Iphone 6 backup on itunes - has multiple backups in same backup folder. HELP!?!

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Hey there everyone, i just did a back up of my iphone6, due to all of my text messages mysteriously disappearing. I wanted to back up my phone (just in case), and then back up from my previous backup done only a week ago.

However, when i went to check my previous backups, it showed only the one i just did, and then others from 2016 and older.

Upon further investigation, the backup folder is holding 6 previous backups from 2019 (Jan.01.19, Jan.03.19, March.20.19, May.16.19, Aug.12.19, and the one I did today - Aug.22.19). This folder also has at least 8 backups from 2018, and around the same amount of backups for 2017, 2016 and 2015 (respectively).

There is only one "info.plist", "Status.plist" & "Manifest.mbdb", which is dated as of today. But all other files are dated either today, or from older backup times.


In itunes, when i'm selecting "Restore from backup", the selection only shows 1 from 2019 (Today's backup).

How can i access my previous backup, which is unfortunately in the same folder?

Can i physically create a new folder, and move each of the different time stamped items into their own new respective folder? If so, would itunes / my iphone read it as a backup to choose from?

My iphone currently, is not showing any of my text messages (imessage) history. I don't want to back up to the backup i just did, as i might end up as it is now, with no text messages.

Hopefully this post isn't confusing, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

P.S. - 2 screen caps attached.

1st shows the "info.plist", "Status.plist" & "Manifest.mbdb" dated for today.
2nd shows the different dates of files in the same folder.

Screen Shot 2019-08-22 at 10.39.07 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-08-22 at 10.38.43 PM.png
 

Raz0rEdge

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What versions of iTunes are you on? Since this is the iPhone 6, what version of iOS are you on? When you choose to restore a backup, iTunes should be showing you all the ones relevant to that phone.
 
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I gather the screenshots are taken when exploring your Mac using the Finder, but what does the Restore in iTunes option show with the iPhone connected???

Also, did you use iTunes.app to create the Backups???

I'd also suggest you seriously consider using iMazing.app for any iDevice backups. It works!!! :
iMazing | iPhone, iPad & iPod Manager for Mac & PC



- Patrick
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Hi there, thanks for the reply.

My itunes is 12.2.2.25
My iphone 6 IOS is 9.1
My MBP OSX is 10.8.3

Been like this without any upgrading for years. Never any issues.

Just for some reason, when my phone was full of photos etc (maxed out the 64 gigs), i was deleting some photos that i had backed up. Sometimes when you empty the recently deleted folder, the amount of free space doesn't get reflected correctly. Rebooting the phone helps with that.

I was doing this the other day, and boom....all of a sudden all of my text message history disappeared. Nothing else on the phone seemed to change.

So when i decided to do a backup, and then restore from backup, i couldn't choose the previous backup to restore from.

Is there any fix in separating the multiple backups from within that same folder?
 
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Maybe have a look and read here, but I have a feeling that it may not help unfortunately:
If your iTunes backup couldn't be completed or you can't restore from a backup
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203271

And I'm not sure if some or all of this is directly related or not:
If you choose to back up your iPhone or iPad by connecting it to iTunes and storing the backups on your computer, you can also restore it from your most recent iTunes backup. You'll first need to manually disable Find My iPhone. Then, you can use iTunes to restore from a backup.
[bold mine]
How to restore your iPhone or iPad from a backup | iMore

BTW: Maybe things have changed with the more recent versions, which I don't use, but I don't remember having to disable Find My Phone when doing any restoration from any backup.

Been like this without any upgrading for years. Never any issues.
Have you done any updates with any of the involved applications lately or since you last tried doing any backup or restore???

PS: You might want to check your iCloud in case any of the missing stuff is still available in case it was synced in the first place.



- Patrick
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chscag

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What exactly are you seeing when you open iTunes, Preferences, Devices? Provide a screen shot of that instead of the data base listing above - which is not useful.

By default, iTunes will overwrite the last backup of a device with the current one unless you specifically tell it not to. That can be troublesome when trying to restore from an older backup. It may be possible to restore an older backup from Time Machine. I have had to do that one time in order to restore from an older backup that contained the data I needed.
 
