Hi Alan, iTunes does not save a separate backup everytime you sync your phone or manually perform a backup. Only one normal iPhone backup is kept, it's actually an incremental backup in that only data that has changed is actually backed up.
The most recent backup or the last backup of the previous iOS version are the only backups that you can restore. "Backups that have a date and time stamp in the backup name are copies of backups created by restoring the iOS device. The date and time in the left column are when the restore-from-backup occurred. The date and time in the right column are the last synced date; this shows how current the data is." <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946> ---- When you restore the iPhone, it takes the current backup of that iPhone and adds the date to the name. iTunes then creates a new backup of that iPhone. See the bottom of this page. <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946> +If you choose to restore the software to factory settings, iTunes will ask you if you want to back up the iPhone and iPad _The backup created when you restore a device is separate from the one created when the device is synced._ The backup created prior to a restore is marked in the syncing preferences of iTunes with the date and time when the backup was created.+ That's why you see two backups. Cheers, Ronni Sent from Ronni's iPad4 > On 12 Oct 2014, at 6:49 pm, Alan Smith <sma...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > > I’ve lost a recent iPad backup from iTunes. Not of huge significance, but it > is a worry. > > I upgraded my iPad 2 to iOS 8.0.2 around October 2nd. I followed Ronni’s > advice to “Prepare for iOS the Correct Way”, including an iTunes backup (but > not an iCloud copy). iTunes is ver 11.4. > > Today I went to iTunes to check what version of Pages I had (not a Beta!) but > the iPad was not listed under Devices. I eventually did an iPad Restart > - and the iPad then displayed in iTunes. Backup files were listed in the > Preferences/Devices list. All seemed OK so I did a manual backup to iTunes > OTA, just in case. But the backup dated 2 October has now disappeared. Two > earlier backup files remain available - yes, only two. > > Does iTunes only keep limited backups, or just one backup copy per iOS > version? Some months ago I restored an iPhone from its backup and didn’t > notice anything unusual. I note the iPhone only has 3 historical backups > too (but has not been upgraded to iOS 8). > > > Regards, > Alan > > Alan Smith > Late 2012 iMac 27" Intel Quad Core i5 Fusion 3.2GHz 8G RAM - OSX 10.9.5 > Late 2009 iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 12G RAM - OSX 10.9.5 > iPhone5; iPad2; ATV2
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