I lost one of my calendars somehow. I restored my iPod from a recent iCloud backup and got it back, but almost immediately iCloud over-wrote the restored data with the newer, corrupted data. How can I restore to an earlier backup and keep iCloud from overwriting it?
iPod restore overwritten by iCloud
- Thread starter KathrynZ
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Hmmm... that's a good question. Do the restore again. While it's rebooting, turn your router off. When your iPod is back on, verify that your calendar data is how you like it. If so, go to your iCloud settings and disable syncing of your calendar. You may get a prompt asking to keep the data in iCloud or delete it. For now, keep it (though it probably won't matter). Turn your router back on so your iPod connects to make the changes. Then recheck your calendar. If all is well, turn syncing back on. You should get a prompt to merge the calendars, delete what's on iCloud, or delete what's on the iPod. Keep only what's on the iPod (delete on iCloud). Hopefully this will do it, if the steps go the way I think they will.
Thanks for your response.
I found a similar set of instructions on the apple.com support forums, from a user "Winston Churchill" (we shall fight them in the fields!). It worked up until the part that I quoted. When I turned synching back on, I got only the option to "merge" and was not given a choice to delete what was on iCloud or on the iPod. The (later) iCloud calendar overwrote the (earlier backup, restored) iPod calendar. Second try, I deleted individual calendars on both my iMac and iCloud. After the restore, the empty iCloud calendar was helpfully synched to my iPod, wiping out all of the calendar data. Third try described below.
My current try, and possibly my last, is this:
1. Reset the iPod, erasing contents.
2. Restore from iCloud backup, since that's my best one and doesn't seem to show up on iTunes.
3. After settings are restored, while the missing calendar is still there, go to iCloud and turn off calendar sync.
4. Let the apps and photos download (this takes a looooooooooooooong time). That's where I am now.
5. Backup using iTunes, backup using iCloud.
6. Bury a potato out by the stump in the light of the moon (yes I'm that desperate).
7. Erase the iPod yet again.
7. Using iTunes, since it appears to be a faster restore, restore using the most recent iTunes backup, with the good calendar.
8. Go to iCloud and turn calendar sync back on. If it works the way I think it should (I've be wrong before!), the more recent backup date on the iPod should take precedence over iCloud and it should sync properly.
9. If that doesn't work, run around the yard screaming, then wrote to Apple explaining the meaning of the word "restore". Yeesh!
The intuitive thing would be to provide what ::: gritting teeth ::: Palm devices were blithely offering back in 2000 or so: save on device, replace on device, or start over. It even provided a way to go through entry by entry and decide. It is inconceivable to me that in 2015 we are having to resort to such a kludge as unplugging a router in the middle of a restore! Or that a restore is not a restore! Why, in *MY* day, we had to climb a hill and chisel things into stone tablets for backups. And we didn't complain! OK. Rant over. Almost.
I found a similar set of instructions on the apple.com support forums, from a user "Winston Churchill" (we shall fight them in the fields!). It worked up until the part that I quoted. When I turned synching back on, I got only the option to "merge" and was not given a choice to delete what was on iCloud or on the iPod. The (later) iCloud calendar overwrote the (earlier backup, restored) iPod calendar. Second try, I deleted individual calendars on both my iMac and iCloud. After the restore, the empty iCloud calendar was helpfully synched to my iPod, wiping out all of the calendar data. Third try described below.
My current try, and possibly my last, is this:
1. Reset the iPod, erasing contents.
2. Restore from iCloud backup, since that's my best one and doesn't seem to show up on iTunes.
3. After settings are restored, while the missing calendar is still there, go to iCloud and turn off calendar sync.
4. Let the apps and photos download (this takes a looooooooooooooong time). That's where I am now.
5. Backup using iTunes, backup using iCloud.
6. Bury a potato out by the stump in the light of the moon (yes I'm that desperate).
7. Erase the iPod yet again.
7. Using iTunes, since it appears to be a faster restore, restore using the most recent iTunes backup, with the good calendar.
8. Go to iCloud and turn calendar sync back on. If it works the way I think it should (I've be wrong before!), the more recent backup date on the iPod should take precedence over iCloud and it should sync properly.
9. If that doesn't work, run around the yard screaming, then wrote to Apple explaining the meaning of the word "restore". Yeesh!
