I lost all my contacts on iPhone and Mac PLEASE HELP! - Page 2

termleech · 11-30-2007, 03:44 PM

Time machine should work. As long as you knew what the file(s) were that address book stored it's contacts in, you'd be able to restore that(those) file(s) and everything should be happy. I haven't tested this theory, but I imagine it's possible.

I'm just thankful I sync with Outlook at work and I keep it backed up. If I lose my contacts I'd be screwed.

LEVID · 12-12-2007, 08:35 PM

So I am having the same problem... My phone got pissy today and decided to become un responsive... I ended up having to do a restore on my laptop.. well normally I do everything on my desktop but I am outta town so that wasnt possible...

Anyways when I restored it on my laptop I lost all my contacts because it never asked to to restore from backup... Well I found a back up file from 4 days ago in itunes so I decided to restore my phone again.. This time it asked me to restore from backup and I did.. well I still have no contacts...

I am guessing it just made a new backup from before the second restore and used it... BUT when I look back in the preferences there is still only the one backup... What gives??

Any ideas??

And what about if I try and restore it again when I get home.. think that will get my contacts back??

Also when I got the phone I had to enter each and every contact into the phone manually.. so there are no backups of my contacts anywhere... maybe if I can find my old sim card but that would be it...

and with that said how can I back up my contacts for future problems.. I am using a pc with XP and a laptop with vista

Snapper57 · 12-18-2007, 06:46 PM

Odd stuff happens when syncing - I got a message warning me that more than 5% of my contacts will change if I continue - actually the message indicated that it wanted to delete ALL 310 contacts, luckily i cancelled it before any damage was done - or so I thought! I re-synced and it seemed to work without any repeat of the message however, all new contacts since the last sync disappeared into thin air - Im soooooo pissed off, they were important . I now have little confidence in this process - Ive had the same correct settings throughout - and I have tried creating new contacts on my iPhone since and it now works ok - so the bug is random which makes it very dangerous indeed.

KNK · 12-18-2007, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Snapper57

Odd stuff happens when syncing - I got a message warning me that more than 5% of my contacts will change if I continue - actually the message indicated that it wanted to delete ALL 310 contacts, luckily i cancelled it before any damage was done - or so I thought! I re-synced and it seemed to work without any repeat of the message however, all new contacts since the last sync disappeared into thin air - Im soooooo pissed off, they were important . I now have little confidence in this process - Ive had the same correct settings throughout - and I have tried creating new contacts on my iPhone since and it now works ok - so the bug is random which makes it very dangerous indeed.

This is why I sometime sync to 2 machines, always with a backup.

Actually I think if you go into iTunes you could retrieve a backup file.

psylichon · 12-18-2007, 08:31 PM

This is one major thing I miss about Windows Mobile smartphones. With Exchange server support, I was able to sync all my contacts to a free remote server (it also provided my push email service). One time it saved my butt when the phone flipped and erased all my contacts on both the phone and Outlook.

I really really really really really hope that my Iphone never does that sort of thing or I'ma be pi**ed!

Snapper57 · 12-19-2007, 06:29 AM

The only sure fire way is to only add new contacts via address book on your desktop, back it up (via the File menu) and then sync - not very convenient but more secure. Note: if you do loose all your contacts it may be possible to retrieve them even if you have no backup - try this:
1. Close Address Book if open
2. On the desktop navigate to Macintosh HD/{Username}/LIBRARY/Application Support/AddressBook
3. Rename AddressBook.data to AddressBook.datax
4. Rename AddressBook.data.previous to AddressBook.data
5. Launch Address Book and check to see if it is populated with your addresses (any new addresses since your last sync will however be lost

andare · 05-28-2008, 12:40 AM

This suggestion about recovering a lost address book from an iPhone sync gone awry just saved me!

(FYI - if you use a USB hub, be very careful about using it to sync the iPhone. Plug directly into the computer or risk near disaster... :/ At least that was my experience with the dLink hub I just bought...)