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iTunes backup damaged

October 29th, 2019, 10:01

Well, i had one of the cases which is related to damn iTunes backup where the plist files are damaged, it took me some time to read about this problem and found few websites and people talking about it, some of the solutions are good and some are not.

here for example one of them: http://www.securitylearn.net/2013/04/01 ... d-backups/
"The task was to get those contents working, sorted" .... blah blah

I downloaded few python scripts and tested it but while testing i asked myself this Silly Question: Why the hell am doing this??

Well, since those files are WORKING, its just the question of sorting damn Apple crazy Naming structure to sorted RAW files

Here is what i did:

Zero Fill any drive, then format it & copy those files (iTunes Backup) to it, then run any simple DR App. and you are done
you don`t need to go through the details.

Sometimes its really simple but the way we think about it makes it big.

Hope this helps you guys...

:wink:

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 29th, 2019, 15:23

einstein9 wrote:I downloaded few python scripts and tested it but while testing i asked myself this Silly Question: Why the hell am doing this??

Well, since those files are WORKING, its just the question of sorting damn Apple crazy Naming structure to sorted RAW files

Here is what i did:

Zero Fill any drive, then format it & copy those files (iTunes Backup) to it, then run any simple DR App. and you are done

Why do you think that a tiny Python file renaming script is more complicated than a "simple DR app", whatever that is? AISI, the Python method is as simple as you can get ... and it's free.

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 30th, 2019, 2:50

@ fzabkar,

Actually am leaving the Thinking part for you here,,

If you are running a DR Biz. then You Should use DR Apps (by default) > Like driving a car with Tires fixed

but for example here (this is where the thinking part comes):

When you have thousands of files mixed together (damaged/working) and you want to separate the working from the damaged
then you may use this SIMPLE APPROACH.

Just Think Different...

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 30th, 2019, 3:57

Some people are of the mindset that anything involving a command line must necessarily be complicated. In my case I feel equally at home with a CLI or a GUI.

As for thinking differently, I would think that, since point-and-click GUIs are the norm, anyone who uses a CLI would automatically be thinking differently. In any case I like to believe that I am already a lateral thinker, and that I don't need anyone to teach me how to think (that's one reason why I didn't like university).

I still can't see how anyone could not agree that the Python script is the most elegant solution. You install Python in its own directory, create a destination directory for your renamed files, and run the script with one simple command line:

    python scriptfile indirectory outdirectory

Unlike a DR program, you don't need to learn how Python works, or how the script works. You just run it.

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 30th, 2019, 4:27

Small lesson for you here,,

I`ll connect the SAME case for you, and you may try both

**download the python script and proceed and @the same time ***you have the other method with the same case
and by then you will understand my point here...

but @ the end of the day when you give up, you should come here to the same thread and try to explain Why it did not work.

let me know if you want to try...

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 30th, 2019, 6:16

maybe the power of python is yet to be discovered.

BTW Einstein9, many proper forensic tools and add-ons are coded in python.

in the end it is the tools you have, the tools you know and the wisdom to apply them in some meaningful way

Re: iTunes backup damaged

October 30th, 2019, 7:49

HaQue wrote:maybe the power of python is yet to be discovered.

BTW Einstein9, many proper forensic tools and add-ons are coded in python.

in the end it is the tools you have, the tools you know and the wisdom to apply them in some meaningful way


Am not talking about coding & how good/bad or powerful .....etc.

I was talking about How i got to what i wanted using the python script (IDEA) for this iTunes case & other cases (the other example)

Re: iTunes backup damaged

November 11th, 2019, 0:09

Different database, another Python script:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2903
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