Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

[bigapplehead]

Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

Hello all (hopefully this is the right area to post this),

First of all, I have an iPhone 5 S, 32 GB, running iOS 7 (7.1.2) and I want to upgrade it to iOS 9. But first I need to do a backup of my iPhone using iTunes (I have the latest version that was released recently and I'm also using Windows Vista), so I’ll be able to restore it later on to iOS 8.4.1 utilizing the 8.4.1 IPWS firmware file, and then finally upgrading it to iOS 9 (currently people are having many issues upgrading directly to iOS 9 from iOS 7 without these "work arounds"). And this is exactly what I successfully did a few days ago with my wife's iPhone 5 S, 32 GB (also running iOS 7), and her phone is now good to go and running iOS 9.

HOWEVER, this is my problem that I’m having now…

When I do a backup of my iPhone (again using the latest version of iTunes, and I also have plenty of space on my hard drive), I have noticed that the backup size is VERY small! It’s only a little over 1 GB. It should be AT LEAST 15-20 GB (if not more). For instance, when I backed up my wife's iPhone (again she has the same exact specs as my iPhone) a few days ago (who incidentally has a lot less data on her iPhone), her backup was around 10 GB. Of course I’ve done MANY iPhone/iOS iTunes backups in the last several years, so I know what I’m talking about! I also tried backing up my iPhone using iCloud in the past couple of days, and it’s also VERY small. In fact, just today I wanted to make sure that I could still backup my wife’s iPhone using iTunes to see if her backup size was the same or if it would mysteriously “shrink” and the backup size was fine and normal (the 10 GB or so).

Anyway, I’ve tried EVERYTHING, and every single time I do a backup of my iPhone, it’s VERY small! Of course if I didn’t have to do a “restore” then I would maybe take a chance, and not worry about having all of my data "backed up" (and it’s A LOT of data, including business related, so I don't want to lose it!)

Is anyone else experiencing issues like this? Again, for whatever reason, it’s only happening to my iPhone and not my wife’s iPhone. Unfortunately, the last iTunes or iCloud backup I did for my iPhone was weeks ago, and I deleted these (these back ups take up a lot of space on the hard drive and in the cloud), of course assuming that I would be able to make new backups. This has NEVER happened in the past. And I'm not getting ANY error messages or pop-ups and everything looks 100% normal. And again, I'm not a noob at this, and have done this many times in the past for many different iOS devices...

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[kch50428]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

Apps are not backed up - they are synced to iTunes.... Media is not backed up... movies,tv shows, music, etc. are also synced... Photos are synced too... and depending on if you're using iCloud photo or not - can be backed up... what gets backed up is user data... settings, preferences, etc....

For more - go here: iPhone - Backup - Apple Support

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

There's issues with updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7. You might wait until they fix the issue.

 

[bigapplehead]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

Okay, but I've been doing these "backups" for years. Yes, of course we can "backup" our newly purchased apps (if we choose to) to iTunes, when we make a backup of our iOS device or when we sync it.

However, I'm talking about a total, complete "backup" of the iOS device. As I'm a Windows Vista user it's found like this -> C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\AppleComputer\MobileSync\Backup. And I have a desktop shortcut to this location...

And I have clearly seen that for several years, my various iOS backups have been several GBs, and in fact as I stated in my first post, although my wife has a lot less data (and apps) on her iPhone then I do, it is around 10 GB. And my backup is only 1GB?! Something is NOT right... I hope you understand what I'm saying, although maybe I'm not articulating it the best way

 

[bigapplehead]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

There's issues with updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7. You might wait until they fix the issue.

I’m very aware of the current issues in regards to updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7, and the successful workarounds (as I previously stated, I successfully upgraded my wife’s iPhone from iOS 7 to iOS 9)

HOWEVER, the only problem that I’m having now is that I’m unable to do a normal “backup” of my iDevice. So even if there were no issues as far as updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7 (again, I have successfully done the workaround for this on my wife’s iPhone), I would still have a major problem. And even if I had iOS 9 on my iPhone and wanted to update it to iOS 9.1 (or not even update it), I would still want to make a backup just in case I lost my phone, or it was damaged by accidently dropping it in water, etc.

I’m sorry if I’m not articulating well enough what I mean by a “backup” of my iPhone (whether through iTunes or iCloud).

Again, I’m sorry for any confusion, but does anyone understand what I’m trying to say? Thanks

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

I?m very aware of the current issues in regards to updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7, and the successful workarounds (as I previously stated, I successfully upgraded my wife?s iPhone from iOS 7 to iOS 9)

HOWEVER, the only problem that I?m having now is that I?m unable to do a normal ?backup? of my iDevice. So even if there were no issues as far as updating to iOS 9 from iOS 7 (again, I have successfully done the workaround for this on my wife?s iPhone), I would still have a major problem. And even if I had iOS 9 on my iPhone and wanted to update it to iOS 9.1 (or not even update it), I would still want to make a backup just in case I lost my phone, or it was damaged by accidently dropping it in water, etc.

I?m sorry if I?m not articulating well enough what I mean by a ?backup? of my iPhone (whether through iTunes or iCloud).

Again, I?m sorry for any confusion, but does anyone understand what I?m trying to say? Thanks

The afore mentioned problem just got fixed in the iOS 9.0.1 update. LOL As for back up issues, are you trying to back up to iCloud or iTunes?

 

[bigapplehead]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

The afore mentioned problem just got fixed in the iOS 9.0.1 update. LOL As for back up issues, are you trying to back up to iCloud or iTunes?

LOL, that's great about iOS 9.1 (it's kinda funny because I was just talking about it)

But yeah, as far as doing a backup goes (which again really was the only issue I had/still have), it's both iCloud and iTunes. So you do understand what I'm trying to say?

So the bottom line is that whether I'm going from iOS 7 to iOS 9, or iOS 10 to 10.1 (or not updating at all, etc.) I'm NOT able to do a real back-up. Again, I've never experienced this before (in almost 6 years now I guess), of doing iOS backups

 

[Ledsteplin]

Re: Why is my iPhone "backup" using iTunes VERY small (and it's obviously missing A LOT of data)?

I don't see any problems with backing up to either one. I haven't heard of anyone losing anything. When iCloud showed I had a back up of .300 gb on Wednesday, I called Apple. He checked my iCloud account and said I had 3 back ups. The glitch was in the info on iCloud in Settings, but nothing was wrong with the account. These issues work themselves out.