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Access iPhone Backup, recover files from iPhone backup

Hal

output from python fileIt was bound to happen sooner or later. I took a photo with my phone and used the image as the wallpaper for when the phone is locked. However, I completely overlooked this when I deleted the original image from the camera roll. This meant I had an image in place but no way of accessing it, and I quite liked the image!

It turns out that when you connect your iPhone to your Mac and iTunes starts, it runs a backup and places some files in your ‘~Library/Applications Support/MobileSync/Backup folder. The problem is that they are SQLLite files and not easily readable in any simple way. This is where I turn to the Apple community, particularly the discussions, and ask for help. Here is the post I made.

I was so pleased with the response – almost immediate and ultimately one of the most helpful. It appears there is a Python script able to open those files and restore the folder structure from the innards of your phone. The thread answers the questions most folk will have, but I thought I’d post here too.

What you need to do is copy the backup folder and all it’s contents to an easily accessible place – I chose a new folder on my desktop. Copy the Python script into the same folder. You then need to change the permissions on that script to ensure that it is executable. You should do this through the terminal, which means you’ll probably need to use ‘sudo’ and ‘chown’ to set the values correctly. Once you have done this you can run the script. You do this by typing ‘sudo’, then the complete path to the script, a forward slash, then the complete path to the folder (you can simply drag the items into the terminal window to do this and the paths will be filled in automatically for you). Finish with a forward slash and then ‘*.mdbackup’.

What this will do is reconstruct the entire iPhone folder structure inside the place you have got the python script and backup folder. Once done you can then set the permissions for the resulting foder and copy to all items inside… you can then access and manipulate the files.

This was, in fact, ludicrously easy – I had help from a former colleague who is something of a star with this stuff, but if you know a few basic commands in the terminal you should be OK.

I’ve also uploaded the Python script for you all to download from here in case it goes offline elsewhere. The original is HERE. The one I used (and changed ownership on) is HERE.

Upgrading iPhone to 3G, Restoring iPhone, Backup iPhone

Hal

What nobody seems to mention when you upgrade your iPhone to the 3G version is that you have to back up and restore your phones in a particular way. The issue arises when you have got a 3G iPhone that has an older firmware version on it and when you have iTunes set to automatically sync your device.

Backup of the old phone is simple – you plug in to your computer and iTunes creates a backup. This is not a problem, and you then go about changing the SIM card to the new phone and pugging that one in to iTunes. It is recognised as a new phone and so you go through the process of setting it up, however you find that it has an older firmware version than your previous phone. SO you go to ‘Restore’ and it tells you that you can’t – that you need to upgrade the firmware first. That’s OK, you think – you can restore later.

However, you *must* remember to turn OFF the auto syncing from in your iTunes preferences (under ‘Sync’). Otherwise the new firmware will be installed and the new phone will have new settings in place.

Turning off the auto syncing allows you to then choose the ‘Restore’ option you want.

If you don’t remember to do this the chances are that you’ll have a new iPhone with none of the photographs, wallpapers or other files on it. If this happens don’t panic – go into iTunes and turn off the auto sync, then restore the phone (removing all the new stuff iTunes has just loaded) and *then* you can use the restore feature.

Works a treat… eventually! If only the set up allowed for this and an appropriate warning was put on screen… it would have saved me 40 minutes!

Children’s weight problems

Hal

So the government asked the care trusts to ask the schools to ask their parents if the children could be weighed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7541279.stm

So the children whose parents said ‘Yes’ were weighed, and the data collected and used to inform the nation about the state of obesity in young children. Glory be.

However, a *significant* number of parents said ‘no’ – and I am estimating significant to be around 20% in every county – and so those children were not weighed. Lo and behold, the county closest to home for me declared that there is not an obesity problem with young children for them, and they had the data to prove it. Citing healthy schools initiatives, a growing appreciation of participative sports and all manner of ways that children are being encouraged to exercise and eat a healthy diet, the campaigns have been hailed a success.

I’m sorry if this rains on anyone’s parade, but the 20% of children were very likely the ones who were overtly conscious (and worried, perhaps) about their apparent weight problems. The very children who need to inform the statistics were not included out of their own choice. Suddenly, in a county with some *very* overweight kids (and I have taught a few), none of them have been included in the census.It is hardly surprising that the figures show no obesity, when the obese children were not weighed.

Lies, damned lies and statistics, eh? When will we stop paying out money for this kind of ‘research’ and realise that there are far more realistic ways of gathering the data?

Testing the iphone app for WordPress

Hal

So here I am posting directly to my blog using my iPhone. It is slower to type than using a keyboard, of course, but it is at least available to me from anywhere.

And as you can see… I can add an image, too. In this case it is a picture of my recently bashed car – thanks to Robert from Princes Park Manor, N11 who looks left when pulling out of a junction whilst turning right. Twit. Good job it was at walking speed otherwise the damage would be far worse.

Do I still think that mobile phones are good tools for learning? Well yes, actually, and probably more so than before. I am typing at a reasonable speed and am not struggling too much. I have Internet access, can post short texts to a site and basically do most things I would expect to do in a normal lesson if asked to research information or put some text together. Of isn’t yet perfect but it isn’t at all bad.

Bring on more… And soon!!

photo

Wanstead High School Creativity Day

Hal

On Monday, my colleague Matthew and I, accompanied by two work experience lads, went to Wanstead High School to run an animation day on the theme of Dr Who.

We worked with twenty young people from Yr 7 to Yr 9 and took them through the stages of creating a stop frame animation using the ever brilliant ‘iStopMotion’ from Boinx. Adding audio using Garage Band from Apple was also included in the day and we then created videos for YouTube.

The children had not made an animation before this, although several had used Mac computers and were familiar with Garage Band. Given the relative lack of experience with the software they were very easily able to achieve a result… but we already know that the vast majority of children that age, when given the right tools and right challenge, will work their socks off to get their ideas translated into film.

It was a delight to work with such a focussed group, and our thanks go to Carolan Murray for inviting us to the school. The workshop was arranged through various email messages, and Carolan had no real idea of the quality (or otherwise!) that she would get by inviting us in… hopefully we didn’t disappoint!