5

I have iTunes 10.5 and Mac OS X version 10.6.8.

I would like to restore my iPhone from backup.

iTunes detects all my backups EXCEPT one, which happens to be the backup I want. 

I looked in the backup directory (~/library/application support/mobilesync/backup) and IT IS THERE along with the other backups. HOWEVER, unlike the other backups, it's missing five files: info.plist, status.plist, manifest.plist, manifest.mbdb, and manifest.mbdx. 

I have tried applications that can extract data, like the free iPhone Backup Extractor for example, but they work only if I have the five files. 

Is there a way to recover data without the five files?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

It depends whether the remaining files you have are from an encrypted backup.

It won't be feasible to read your backup data if you have an encrypted backup with no Info.plist, Status.plist, or Manifest.mbdx files

However, if your backup wasn't encrypted, it will be possible to read that data. You'll find that whilst the filenames are unhelpful (they're SHA-1 hashes of the file's internal path), the file contents easily readable. It's only the filenames that'll be lost.

If you're looking for images, try renaming a bunch of the files to have .JPG extensions, and see whether Windows Explorer or macOS Finder previews them for you.

There are a few approaches for digging into what's there in bulk. You mentioned using iPhone Backup Extractor, and there's a guide on how a use "Bulk Rename Utility" to read backup data when in this situation.

Improve this answer
2
  • Would another browser work? macroplant.com/iexplorer
    – historystamp
    Dec 20, 2018 at 20:33
  • Nothing will do the job cleanly and comprehensively without those metadata files, as they contain the data necessary to present the backup files in context. There's some narrow stuff that can be done: iPhone Backup Extractor can work directly with an SMS database to export messages without having those files, for instance.
    – Aidan Fitzpatrick
    Dec 20, 2018 at 22:01
-1

Directly restoring from iTunes backup, you have no choice by restoring the entire backup. It's the rule from Apple. But if you still need to do this, you can choose to find an iTunes backup extract tool, which is usually used to extract the iTunes backup file. Then you can preview and selectively recover whatever you want from it.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .