Bugs & Fixes: Recovering lost contacts

#1 Macworld

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 01:03 PM

Post your comments for Bugs & Fixes: Recovering lost contacts here

#2 samwomack

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 01:30 PM

Backup 3.x will backup this type of stuff to iDisk, et al...Restore is easier than anything you mentioned here..I've had to do this once before and it was seamless..

#3 ted_landau

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 02:12 PM

samwomack, on 13 August 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

Backup 3.x will backup this type of stuff to iDisk.

Yup. Backup is an example of an online versioned backup, a general category I noted in the article.

#4 WarrenS

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 03:16 PM

If you keep loosing your contacts, maybe you should get lasik surgery. Be on the safe side, back up carefully and watch your step.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

#5 tbsteph1

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 03:58 PM

How timely. This exact scenario happened to me yesterday (8/12). After fumbling around a bit (To find where OSX saved the contacts folder) I restored all the contacts via Time Machine. Worked like a charm. I now have an archive on my idisk.

#6 pilgrim888

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Posted 14 August 2010 - 07:10 AM

I have the opposite problem. I keep getting duplications of contacts and often contacts I've deleted long ago show up again. (After "resetting the sync" to replace the mobileme cloud info, etc.)

#7 BigGovGuy

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Posted 16 August 2010 - 06:25 AM

Yet another reason for solid and frequent backups and archives. I would like to hear more about why such things happen though. I will occasionally look for a contact that I am certain I entered either in the AddressBook or iPhone contacts, one I've even referenced a few times, only to have it gone at some point. Would appreciate hearing thoughts about how this happens. Fortunately, I've not lost everything all at once, but the occasion loss may actually be worse. I do use TimeMachine and it has saved me many, many times over the years.

#8 mpimplask

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Posted 16 August 2010 - 10:20 AM

The unexplained deletion of all my MobileMe contacts has happened to me many times -- every few months in fact -- and I have never been able to figure out why. Along with backups, I have set my Mac to warn me if more than 5% of my information is to be changed. This has allowed me to cancel the sync, quickly do an Address Book backup, allow the sync to proceed, and then reimport from the backup. I then reset my sync data, replacing the info on the server, so that the contacts repropogate to my other devices. If anyone has additional information about why this happens I'd love to hear it.

#9 tonyros

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Posted 17 August 2010 - 02:25 AM

Just read the review of Mail 4.3 in the same e mail (Mac World Gems Aug 16). I am new to MAC and using Entourage through Exchange server 7.to synch my e mail, diary and contacts. After reading the comments I started thinking about changing to Mobile Me for the complete Mac experience. Then I read the post about disappearing contacts - and no way. How can a supposedly user friendly system allow this to happen? I need to know why and what will be changed before risking my precious contacts.

#10 ojmesa

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Posted 17 February 2012 - 08:36 AM

How about if your ipad is stolen and the thief erase your iclod files? I think this is a major flaw of icloud that they need to fix

#11 WideAngle

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Posted 11 July 2012 - 08:37 AM

iBackup extractor is another good option to recover lost contacts from your iPhone backup. It's a free download for Mac and PC http://www.wideangle...ackupextractor/