Restoring your iPhone
When you restore your iPhone, you access the backup file on your Mac to restore your customized settings and related data to the iPhone. Normally, you would do this if you are having problems for which other techniques (such as the reset options in the Settings > General > Reset on the iPhone) are unable to fix.
You can restore in two different ways:
- A backup-only restore copies data from your iPhone’s backup file to the iPhone. It does nothing else.
- A full restore similarly restores data from your iPhone’s backup, but it also replaces (and updates, if needed) the iPhone’s operating system. A full restore, unlike a backup-only restore, erases your iPhone first.
For most troubleshooting, you’ll want to do a full restore. A full restore is also useful for transferring all your data from a currentÑperhaps defective, but still functionalÑiPhone to a replacement iPhone. After a full restore, you’ll need to do a sync to put back all the media content on your iPhone.
When would you use a backup-only restore? If, for example, some data has been lost, corrupted, or deleted in error, a backup-only restore would let you recover that data (unless the data was added since the most-recent backup) without the hassle of having to erase the iPhone.
Make a backup of the backup: It’s always wise to have a backup of your iPhone backup, such as a copy stored via Time Machine. If the backup listed in iTunes fails or is incomplete, you can instead attempt to use your Time Machine backup copy.
Before you restore
Before you begin a restore, consider the following:
Download photos: Photos in the iPhone’s Camera Roll should be automatically saved to the iPhone’s backup file when you sync. However, to be sure that these photos are not lost during a restore, and to make sure you have saved the most recently added photos, separately download them to your computer first. You can do this via applications such as Image Capture or iPhoto.
Sync first or not:
- For a backup-only restore, you probably don’t want to sync your data prior to the restore. The point of a backup-only restore is to replace the current data with the backed-up data. If you sync first, you may accidentally replace the backed-up (good) data with newer (bad) data.
- For a full restore, unless you are concerned about transferring corrupted data from your iPhone to your computer, you should sync your iPhone first. This ensures that you back up the latest data prior to the restore.
Backup-only restore
To do a backup-only restore:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer, launch iTunes, and select the iPhone in the sidebar.
- Control-click (or right-click) your iPhone in the sidebar, and choose Restore from Backup.
- You will get a dialog requesting that you select which backup file to use, (assuming you have more than one). You’ll typically want to select the most current backup for the connected device.
Full restore
To do a full restore:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer, launch iTunes, and select the iPhone in the sidebar.
- Make sure you have an active Internet connection.
- In the iPhone’s Summary tab (pictured to the right), click Restore.
- Follow the prompts that appear. The contents of your iPhone are completely erased. Next, if needed, the latest version of the iPhone software is downloaded. After the download is complete, the original factory settings for the iPhone are restored and your phone is re-activated by your cellular provider.
- When your Mac says that the iPhone needs to restart, click OK. A screen eventually appears, noting that “An iPhone has been previously synced with this computer.”
- Select “Restore from the backup of…,” choose the desired backup to use for the restore (assuming you have more than one), and click Continue. The iPhone accesses the backup on your computer and uses it to restore your iPhone settings and related data. This can take several minutes.
- Click Sync to return all your previously synced content (music, videos, photos, calendar items, and contacts) to the iPhone. This can take a half-hour or more, depending upon how much content you have.
- Confirm that the update installed the latest version of the iPhone software: in iTunes, click the Check for Update button in the iPhone’s Summary tab.
- If you use a passcode lock on your iPhone, you must reset it, since the restore deleted it (see Use Passcode Lock, ahead).
Your iPhone should now be nearly completely restored to its pre-erased condition. A few items may be missing in action; for instance, after a restore, I’ve lost custom stocks I’ve added to the Stocks app, and account passwords in Mail. But your troubles should (hopefully) be gone.
Full restore without updating
Normally, when you do a full restore of your iPhone, the process installs the latest version of the iPhone software (either from your drive or after downloading a newer version if needed). However, if you are not currently running the latest version and wish to keep things that way, you can typically do so. That is, you can reinstall the same version of the iPhone OS you are currently running rather than downloading and updating to the newer version. This could be desirable, for example, if you know that updating will break some third-party app that you want to use.
To restore without updating, hold down the Option key when clicking the Restore button in iTunes. This brings up an Open dialog. From here, navigate to ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates. This is where the iPhone Restore files are located. For example, for iPhone OS 3.1.2 on an iPhone 3GS, the file is named iPhone2,1_3.1.2_7D11_Restore.ipsw. Select the desired Restore file. With iPhone OS 3.1 or later, you’ll likely find only the most-recently added update file here.
With the latest iPhone models, you may not be able to reinstall your current version after a newer version is out. This is because iTunes checks Apple’s servers, over the Internet, prior to restoring and may permit only the latest version to be installed on these iPhones. Still, it’s at least worth a try. No matter what model you have, you cannot use this procedure to downgrade from the current installed version to an older version of the software.
Note: There is a separate iPod Software Updates folder for iPod touch updates. Ideally, don’t mix and match; especially avoid using an iPhone update file to update an iPod touch.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Related posts:
