Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to learn and understand new technology, especially when it comes to the iPhone. With so many applications available, it’s easy to get confused as to just exactly what is needed for a particular process. Apple’s iTunes often presents just such a problem.
Backups, settings, and certain other information can be created for the iPhone from iTunes. A back-up may restore information to an iPhone after software is restored or after an update. Information may also be transferred to another computer or another device. Back-ups may also be deleted in iTunes if not needed. Be sure to check with the Apple Computer website for information specific to your particular iPhone.
Restore your Apple iPhone in iTunes
Each time you want to restore your iPhone, a dialog box pops up and asks if you want to restore the iPhone to factory settings. It’s a relatively easy two stage process to perform a full restore on an iPhone from a back-up. First, restore the iPhone to the original factory settings. This will reload the iPhone OS back onto the device. Once this restore is finished, and the iPhone is restarted, iTunes will ask whether you wish to restore the iPhone from a back-up source or set the iPhone up as an entirely new device.
Set up your Apple iPhone Restore or Re-Load
A dialog box will appear labeled “Set Up Your iPhone.” From here, select the back-up source and restore it to the iPhone. There is no need to recover an iPhone back-up from another source (like Time Machine) unless you’re wanting to go back to an older back-up before the last back-up. Remember that the iPhone always keeps the last back-up automatically. The iPhone firmware also makes additional checkpoint back-ups at each firmware upgrade. Simply select the “devices” tab and you can take a look at all of the back-ups that are stored there.
If completely wiping the iPhone and relaoding the OS is not a concern, you can restore a previous back-up from iTunes by right-clicking on your iPhone listed on the “devices” list. From there, simply choose “restore” and this will start the same restore process as described previously.
It’s best to do a complete restore before troubleshooting a problem with the iPhone. Be sure to do a complete re-load on the OS as well. This will return the iPhone to the cleanest possible arrangement. If you only want to recover lost information, just bypass the OS re-load and restore the back-up directly. In this case, it’s not necessary to re-load the iPhone OS.
Source: Apple Computer Website
