How do I add a ringtone without erasing anything?

Okay, I just got a brand new iPhone 4s. I'm loving it so far. I downloaded a free ringtone off the internet in m4r format. The audio file is 29 seconds long. I dragged it into my 10.5 iTunes library. It then automatically created a ringtones folder. The file now resides in the ringtones folder in iTunes. So far, so good. I connect my iPhone to my PC, iTunes recognized my phone and the device appears in the left hand pane. I click on the device to bring up the syncing options and I un-check everything as the only thing I want to do is add a single ringtone to my phone. With one ringtone in my ringtones folder, I clicked to check the box "sync ringtones" and got the dreaded "if you continue your single ringtone will erase all of your other ringtones" Something along those lines.
All I want to do is add a single ringtone to the iPhone's current library of ringtones. Is this impossible?

Earlier, I was able to create a ringtone from one of my songs in iTunes and I was able to add it to the iPhone but it's not working the same with the free ringtone that I downloaded. Please help.

abijnk said:

Perhaps I am just misunderstanding what you're actually doing, but it sounds like you're over thinking this.

iTunes is smart enough to figure out if something is already on your phone. When you uncheck something and then resync what you're telling it to do is remove that information from your phone.

When you plug in your phone go through all the tabs and make sure everything that you want on your phone is checked as appropriate. iTunes will then make sure that everything you want on there is on there. It's that simple.

So, to reiterate, if you have a new ringtone in iTunes, you should plug your phone in, go to the ringtones tab, make sure the new ringtone is checked to be synced, and leave everything else the same. Then sync.

Again, remember that every change you make to what is checked or unchecked is telling iTunes to do something.

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Thank you for the response, but, in order to select the ringtone, I have to put a check in the box labeled "sync ringtones" and that's when I get the warning that everything will be deleted if I continue.

abijnk said:

Define everything...

Are you syncing with this computer for the first time? If so, then yes, everything will be erased and whatever content you select in iTunes will replace it.

If it's just saying all the ringtones will be deleted then that's not really a big deal as long as what's on your phone and what's on your computer match.

Click to expand...

Yes, I apologize about being vague. Sometimes I'll get a warning that just the current ringtones will be erased and sometimes I get a warning that all music and videos will be erased, depending on weather I select "manually manage music". So let me understand something. If I download 25 apps to my brand new iPhone and then sync with my PC for the first time, those apps are gone? I should have synced my phone before I put one ounce of content on it? I'm not understanding. If I sync my phone all the time with the same PC and then purchase an app from the app store, why doesn't Itunes delete it on the next sync? I'm sory to be a bother but this seems so difficult. According to your statements, every iPhone ever synced will lose all of their ringtones because none of those ringtones exist in iTunes. This is only part of the confusion that keeps piling up.

I currently have no music or videos on my phone but I do have several purchased apps and lots of contacts. That content has remained on my phone even after syncing with everything un-checked. How does that happen? I'm just very confused. How do I start over without losing all my content? IOW, how do I tell iTunes what's already on my phone so that it appears in iTunes for the next sync?