iPhone 5 Data Recovery After OS Update

[iMore Question]

Hello,

I would really appreciate someone taking a crack at this question, even if you only answer with a probability or %, but please give your logic in the answer. I am trying to decide whether to spend $300 on a third party data recovery vendor service to run a diagnostic on my phone.

Details: My iPhone 5 prompted me to do an OS update. The memory on the phone was completely full and I did not have data backed up in the last 6 months. At some point toward the end of the update, the phone informed me that it cannot access all of my data and prompted me to restore through iTunes. My iTunes had not been synced to my phone for at least 6 months. After syncing with iTunes, it restored all of my apps, but the data in many of the apps was not there. In particular, what I'm really upset about are pictures that I have taken over the last 6 months, a bunch of JotNot files (JotNot is a scanning app that let's you scan documents onto your phone), and a whole lot of QuickVoice voice memos that had disappeared. Current OS version on my phone is 7.0.4. And again, I didn?t restore from backup in iTunes because there was some error message when I tried, so I did a sync with my library instead of restoring from a backup.

Question: What are the odds of recovering the three types of files: pictures, pdf files (JotNot), and QuickVoice files in a usable format? Do these files exist as ghost files or are they permanently gone from my phone? I am intending to go with a reputable third party vendor, but not willing to spend thousands of dollars on this or have the capability or access to fancy government style decryption.

Also, I was told that there is a law on the books in California that holds manufacturers such as Apple liable for things like this. Does anybody have any info on that?

I know I should have backed up my files, but I am really angry that the files just disappeared without ANY warning after I was following routine update instructions!

Thank you,
E.L.

 

[kch50428]

I'm not sure Apple has any liability for your lost data as you didn't do anything they advise to back it up in the first place... if you weren't using any of iCloud's options to automatically save pictures, etc. there's no getting things back when they've been lost when a device is overcapacity and you do an update.

 

[Just_Me_D]

1. No, your photos, game data and jot notes are gone. Maybe a 3rd party recovery tools of some sort can recover it for you, but like with anything, it's a gamble.
2. Why would Apple or any other company be responsible for your data when you failed to take steps to back it up using one of the two backup mechanisms that it provides - iTunes & iCloud?
3. The smartphone is a small computer, and like any computer or anything else man-made, it will fail at some point.
4. It is okay to be angry, but it's not Apple's fault. It is your responsibility to pay attention to the app, games, data that you put on it. It is your responsibility to know when storage space is running low. It is your responsibility to take steps to protect your data.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss. Hopefully, the $300 you plan to spend on data recovery will benefit you.

 

[iEd]

Seriously, if it's not backed up it doesn't exist. Redundancy is your best friend in this game. I have icloud back ups iTunes back ups. Photos backed up in iPhoto backed up on my Mac on hard drives. Backed up in drop box.

 

[Fausty82]

1. No, your photos, game data and jot notes are gone. Maybe a 3rd party recovery tools of some sort can recover it for you, but like with anything, it's a gamble.
2. Why would Apple or any other company be responsible for your data when you failed to take steps to backup it up using one of the two backup mechanisms that it provides - iTunes & iCloud?
3. The smartphone is a small computer, and like any computer or anything else man-made, it will fail at some point.
4. It is okay to be angry, but it's not Apple's fault. It is your responsibility to pay attention to the app, games, data that you put on it. It is your responsibility to know when storage space is running low. It is your responsibility to take steps to protect your data.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss. Hopefully, the $300 you plan to spend on data recovery will benefit you.

Nailed it. +1

 

[kataran]

Well pictures should be on your photostream if you was using it and .pdf files should always be either emailed to yourself or transferred to your computer voice files are a little tricky but even if you don't have the room for iCloud backup never trust a computer of any kind


Sent from my iPhone 5s Gold 64GB

 

[anon(4698833)]

That $300 data recovery is not going to do anything on a phone that has been restored...when you restore the phone, you essentially wipe it clean (which is why they have you "restore from back up" if you want your stuff back). Unfortunately this wasn't a case where your storage drive failed in the phone where certain things could extracted. Once you restored your iPhone, you essentially lost everything permanently (if you didn't have a back up).

 

[EmceeGeek]

Even considering spending $300 on a data recovery (when we all know that once your phone is restored and not backed up, its gone), is a bit extreme and silly. You have two options to save information. You can back up via iCloud or iTunes, thats fairly simple in my opinion.