I have a huge problem, i had my iphone 4 on 4.3.3 software, however i had to restore, so my phone updated to ios5. After the restore, it connected to itunes and i was ask to set up my phone but there was NO RESTORE TO BACKUP OPTION. It automatically detected it as a new iphone(which it is not, ive had it for like a year) and so now, i have a completely erased phone with no contacts, messages, notes or anything. When i go to Itunes-Preferences-Devices, i can see my previous backups. I can see them even on my mac, when i go to user/library/appsupport/mobilesync/backups. I just cant apply those backups through itunes to my phone. I dont even have this option when i right click my phone in itunes, and the little drop down panel appears. No option to restore to backup. PLEASE PLEASE help what can i do how can i get everything back ..there HAS to be a way to do it, all my backups are on my mac, i just cant see them or restore to them through itunes. ive been trying to do it for 3 days now, no succes..

I think you have to hold shift to get the 'Restore from Backup' option on right click. What happens if you shift right-click?

I did that, i did shift(alt, because i have mac) restore, i did normal restore i tried everything multiple times. nothing happend, it restored my phone, it connected to itunes and when the screen was on "set up your iphone" there was no restore from old backup option, it automatically detected it as new iphone and it only asked me how would i like to name my iphone. thats it. also no restore from backup option when i right click my device on the panel which is on the left side.
i have absolutely NO IDEA whats wrong with it, those backup files ARE on my computer, i can see them, but i just cant get itunes to see them:/

I meant holding shift when you right click on the iPhone -- I know on the windows version of iTunes, restore from backup only appears if you shift right-click on the device in the list, else the option doesn't appear.

That said, it should have picked up on the backups when you completed the upgrade. You've verified the location of the backups specifically and know that the data is there, so at least that's good. You may want to just use something like iPhone Backup Extractor to retrieve the important data and then just re-sync. It won't copy your application data over, but I'm dubious that there's going to be any way to do this -- if iTunes sees the backups but doesn't think they're legitimate to restore your device from, it may have corrupted them during conversion to iOS 5... What specific data from the backup do you want?

i want my contacts, notes and messages.. my apps are in itunes, i stil have them, its just notes, contacts, messages, bookmarks, passwords etc that are missing.. maybe i will try that backup extractor

Originally Posted by romana.r7

i want my contacts, notes and messages.. my apps are in itunes, i stil have them, its just notes, contacts, messages, bookmarks, passwords etc that are missing.. maybe i will try that.

Try starting over: On your phone: Settings>General>Reset>Erase All Content & Settings. Then, under iTunes>Preferences>Devices, disable auto-sync. Connect your phone, DO NOT SYNC, control-click(right-click) the phone in the left device pane, can you now select "Restore From Backup"? If so, restore your phone from backup. Follow this by syncing your content back to your phone.