I recently very stupidly water-damaged my iPhone

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...191&highlight=

It actually comes on for about 3 seconds then powers off, although if left for a very long time on (plug-socket rather than PC-linked) charge can last up to a minute.

I've tried connecting the phone to iTunes on the PC (running Vista 64-bit) but iTunes/PC doesn't recognise the iPhone prior to the iPhone losing the charge it built up using the plug-socket-charger.

Luckily I did sync the phone with iTunes about 2 weeks ago so hopefully it has retained some of the data stored on it.

I'd like to give it a go to back-up again (I'd leave it charging in the plug socket overnight to give it the best chance) but what I don't want to do is for it to try and back-up, get half way through and then fail meaning my old back-up is completely gone.

I've requested the replacement/refurbished model from Apple at the cost of £126.44+pp and the package that I need to send the current phone back in is due to arrive in a couple of days at most.

Before I attempt to back-up the phone one last time, I'd like to know what is already stored on the PC as the back-up.

Ccan someone therefore tell me:-
[LIST=1][*]How does the iTunes iPhone back-up work?[*]What location(s) is/are it stored in on the PC (Vista 64-bit OS)?[*]What out of contacts/text messages/apps/pictures/videos/notes is stored in the back-up location?[*]Will all (or whatever is backed-up out of the above) be able to be synced back to a new/refurbished iPhone?[/LIST]

Is your phone set to back up to iCloud if it is most if not all of your stuff should be backed up and you can set your new phone up without connecting to iTunes.

It was never set in the settings to back up to iCloud as I was always meaning to get around to it but never did.

How long does an iCloud back-up take?

Ok have done a bit of digging and the following site is really helpful:-

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766

Expanding the "How to back-up" section, I can see that I've definitely synced with iTunes - will this also have backed-up the phone? Or do I need to do the second of the bullet points (right-click then back-up)?

Have found the backup location:-

C:\Users\Gary\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

The backup folder has 2 subfolders, one called:-

94896c53760da08ecfaaa961fb6be3d5987d9930

which is 866MB and was "created" on 16 Aug 2010

and a second called:-

94896c53760da08ecfaaa961fb6be3d5987d9930-20110218-231933

which is 3.76GB and was created on 19 February 2011

What do each of these contain?

I am not near my computer so can not check exactly where to go, but in iTunes (with out anything connected) go to options then advanced (or something like that) you will then see a list of all the back ups of ios devices listed.

Not sure how long it takes mine backs up whenever it's plugged into charge. You can still use all the functions while this is happening.

Your backup,should contain everything you have synced within iTunes. The most recent backup should contain the most recent data. If you haven't transferred your purchases don't worry you can just re-download them without cost. Hope that helps.