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Reinstalling OS X, how do i keep my iphone from deleting everything?

aphexacid

aphexacid

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I'm reinstalling os x on the mac i have linked up with my iphone...I need to know how i can keep my iphone from wanting to erase everything when i sync it up afterwards?

Would i have to back up, and then copy over some sort of files? name my mac the same as it is now?

please tell me this will be possible
 
Shouldn't be a problem. The info. on your iPhone won't be erased. When you sync it, it will add any *new* data but it won't delete the existing data on the phone.
 
skinnylegs said:
Shouldn't be a problem. The info. on your iPhone won't be erased. When you sync it, it will add any *new* data but it won't delete the existing data on the phone.
Click to expand...

Do NOT listen to this.

You need to make a backup of anything you want to keep (music, pictures, videos, ect.) to ensure that you can recreate your iTunes library. If you do not, you will lose everything that syncs through iTunes.
 
Yurtra said:
Do NOT listen to this.

You need to make a backup of anything you want to keep (music, pictures, videos, ect.) to ensure that you can recreate your iTunes library. If you do not, you will lose everything that syncs through iTunes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that i know for sure. when i first got my iphone, i synced it with my macbook first, loaded a bunch of stuff, and then a couple days later i tried to load a movie from my MBP, and it erased all my stuff because I wasnt paying attention.

what exactly do i need to do to "recreate my itunes library"? the music, movies and pics are stored on a seperate partition, so those will stay put.

please help!
 
aphexacid said:
Yeah, that i know for sure. when i first got my iphone, i synced it with my macbook first, loaded a bunch of stuff, and then a couple days later i tried to load a movie from my MBP, and it erased all my stuff because I wasnt paying attention.

what exactly do i need to do to "recreate my itunes library"? the music, movies and pics are stored on a seperate partition, so those will stay put.

please help!
Click to expand...

this is not true, and your post doesnt make any sense. when you are reinstalling the osx it shouldnt erase all the data that you have stored
 
I know it wont erase whats already on my phone MAGICALLY, just by me reinstalling os x.

BUT, listen close now, on the freshly installed OS, if i plug in my iphone, it will say "this iphone is synced to a different computer, would you like to erase an sync with this library?"

What can i do to avoid this. i cant possibly word it any different.
 
aphexacid said:
I know it wont erase whats already on my phone MAGICALLY, just by me reinstalling os x.

BUT, listen close now, on the freshly installed OS, if i plug in my iphone, it will say "this iphone is synced to a different computer, would you like to erase an sync with this library?"

What can i do to avoid this. i cant possibly word it any different.
Click to expand...

what do you mean it will have you tried it yet?
 
Like i said, i tried it before going from my MB to MBP, and it erased my iphone stuff. this in essence, is the same deal. are there some files that i can backup to make my iphone think its still the same library?
 
so if you arent erasing the hard drive it keeps the same library intact and so the phone wont tell you that its a new library. it will read it as the same library
 
It depends on the type of installation you do.

As I said before, your best bet is to save all your files (which they already are, on your seperate partition) and simply put them back into iTunes, then resync with that library (you shouldn't lose anything).

If it's an archive and install, you should be fine, (as nothing will be deleted) just make sure that your Music folder isn't tampered with.

You could try grabbing the 'iTunes Library" file, although I'm not 100% sure that'll help you.
 
erhaps a different question...

What is on your iPhone that you think you will lose? If all the files in your library will be back in after your reinstall, then yes, you will have to re-tell your iPhone what files to sync, but you'll keep your files. Are you afraid of losing some data?
 
erasing all settings on iphone

hey i need some help... i accidently pressed the erase all settings and content button on my phone and i phone has gone blank ..itunes does not recognize it and only when i plug it up it sayserasing iphone..please someone tell me what to do...
 
Here's what I did, I backed up these directories (~ = username)

~/Music/iTunes Music
~/Library/Application Support/Address Book
~/Library/Application Support/Sync Services
~/Library/iTunes
~/Library/Preferences

NOTE: In the Preferences directory, you won't need everything obviously. Just keep anything that's related to iTunes, iPhone, Address Book, etc.

I'm not sure if all those are needed, but I copy those off and put them back and am good to go. I even moved them all to another computer and it sync'd just like it was hooked up to my own, assuming all the media was there too.
 
ican't access my home screen

my iphone is now not even allowing me to open any programs,, when i slide the unlock button it shows a loading sign and then goes back to the locked screen .. prior to this my keyboard went blank and i couldn't see any of the letters to type with ..so right now i'm lost i dont know how to get my phone working....i'm wondering if i got a virus..as of now i cant even access my home screen..can anyone help me??????????????????
 
OP: I went through this when I moved from Tiger to Leopard. You need to back up:

iTunes library (i.e. the iTunes folder in Music)
Address book database
iCal database
Mail database (if you're not using IMAP)

This document tells you how to back up address book, iCal and Mail in Tiger: in Leopard it's

file > export > address book archive, file > import > address book archive to restore
file > back up iCal, file > restore iCal to restore
Mail is the same as Tiger AFAIK

When you've reinstalled the OS, just restore all of the above (copy the itunes folder into your new Music folder and overwrite the existing empty one, restore the rest as in the article) then sync as normal.

Alternatively I think you could just reinstall, sync the phone then merge the data from the phone with the data on the mac to restore the address book and iCal. Not done this myself, I didn't really trust it (too many bad experiences with Windows Mobile I think).
 
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