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I truly appreciate you feedback, but none of it was helpful unfortunately.


Maybe have a look and read here, but I have a feeling that it may not help unfortunately:
If your iTunes backup couldn't be completed or you can't restore from a backup
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203271

And I'm not sure if some or all of this is directly related or not:
[bold mine]
How to restore your iPhone or iPad from a backup | iMore

BTW: Maybe things have changed with the more recent versions, which I don't use, but I don't remember having to disable Find My Phone when doing any restoration from any backup.


Have you done any updates with any of the involved applications lately or since you last tried doing any backup or restore???

PS: You might want to check your iCloud in case any of the missing stuff is still available in case it was synced in the first place.



- Patrick
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This is what my itunes shows (pic attached).



What exactly are you seeing when you open iTunes, Preferences, Devices? Provide a screen shot of that instead of the data base listing above - which is not useful.

By default, iTunes will overwrite the last backup of a device with the current one unless you specifically tell it not to. That can be troublesome when trying to restore from an older backup. It may be possible to restore an older backup from Time Machine. I have had to do that one time in order to restore from an older backup that contained the data I needed.

Screen Shot 2019-09-15 at 9.18.47 AM.png
 

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It appears you have iTunes saving all your backups. That's okay as long as you know which one you want to restore from. From the screenshot above, you have some very old backups that probably will not restore because of subsequent updates to iOS. Do you know which one of those contain the messages you're missing?
 
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Those backups, all seem to have been archived, at least the date only shows on mine, when I archive them. Also, they are not secured with a password (lock icon), so I don't know how much information is backed up.
 

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@LEKOVISION

As Bob pointed out, you're archiving the backups (I said save - but same thing), however, without knowing which backup(s) contain the missing text messages, you would risk losing them by restoring from an older backup that was made with a different version of iOS.

For future reference and safe keeping of your data, we suggest using another program for backing up and restoring. You might want to take a look at "iMazing 2" which will give you complete control over your backups, text messages, and other iOS data. Shop around for the program as it is often on special sale.
 
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As Bob pointed out, you're archiving the backups (I said save - but same thing), however, without knowing which backup(s) contain the missing text messages, you would risk losing them by restoring from an older backup that was made with a different version of iOS.[/QUOTE]


I could certainly be mistaken, but I was under the impression that the iTunes backups were separate and independent of each other. So as long as one has a backup with the needed a document or files, surely they will always exist until deleted and not be overwritten.

Also, for the existing backups, is there not some chance that iMazing could have a look or peek inside any of the backups and locate any needed to file. If so, iMazing should be able to recover it should it not???


- Patrick
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I have never heard of imazing before....just downloaded it and i'm impressed. It's about time that a program can actually just focus on certain aspects of the backup.

I'm letting it look at the messages of my backups, and seeing what it see's. Hopefully this can still help me out in the way i need it to.

Thank you SO much.



@LEKOVISION

As Bob pointed out, you're archiving the backups (I said save - but same thing), however, without knowing which backup(s) contain the missing text messages, you would risk losing them by restoring from an older backup that was made with a different version of iOS.

For future reference and safe keeping of your data, we suggest using another program for backing up and restoring. You might want to take a look at "iMazing 2" which will give you complete control over your backups, text messages, and other iOS data. Shop around for the program as it is often on special sale.
 
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I have never heard of imazing before....just downloaded it and i'm impressed.


BTW: I just got an email from BundleHunt the other day that has iMazing included among 40 other apps in their $5 bundle for $6!!!

You can't beat that for a deal unless someone knows of a better one!!
https://bundlehunt.com/?ap_id=campaign&mc_cid=1e888bab5f&mc_eid=7d5f39f8e4

Also be aware about the iTunes method as a true backup is not reliable, especially when it comes to extra apps you may have added from the App Store. If you ever need to use the restore and Apple has removed the app from the App Store, that app is then kaput. Not so with iMazing, it backs up the third-party apps into your backup. Usually anyway... but that's another odd story.

Yes, another very satisfied iMazing.app user here.