The intuitive thing would be to provide what ::: gritting teeth ::: Palm devices were blithely offering back in 2000 or so: save on device, replace on device, or start over. It even provided a way to go through entry by entry and decide. It is inconceivable to me that in 2015 we are having to resort to such a kludge as unplugging a router in the middle of a restore! Or that a restore is not a restore! Why, in *MY* day, we had to climb a hill and chisel things into stone tablets for backups. And we didn't complain! OK. Rant over. Almost.
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If it "merges", do you get the "good" data along with the "bad" data? If so, then once you have the good data on your iPod while the router is off, disable the wi-fi on the iPod; disable iCloud syncing; turn the router on; log in to iCloud via a desktop web browser; delete your calendars on iCloud; then re-enable the iPod's wi-fi and re-enable syncing. There should only be the "good" data to merge.
I'm a bit surprised you don't have an option to keep one or the other. I know there used to be, but I haven't done anything with this in a long time.
If you have a Mac (not sure about Windows), then while iCloud syncing is disabled, connect the iPod to iTunes and use the sync options there (under "Info" on the left side panel in iTunes) and sync the calendars to the desktop. You probably have to disable iCloud syncing on the desktop as well.
I'm sure we're on the right path to a fix, but yeah, this shouldn't be quite this hard to sort out and I have to wing this just a little as we go.
I'm a bit surprised you don't have an option to keep one or the other. I know there used to be, but I haven't done anything with this in a long time.
If you have a Mac (not sure about Windows), then while iCloud syncing is disabled, connect the iPod to iTunes and use the sync options there (under "Info" on the left side panel in iTunes) and sync the calendars to the desktop. You probably have to disable iCloud syncing on the desktop as well.
I'm sure we're on the right path to a fix, but yeah, this shouldn't be quite this hard to sort out and I have to wing this just a little as we go.
Once again, thanks for your help.
Lifeisabeach;1665471 I'm sure we're on the right path to a fix said:The bottom line is that the individual calendar itself appears to have been corrupted. Not the entries, the calendar itself.
BUT...
There is indeed a consistent problem with later data overriding a backup from an earlier date. Even if the data on iCloud is deleted, the later iCloud data (or lack of it) overrides the earlier backup to the iPod. So it's not a merge or a true restore, it's a wipe.
This is what finally worked, over a number of tries.
1. Reset iPod, erasing data.
2. Did setup for restore from backup.
3. Restored from 6/27/15 iCloud backup (the most recent iTunes backup was 5/16/15).
4. Waited till settings were restored and restoration of Apps began (also photos). Checked that calendar was there. (Note: As I wasn't working through iTunes, and the restoration of photos from iCloud took forever, I didn't have to disconnect the router.)
5. Went to iCloud setting and turned off Calendar.
6. When restoration was complete, checked that calendar data was still there. Since I'm OCD, checked several times, compulsively.
7. Did a backup to iCloud.
8. For good measure, plugged in to iTunes and did a backup to computer (this turned out to be useful as restore was faster).
8.1 Note: the iCloud Calendar setting was in the "Off" position before the backup, so it then restored in the "Off" position.
8.2 IMPORTANT NOTE: By doing this, I didn't have to use the 6/26/15 backup any more. The time stamp of the backup was now apparently later than the time stamp of the data, so it began to sync correctly; at least, it transferred the data from the iPod to iCloud and iMac. As this isn't a true "restore", that seemed to matter a great deal. I could delete data from iCloud and iMac and the restored iPod data would transfer to both, though it still dropped the corrupted calendar. That's how I figured out that the calendar itself was corrupted.
9. As it turned out, though I erased and restored from the computer backup several more times, testing various scenarios, I wouldn't have had to, because...
10. I created a dummy calendar on iCloud and iMac, and removed all of the existing ones with data.
11. On the iPod, I created a new calendar (called "Temp").
12. I went through all of the entries for the corrupted calendar (since 2013!!!), and moved them to the new "Temp" calendar.
13. I removed the corrupted calendar and any other spurious calendars without data.
14. I should have done a backup at this point but I didn't.
15. I went to the iCloud setting and turned Calendar back on.
It synched correctly, including the "Temp" calendar, containing the data moved from the corrupted calendar.
Problem not solved, but I definitely found a workaround. As I did this kind of stuff for 35 years, it's nice to know I haven't lost my touch. (Dad-burned machines! Can't hold a candle to the VAX 11-780!)(Bring back COBOL! Save Our Nation!)
Once again, thank you very much for your help and advice.
Kathryn Z. (Hah! I worked on Oracle 2.3, dad-gummit, and know where the bodies are buried!)
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