Trouble with updating to newest iOS on iPhone, now frozen out of phone?

So, I tried downloading the newest iOS 6.0.1 on my iPhone 4. I went into the setting and wanted to update straight through my iPhone, just like I have done since that feature came. As usual, I downloaded the software (which took at least half an hour) and finally the phone shut off and the little Apple sign appeared. Then, the phone came up with the little picture of the charger with an arrow pointing to the iTunes icon, signaling to connect the phone to iTunes. I have a PC with a very old version of iTunes on it because whenever I try to download the newest version of iTunes on the computer it doesn't work. The little green bar always ends up getting 7/8s to the end and then a box shows up that says "An error has occurred". Anyway, I tried connecting my phone to iTunes as it told me, and it said that the iPhone was in recovery mode and had to be restored in order to use with iTunes. The problem here is that I'm not sure when the last time I backed up my phone was and that if I restore it the software on the iPhone will go way back to iOS 5.1.1. I'm currently using iOS 6.0. Meanwhile I'm locked out of my phone until I connect it to iTunes. What should I do? If I restore my phone I could lose everything. Does it have to do with the software on iTunes? How should I update it? I'm lost and really could use my phone tomorrow!

Hi I've got the same issue now! Have you been able to resolve this without restoring?

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