- Patrick
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Well my backups were all archived after i learned about them just recently. My backups have files from 2015 all the way up to 2019 recently a week before my text message history on my iphone vanished. So apparently, the backup kept taking in the next "backup" and put it over top of the previous backup - for a lack of a better way of describing it.

If these backups are stacked upon themselves (because they were not archived) is there no way to "un stack" them, and retreive the individual information that each back up contained? There is no way that all of the text messages in these backups were not backed up, or can't be there. From my understanding, they are just not accessible because a newer backup was done over it.

I hope i'm making sense here...am I?

is there any way to peel back the layers of a mutli-backed up, backup?




It appears you have iTunes saving all your backups. That's okay as long as you know which one you want to restore from. From the screenshot above, you have some very old backups that probably will not restore because of subsequent updates to iOS. Do you know which one of those contain the messages you're missing?
 

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is there any way to peel back the layers of a mutli-backed up, backup?

No, it's not possible from iTunes. However, as I stated above, if you have Time Machine backups saved it's possible to restore a Time Machine backup and overwrite the current backups with one that you made before which contained all your text messages. I know that method works as I have done that myself when I accidentally overwrote an iTunes backup with a newer one.
 
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Yes, the Aug.12.19 backup was the one i did when my text messages were still on my phone.

When my phone's text messages vanished about a week or so later, i STUPIDLY backed up my phone, thinking that the text messages were still in the phone somewhere, but just not being displayed, either due to a virus or a gliche.

The Aug.22.19 backup, is the backup that went over top of the Aug.12.19 backup. There is alot of files in that folder from Aug.12, as well as Aug.22, and well before Aug.12 back to 2015.

That is what my screen caps where illustrating, from my initial post. That there was multiple year backups, within the same back up folder.


It appears you have iTunes saving all your backups. That's okay as long as you know which one you want to restore from. From the screenshot above, you have some very old backups that probably will not restore because of subsequent updates to iOS. Do you know which one of those contain the messages you're missing?
 
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I never got into doing Time Machine backups regularly.

yes, shoulda coulda woulda..may apply here...but had i actually known about the archiving and what it does, i would have archived after each and every iphone backup.

I'm still pissed. There must be a way for me to still get my text messages back.

The one backup has all of them up until 2015. But that gap of 4 years worth of texts....i absolutely need.

I still don't understand why they just vanished off my iphone. That actually pisses me off the most, as this phone and IOS has been solidly reliable.


No, it's not possible from iTunes. However, as I stated above, if you have Time Machine backups saved it's possible to restore a Time Machine backup and overwrite the current backups with one that you made before which contained all your text messages. I know that method works as I have done that myself when I accidentally overwrote an iTunes backup with a newer one.
 
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If these backups are stacked upon themselves (because they were not archived) is there no way to "un stack" them, and retreive the individual information that each back up contained?


I really don't know, nor do I know if Apple uses anything like Time Machine and its use of various linked files, but I somehow doubt it being a completely different operating system.

But while checking for such info, I did come across this I thought you might be interested in:
How to view and access iPhone backup files
iBackup Extractor allows you to access and view iPhone backup files. You can view files within backups on your Windows PC or Mac computer.
How to view and access iPhone backup files


EDIT:
Just some more additional info:
iTunes backups
From your Mac or PC, you can make a backup of your device in iTunes. Syncing your device with your computer isn't the same as making a backup. An iTunes backup includes nearly all of your device's data and settings. An iTunes backup doesn't include:
See list:
About backups for iOS devices - Apple Support



- Patrick
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Hey there, i just recently discovered something interesting.

When i do a search on my phone for a certain word or contact….it will show you results in your files, music, video, online searches, as well as text messages.

Well i've been finding results for words that came up in the search from my text messages, that have vanished in this mysterious text message disappearance.

So, how can my phone show the text messages that show up in the search, yet not be on the phone in the text messages?

I tried clicking on these text message search results, and it opens up messages, but nothing shows. Just the list of current text message recipients i've texted with since the "vanishing" act.

Any explanation for this?

Many thanks,

Richard
 

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