3G issues

So i upgraded my 3G the day iOS4 came out and it has been running reeaaalllllyyyyy slow ever since. So after doing some research on it, people that have done a upgrade and started from scratch have had better luck. Well after backing up my phone and doing the install once again and syncing it as "a new phone" i went to do a "Restore from backup" to get my crucial information on there (i.e. contacts, notes, etc...) the backup that I JUST DID was nowhere to be found, and the most recent one was from Nov. 2009!!! ***?!?!?!?! Ive done multiple backups since then... why are they nowhere to be found? Any info would be great.

Thanks
Jared