Any iPhone/Mac geniuses in here? (updated)

"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction) 10/26/2020 at 16:40 • Filed to: None

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Updated (for anyone who cares or might run into this in the future):

I finally just gave up on a full backup, and used the limited iCloud backup I had done successfully (mostly just contacts and messages - under 5gb) to restore from to my new phone. I already had my music on my computer (and backed up) and I made sure I had all my photos off onto the computer (at home + backup, and also a copy at work). I’ve gone through and re-logged in to all of my important apps after the restore, and switched over my SIM, and I’ll reload photos/videos/music onto my phone from my laptop this evening. I don’t have much app-specific data that was only stored on the phone that would be an issue to lose, thankfully. Still no clue what the actual issue was, but I’m guessing it just came down to 140gb of data taking a looong time to move, regardless of how you do it, and I just kept hitting timeout limits or something. Sure would be nice if Apple would just tell you this before you even attempt it, instead of letting you try over and over again in various ways (while banging your head against a wall).

Now I get the additional joy of getting my son set up on my old phone (and getting his sister set up on his old one). At least my brother took care of getting my dad set up with his new one! LOL

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I’ve had a fairly maddening time over the past few days trying to get set up on my new phone, related to failures backing up/transferring data from my old phone.

I have a Xs 256gb that I bought as a refurb early this year with about 140gb of data now on it (mostly photos & video). I’ve bought a new phone and I’m trying to get data transferred so I can start using it and set my old phone up for my son.

I first attempted to transfer wirelessly. Seemed like it was working fine, but failed. Tried a couple more times, and failed. After clearing some space on my laptop (‘14 Macbook Pro), I tried making a backup to my hard drive. Failed. I then bought a Lightning to USB Camera Adaptor to attempt a wired phone-to-phone transfer. Failed. Computer and phone are both up to date, fwiw. The fact that I can’t back it up to my computer is the most confusing to me (purgeable space issue, perhaps - anyone dealt with this?).

Finally, after a combined 10 attempts in various way, I called the helpdesk. I was on the line with him for a while, and we realized that my iCloud backups weren’t on (I’d run out of free space). So, I did some cleanup and ran an iCloud backup (just Contacts & Messages), and then attempted the wired transfer again last night, thinking that was the issue. Well... it failed.

It just works, amirite?

Anyone have any ideas (short of just giving up and switching to Googlephone)?

Apple stores are closed, of course, and I’d really rather not have to go to AT&T to try to get this sorted out. Is it just too much data (timing out)? I removed my music collection from my phone (it’s all on my laptop and backed up), but I’d rather not risk deleting all my photos & video from my phone, even though they’re all backed up to Google Photos (and for the most part backed up to my computer).

Jake, Yes, wearing khakis > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:48

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We had this issue with my wifes iphone, quickest and simplest solution was to bite the bullet and buy the icloud storage for one month. Backup on icloud, then restore with icloud to the new phone.

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:48

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For some reason, I have to have itunes already open when I plug my phone in to back it up. It takes a while, but I think my Mac mini is on its last legs. It’s quite slow at start up. I also found that I’ve had to update to the newest iphone software to back up sometimes. 

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:50

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My wife had a similar issue and she had to do a full back up to iCloud then restore the new phone using the Icloud data, there was some trickery here that they did at the Verizon store that made the icould backup work. Then i t worked fine once we figured out what was going on. Her previous phone had such an old OS it wouldn’t do a phone->phone back up or a computer back up.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Jake, Yes, wearing khakis 10/26/2020 at 16:51

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Okay, thanks - just thinking 140 GBs is going to take a looong time going up, and then coming back down again. Do you remember about how much data she had on hers?

Tripper > Jake, Yes, wearing khakis 10/26/2020 at 16:51

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+1 here

flatisflat > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:51

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When you tried backing the phone up on your MacBook, you used iTunes or something else?  Do you recall the specific error / failure message?

Chariotoflove > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:57

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It would be instructive to see what your error messages say when something fails. It’s hard to diagnose when everything goes wrong like this.

I do my backups through iTunes and then transfer to a new phone that way, although I have done the wireless transfer, and it worked for me. I would say make sure you have plenty of space on your computer and initiate a complete backup. Then, plug in the new phone and do a restore of that, having erased its contents first.

