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A wrinkle to the new computer + iPad sync dilemma

A

adamnmurad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2011
8
0
Good morning,

My iPad works perfectly. I love it. Love it love it love it. So much so, that it pushed me over the edge and I switched from a PC laptop to a MacBook Pro.

Uh oh...is this consequently going to ruin my relationship with my iPad? I think I've successfully transferred all my music, videos, photos, etc. to my MacBook, but I'm scared to plug my iPad into the new computer because I'm scared it'll get ruined. For example, I have hundreds of podcasts saved to the app iCatcher that I don't want to lose. I have many, many apps, and I've spent hours arranging them into a perfect little folder structure. Does this all necessarily need to go bye-bye if I ever want to sync my iPad to my computer again? I keep thinking it doesn't have to be this hard, but from everything I've read, there's really no solution to this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
The only way to know for sure is to try.

Do you still have your old computer? If so, sync to it and back up your iPad. Then, when you have time to try it out, sync to the new computer and see how it turns out.

At worse case, if it turns out to be really bad you can restore from backup on your old computer and get everything back. And then hopefully iOS 5 will make the transition a little easier.
 
I don't think it is going to go well, because iTunes will probably want to erase everything in your iPad in order to sync with the new library. If it were me, I would make sure to copy the entire iTunes (my music) folder into the Mac. Make sure that iTunes works properly with it (recognizes your library of music, etc.), and then plug in your iPad. Maybe. Maybe iTunes will not want to screw around with the iPad content when you sync, because your backup and so forth are all there.

But, if it goes badly, all you have to do is restore it from the backup on your old computer.

no matter how many apps you got floating around in folders, it won't take you more than a few minutes to clean it all up, right? after all, you probably don't use 90 percent of them anyhow :)
 
Eeps...doesn't sound good!

I do still have my old computer, but I moved (not just copied, but moved) all my content from the old PC to the new MacBook Pro. So, would that make plugging my iPad into my old PC also undesirable now?

Two more ideas: is there any way to backup an iPad to a computer you haven't originally synced it with? (It seems like that should be possible. Like, if your desktop HD crashes, that has to mean the death of your iPad too?)

Or, might just waiting for iOS 5 with iCloud make this problem all go away? When I heard the "cut the cord, PC free" talk, that sounded like a great idea! The only problem is, would I still need to plug in and erase my iPad to actually get iOS 5 on my iPad?
 
adamnmurad said:
Eeps...doesn't sound good!

I do still have my old computer, but I moved (not just copied, but moved) all my content from the old PC to the new MacBook Pro. So, would that make plugging my iPad into my old PC also undesirable now?

Two more ideas: is there any way to backup an iPad to a computer you haven't originally synced it with? (It seems like that should be possible. Like, if your desktop HD crashes, that has to mean the death of your iPad too?)

Or, might just waiting for iOS 5 with iCloud make this problem all go away? When I heard the "cut the cord, PC free" talk, that sounded like a great idea! The only problem is, would I still need to plug in and erase my iPad to actually get iOS 5 on my iPad?
Click to expand...

I think your first sync with iOS 5 will go the same way. And, you'll have to wait a few months. What is it that you have on you iPad that is so terrible to lose? All of your musics will sync. All of your apps will sync. All of your pictures will sync. The only thing I can think of that will be a problem is putting apps into their proper folders. I am not sure that will sync. But, really, how many minutes are we talking about here?
 
palpatine said:
I think your first sync with iOS 5 will go the same way. And, you'll have to wait a few months. What is it that you have on you iPad that is so terrible to lose? All of your musics will sync. All of your apps will sync. All of your pictures will sync. The only thing I can think of that will be a problem is putting apps into their proper folders. I am not sure that will sync. But, really, how many minutes are we talking about here?
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Thanks, and I don't mean to be dense! But, when you say all my apps will sync, does that mean wiped versions of the apps (with no downloaded podcasts in iCatcher, songs in Rhapsody, saved games in Madden) or the saved data will sync/migrate as well? It's kinda all that stuff that I'm getting at.

Also, as a backstop, is there a way to backup the iPad to my new computer before I take the plunge? (Or, would it be possible to back it up to the old computer given that I moved all my files off it now?)
 
Carouser said:
Does this help? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202
It mainly discusses music, but might be another bit of info for you.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid it doesn't seem to mention the folder issue. He could manually do things to avoid the sync, but he can't sync playlists and music until he makes the new computer his library, and that is where the problem will start.

My memory tells me folders got messed up, but maybe things are better since the last time I did it. At any rate, if all you are worried about are folders, and you probably only use a handful of apps every day anyhow, I don't think it will be such a big deal.
 
When I changed computers I simply moved my Backup file from the old to the new. When I synced everything looked exactly the same.

Check this out
http://apple-ipad-tablet-help.blogspot.com/2010/03/ipad-backup-location.html

I also made sure my libraries were the same
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364

But I was moving from pc to pc so it was pretty easy. As everyone else said. As long as you still have your old pc you can always get everything back.

Boy i'm really looking forward to this fall and IOS 5. Hopefully all this will be much easier.
 
Thanks, Carouser and palpatine! The link is very helpful and you all are right - if the only thing I lose in the transition is the folder structure, I suppose that might not completely be the end of the world ;)

But, does anyone have insight into the app data (downloaded podcasts, Rhapsody songs, etc.) issue? That would be a greater annoyance.

Also, do you know if there would be a backup solution given that I have one "full" new computer, and one "empty" old one?

Thanks for all your help!
 
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