Stuck between 3G and 4S: Back up mess

[HawkMountain]

So I was impatient to use my 4S and when this whole mess began, and at the time, I didn't have time to properly transfer my 3G data to my new phone, so I just started using my 4S, adding addresses and phone numbers as I went. As it turned out, when I finally did have time to try to get my 3G data onto my 4S I was faced with the fearsome option: Restore from Back up or Set up as a new phone. All the threads I have read say "choose Restore from prior back up" but they are assuming there is nothing on my new phone. So now I don't know what to do because if I chose 'restore' I am afraid I'll lose all the newer data on my 4S, yet I need all the old data on my 3G. Is there a way that the data can be collated so I can keep all of it--an I'll delete duplicates later?? What happens if I chose "set up as a new phone"?

 

[ghostface147]

If you setup as new phone, it will be a fresh image and nothing will be on it. No saved game data, no contacts, bookmarks, nothing. If you choose restore, you are correct, you will lose your newer data. As far as I know, there is no way to merge the two.

 

[sting7k]

So I was impatient to use my 4S and when this whole mess began, and at the time, I didn't have time to properly transfer my 3G data to my new phone, so I just started using my 4S, adding addresses and phone numbers as I went. As it turned out, when I finally did have time to try to get my 3G data onto my 4S I was faced with the fearsome option: Restore from Back up or Set up as a new phone. All the threads I have read say "choose Restore from prior back up" but they are assuming there is nothing on my new phone. So now I don't know what to do because if I chose 'restore' I am afraid I'll lose all the newer data on my 4S, yet I need all the old data on my 3G. Is there a way that the data can be collated so I can keep all of it--an I'll delete duplicates later?? What happens if I chose "set up as a new phone"?

What data on the 4S are you concerned about losing?

IMO, just bite the bullet and restore it from a back up the 3G or new. How much data can you possibly have in a few days?

For the future. Put your contacts into gmail or some cloud/email service. That way in the future when you get a new phone all you need to do is setup your account and boom everything is there. It also guards against a lost/stolen phone. Lastly it removes the need to transfer anything from old phone to new. Also, you could have avoided it all by just taking your fresh iPhone 4S and restoring it from a back up of your iPhone 3G as soon as you got home from the store or got it in the mail. It takes about 15 minutes to do and requires maybe 3-4 clicks of your mouse.

 

[HawkMountain]

I appreciate the feedback! Well, its been more than a couple of days, more like a couple of months at this point. For a while I was carrying around 2 phones! Ok, I know. Not the height of technical savy. The data I am concerned about is new contacts, and notes that I've entered into the 4S over the last couple of months. I guess I could be sure the new contacts are in my Microsoft Outlook address book, right? If I restore my 4S to the 3G phone, and then re-sync the 4S with my laptop, the addresses would be updated?? Does that make any sense? Notes? Any way those can get printed?--signed, Learning.

 

[Peligro911]

How many contacts ?

Here is what I would do on 3G set up a gmail account as exchange to sync the contacts to gmail

Assuming your 4s contacts are going to iCloud

Then go to gmail website export to a contact file

Go to iCloud.com and import the file

Contacts all will now be on iCloud

Then you can delete duplicates etc

... If you are concerned about app data from the 3G you can manually update it with info from 4s so it's current

Then make a backup of 3G and restore it to 4s

FYI some email account sync notes too like aol

It all depends exactly what content you want from the 3G


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