‘I dropped my iPhone and broke it. I got it repaired and reset it to factory settings. Since I had a backup in iTunes, I was not worried about my data. But I had no idea that my iTunes backup file was corrupted! As I tried to restore my iPhone from iTunes, a message appeared –: ‘iTunes backup was corrupt or not compatible.’ Now I don’t know how to restore my iPhone. Please help.’ – Simon, Bradford
iTunes can sometimes show a message that it could not restore the iPhone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone being restored. It’s possible that some old backup data was corrupted, resulting in the error message.
Whatever the reason, the key is to understand how to fix corrupt iPhone backups in iTunes and restore the iPhone in such cases.
How to Restore an iPhone from a Corrupt iTunes Backup File?
There are three simple and highly recommended methods to restore an iPhone from a Corrupt iTunes Backup file.
- Restore iPhone from iCloud backup
- Use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone for selective recovery from iCloud backup
- Restore lost data directly from iPhone/ iPad
Method 1: Recover from iCloud backup
Instead of iTunes, you can restore the iPhone using the alternative backup solution, iCloud. The steps to recover an iPhone from iCloud are easy and simple.
Steps to restore iPhone with iCloud
- Go to Settings > Your iPhone > iCloud.
- Enter the Apple ID and password to sign in to iCloud if not signed in.
- Now, select iCloud Drive from the list.
- Next, toggle to enable “Sync this iPhone.”
- Your data will now be synced and restored to your iPhone.
Note: Once you enable Sync this Phone, the device will be synced with the data backed up to your iCloud. Hence, you need to log in with the same Apple ID you used earlier to create a backup on iCloud.
Method 2: Use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone
If you need to recover specific data from your iPhone or iPad, such as your email, but don’t have the time to select each file individually from a full backup, Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone can help. Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone helps you to selectively recover files, such as photos, messages, contacts, and more, directly from your iPhone, iCloud, and even iTunes backup.
The software scans your backup and lets you choose which files you want to restore. This targeted approach can be helpful when you do not want to recover everything from the iCloud backup.
Let’s see how to restore your iCloud backup with Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone:
- Download and launch Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone on your computer.
- Now “Select Recover from iCloud Backup” from the home screen.
- Next, select the type of files, such as Photos, Contacts, or Calendar you want to recover and click Next.
- Enter the Apple ID and password, and select the relevant iCloud backup, and click Scan.
- You can Preview the files by clicking on them.
- At last, click Save.
- In the Save Files dialog box, select “Save Computer” or “Save iPhone” to save the recovered data. To save directly onto your iPhone, connect your iPhone to the computer.
Method 3: Recover Deleted Data from iPhone Storage
If you are unable to restore your iPhone or iPad from iTunes due to a corrupt backup and iCloud is of no help, you can recover the data directly from the device using data recovery software.
This method allows you to easily restore lost data, such as photos, videos, messages, calendar events, voice memos, and Safari bookmarks, even from broken, water-damaged, factory reset, or iOS crash devices. Scan the device’s memory and extract the required data to selectively recover the files you need.
Here are the steps to recover lost data from iPhone/ iPad with the help of data recovery software:
- Download and install Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone on your computer.
- Now connect your iPhone to the computer with the help of a USB cable and launch the software.
- On the home screen, select Recover from iPhone.
- Select the data you want to restore.
- Click Next.
- Preview the data and click Save. You can save the recovered data on a computer or iPhone.
Conclusion
If your iTunes backup is corrupt or incompatible, you have a few options for restoring your iPhone data. First, try simple troubleshooting steps like restarting your device and updating the OS. If you still can’t restore from iTunes, you can try restoring from an iCloud backup. Otherwise, use a data recovery tool like Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to selectively restore files from the corrupt backup.
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