thwart this.

frankly, your problems smack of ignorance. if you don't read the directions, don't whine about your problems.

i upgraded my wife's phone, and the process went flawlessly - this is particularly notable as she committed the ultimate sin: she yanked the cable in the middle of it! i just plugged it back in and it picked up right where it left off. frankly, i'm really impressed.

Contrary to what that article stated. I have an at&t iphone and my iOS5 upgrade went thru without any issues. The ' scenarios' she presented sounded scripted. And I completed my upgrade thru restrictive internet while in Kuwait! My iPhone is from at&t.

Assume nothing. Take responsibility for your own actions.

You're a tech "journalist" and you didn't backup? And this wasn't an iOS update, but a wholesale version upgrade. One word remains: WOW!

Disregard the negative comments given to your article.
I too upgraded my wife's Iphone on Wednesday. And like you she had multiple apple accts linked to her phone. And like you her phone was synced with MY mac NOT her PC. So when I did the upgrade, she lost any of the music that was associated with the Other apple account. I personally don't have a smart phone as yet...but when I do take that step I too will make the leap to Android. Thanks for sharing your story. Keep up the good work

Ok. The title sounds like a fanboy, but I mus first clarify that I have an iPod touch 4g and an iPad. I upgraded the iPod the other night and man what a headache. The first couple of attempts failed do to "server" time out. Finnally the process started, at one point it stopped mid process to make me sign up for iCloud. En it began restoring apps. Only they never made it. It said it was done so I look and the only apps there were Apple's default. When I searched the device, they appears in the search ist but would not run. I had to reapply all my apps. I didn't even check yet to see if all my photos, etc where put back on. iTunes indicated it did, but it said that with the apps. The whole process took over 2 1/2 hours.

Now incompaire that with the windows phone update that rolled out last month. That was just as big of an update. It went flawlessly and quickly. Comparing the two, I love my windows phone HTC Trophy more than my iPod Touch and any android device I've ever come across.

By the way I typed this comment on my iOS 4.3.3 iPad that I am hesitant to update.

I'm having trouble believing that this article was written with a straight face.

Honestly, you have data on a mobile device, which has knowingly not been saved anywhere else; you're about to update the operating system on that very mobile device, and you're thinking that Apple should have notified you that backing up might be a good idea?

Apple didn't tell you to brush your teeth this morning, either. Some things simply need to be done and are intuitively obvious. Let's not blame a corporation for what amounts to user (let's be blunt) stupidity. It's nice that all your readers can take a lesson from your mistake, but let's admit the mistake first.

If you have important data that exists in only one place, you have already made that mistake. The upgrade process simply called you on it.

All I can say is all you Apple fanatics are extremely defensive and sensitive to anything critical anybody ever says about any of their products, ever. So jeez, get the chip off your shoulder.

I made the ipad2 and iphone4 upgrade to ios5 yesterday with a windos7 machine. The ipad was easier to do than the iphone all was automatic the Quisco for your magazines really cool. On the ihone a had to do a lot by hand re installing aplications that where left behind.

I am a Windows 7 user and I did not experience any issues whatsoever upgrading to iOS5. Here are the steps I took.

1) I first upgraded iTunes to the latest version.

2) Plugged in my iPhone 4 and manually initiated a software update check.

3) iOS5 downloaded and iTunes immediately alerted me that my phone needed to be backed up prior to the upgrade at which point iTunes performed the backup - this step takes a long time if you have a lot of data. After the backup, iTunes wiped my phone, installed iOS5, and then restored my data.

4) I unplugged my phone and went through the iOS5 setup steps. My phone was fine after the update and all of my information was present.

So all this Apple-bias BS about not using a Windows PC and not being prompted to backup the iPhone sounds seriously flawed to me. iTunes ALWAYS backs up my phone prior to an upgrade. The only thing I can think of is that you either somehow skipped the backup up step or maybe there is a way to turn off this feature in iTunes so it never asks - I've never heard of such a thing but then I wouldn't really look for such a thing either. This isn't to say that I haven't had my share of iTunes issues but being careful and thinking about what you are doing goes a long way.

