Understanding iPhone Backup Files

Introduction
mdbackup is a command line Mac utility by Erica Sadun. It extracts plist and embedded databases from the *.mdbackup files stored in Filesystem:/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Erica's articles talk you through how to extract information from these files.

Windows users can use the shareware program iTunes Backup Manager to edit and extract the contents of backup archives.

Details

 * http://ericasadun.com/ftp/Macintosh/
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/05/iphone-backups-part-1.html
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/05/iphone-backups-part-2.html
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/05/iphone-backups-part-3.html
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/06/recovering-data-from-mdbackup.html
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/06/iphone-backups-part-4.html
 * http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/07/iphone-backups-part-5-even-mor.html
 * http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/21/mission-tuawpossible-back-up-your-iphone-with-time-machine/