The iCloud backup method should work fine too, if you buy the space.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > flatisflat 10/26/2020 at 16:57

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I started off trying to use iTunes, but then updated to Catalina and attempted using Finder. I have a screenshot of the failure at home, but don’t recall it exactly, but it didn’t say anything about lack of space (it ran for like an hour before telling me it couldn’t do it). The message on the direct phone-to-phone is just “Unable to Complete Data Transfer”, once again, after running for an hour or more, seeming like everything’s going well. I spent waaay too many hours working on this this weekend.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 16:58

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I seem to remember trying to use some sketchy 3rd party migration software at some point in time. I don’t know if more modern versions of IOS will be very happy about that at all.
Do iPhones still show up as storage drives on a finder or windows explorer window?

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 10/26/2020 at 16:59

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Okay, sounds like that may be the answer (even though I’m running the current version of iOS). Just frustrating that they way I’ve always done it (backup to computer, then restore from backup on new phone) isn’t working.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 17:01

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Yeah, unfortunately the error message on my computer is... in a screenshot at home on my computer.

Seems like I need to give the full iCloud backup a go. Just so much data to upload/download... 

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 17:02

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Ohhhhh yes, these shenanigans.

I think I managed to do cloud after I deleted all music and videos,   every single non essential pictures and apps on the old phone to make enough space.

The other way I’ve done it in past was to use the Mac as the storage instead of the cloud where it saves to I think(?) Music (whatever the hell the phone pairs to now instead of old iTunes).

Good Luck!

Chariotoflove > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 17:05

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What I would and usually do is to transfer all the photos and vids on my phone that I can to iPhoto on my computer and then erase them from the phone to make the backup take a lot less time. It’s always a good time to clear out the phone anyway.

Sorry I’m not more help.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 10/26/2020 at 17:05

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Photo files can be accessed through Windows Explorer.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 17:08

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Yeah, that’s probably the right idea. I won’t mention how many random apps I hardly ever use I have on my phone... I’m just old school, and like my data local (music and photos actually on my phone) instead of in the cloud.

Call me a virtual packrat.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 17:09

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Thanks! I clearly need it.

Chariotoflove > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 17:11

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Me too. I don’t trust the cloud for backups.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Tripper 10/26/2020 at 17:12

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Thanks - seems like the consensus.

Maddening way to get an upsell...

Tripper > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 17:15

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Yeah its complete bullshit. Went though the same thing you did personally and with most of my users at work.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Tripper 10/26/2020 at 17:16

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Glad I’m not alone, I guess? SMH

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Chariotoflove 10/26/2020 at 17:26

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Handy as a 2nd backup, but yeah...

Sounds like I’ll back up all my photos/video, spring for more iCloud space, backup everything else to iCloud, restore from the iCloud backup to the new phone, and then pull the photos/vids/music I want back onto my phone.

TrickJos > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 19:10

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I have no advice but I’m sorry to hear you’re having so much trouble. I just switched to my new 12 pro this morning and it was easy as could be. I store most of  my pictures and music in the cloud. Maybe that makes the difference.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 21:06

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Apple has a mobile device management program, (MDM) called Configurator 2, you can download to your Mac OS device, to manage your iOS device, or many of them. JAMF and others are also available, but a bit more enterprise-oriented.

Once in Configurator 2, with the iOS device connected via USB-to-Lightning cable, you should be able to find the menu item to create a local backup of the iOS in it’s current state, as long as you have enough space on your MacOS drive, or attached external storage, network share, or wherever you can store the backup image.

If it asks you whether you want to password protect your backup, it is advantageous to option YES, and encrypt the backup. An encrypted backup will save the secured data on the iOS device... just make sure you keep the backup password. (does not have to be the same as the access code for the device, or your AppleID password)

An unencrypted backup will skip the secured data on the iOS device, and not back it up, because the backup file is unprotected, and would put it at risk.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > TrickJos 10/26/2020 at 21:23

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Yeah, I have a feeling the sheer size of the data volume I’m trying to move is a big part of the problem. Glad you didn’t have any trouble - looking forward to enjoying my 12 Pro when I finally get this figured out! 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 10/26/2020 at 21:27

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Thanks! ...but it only has 2 stars from 400 reviews on the App Store. You’ve had good luck with it, I assume?

Looks like a lot of the bad reviews are expecting it to do something it’s not meant to do. 

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/26/2020 at 23:45

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I have used it a few times in a pinch, to get some iPads backed up for my company.

It does that without the devices being tied to my AppleID, but I haven’t really had to dive much further into it than that.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 10/27/2020 at 14:43

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Hm mmm, so you had to do something similar. Apple really needs to sort this out. We shouldn’t have to skeleton our old phones to transfer the essentials via cloud. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com 10/27/2020 at 14:48

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It’s hard not to go conspiracy theorist and say that they don’t want you do be able to do a full backup on your machine so it forces you to pay monthly for iCloud.