Dude,
do you see that you did not get even 1 - just 1 positive comment about your post.
It was all about iPhone and in the end you suggested to get an Android phone..huh
If Inquirer pay you for such crappy article---Can I have your job. I can write crappier article than this.

I upgraded my iPhone 4 on a PC based system using iTunes and it could not have been easier. I did have to update iTunes first but then it was simple. It did tell me to back up the iPhone in fact it did the back up twice, once before starting and then after completion.

I think this story is a hack job, anyone who has actually back up their phone knows that apple puts those banners up to sync or back up immediately. I would say that I really can't figure out a way someone could have done this and actually lost everything. This guy is either an iDiot, a liar or both.

like others have said, apple prompts you to make sure your content is backed up before you upgrade. i didn't have any problems upgrading my iphone,ipad, and apple tv. no loss of data, and everything went smoothly (except for long download time for iphone which was expected).

i do make it a habit of synching my iphone daily, mostly because i just want to get newer podcasts on there...

What's next from this author? An article about how to not catch fire while cooking?

Step 1: Do not insert face into fire.

perhaps you should make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar instead of writing about the iOS 5 upgrade.

It just goes to show that someone who writes for a living is not always knowledgeable.

You've been told to back up your stuff since the Apple ][ in 1977, so don't come crying when things go poop.

iTunes synchronizes automatically when you plug in your iPhone. You can even customize what gets synced. iTunes says that in great big letters and many languages. So don't come crying.

If you go a while just using the charger stand on the bedside table instead of plugging it in to the computer . . . don't come crying.

Be like Jesus in a dump truck:
Jesus Saves -- and backs up.

I don't know what the problem with hooking up to a Windows PC is. I have NEVER had a problem, especially now that I have Windows 7. Of course my PC is constantly cleaned, junk free, and well maintained. Oh, and there IS a dialog box right when you start the update process that tells you to back up your iPhone before updating. Another cool feature about iTunes and the iPhone, IT BACKUPS UP THE PHONE AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU PLUG IT IN! Weird...

iTunes does prompt you with a warning that you should backup, but you have probably clicked the check box that says "do not show me again" at some point in the past. I leave it up constantly b/c it reminds my spouse to do a backup before she makes any changes.

One is most certainly prompted to back up data. If my memory serves me correctly it was one of if not the first dialog box. "How not to wipe your Iphone..." read the dialog boxes...

I really can not believe the author was uninformed as to the need to back up the data on her phone. Apple issues this warning constantly and consistently. I am not a A-Fanboy at all... I, too, have made the mistake of not backing up my device before upgrading and have been bitten by not doing so... but I never blamed my ignorance/stupidity on someone else.

I had a similar experience when I upgraded my iPhone 3G to IOS 4. I'm disappointed to hear that the problems are still happening in the latest version. I had synced and backed-up my phone, but the restore function wouldn't work. After my experience, I resolved not to upgrade my iPhone software ever again.

This article shows how either stupid or pretend stupid journalists are. If you had backed up your phone and synced it to your Mac computer and had the Mac computer regularly backed up via the Time Machine he would have still have all his data. Not impressive at all. I would expect Luddites to act like that but not people who are seen in print.

The very first dialog box that appears after you say yes to upgrading your iOS device is a box saying you haven't backed up your device, do you want to continue?
This is pretty simple, I have 2 iOS devices: an iPhone 5 & an iPad. I was able to update & restore my data with no problems with the exception that in threstoration process iTunes selects all apps to restore instead of only the ones that were previously installed.
As far as iCloud, heavy traffic from users migrating from .me/ .mac and new ios5 users overloaded servers, on Thursday iCloud was working fine.
I do agree with the author about backing up - this is computing 101, always backup data to multiple destinations.