Did a clean Lion install... now how do I get my iPhone stuff back?

[Savage]

I did a clean Lion install and now I'm looking to safely get all information on my iPhone (Mail accounts, notes, apps, contacts, etc.) to sync back to my Mac without deleting it from my iPhone.

I see iTunes has an option to replace information on the iPhone with information on the computer, but I need to do the exact opposite. What is the safest way of doing so?

 

[Bendy Walker]

You really should have backed up your entire iTunes Library before you did a clean install. Then you would have been able to continue syncing without any issues. I'm unsure of how you'll get the data back off your iPhone.

 

[Savage]

Now I'm worried.

 

[Eradik]

Okay, I will say this first: The following has been in my experience. It SHOULD be the same way, but I cannot guarantee this!

A few days ago my sister got a nasty virus (she's still w/ Windows) and I had to format her computer. She had NO backups. Once we got back up and running, we installed iTunes and plugged in the phone. The very first thing we did was CANCEL the initial sync. Then I went to the INFO tab in iTunes (with the phone selected) and check all the boxes for contacts, mail, etc).

As you mentioned, I left the REPLACE ON THIS IPHONE options unchecked. I clicked sync, and iTunes popped up asking what to do with the data, MERGE or REPLACE. I selected MERGE and let it do its thing. It left everything in tact on the phone, copied the contacts to (in her case) Google Contacts. Everything worked great.

Of course, there is (at least not that I know of) a way to pull the music/apps off of the phone, but with iCloud it's easy to redownload all of those anyway.

I've done similar with my contacts on my Mac with no issues.

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

 

[Savage]

Thanks, man. I did that with my fingers crossed and it did indeed work for me. The music and apps are not a problem because I backed up my music before my clean install and can easily re-download the 10 or so apps I have on my phone. As for everything else, it combined what I have on my phone with what I have on my computer. This basically just means it worked, lol.

 

[Kuray]

Always have another partition for iTunes or files that need Backup

For example in my old MBP, I have 1 HDD with 2 partition. I only delete System Partition.

Now, with my old MBP, I have 2 HDD with totally 8 partition

SSD:
Lion System (Active Used)

HDD:
Files (Movies, Apps, etc.)
iTunes (iTunes files, iTunes library)
Backup (Time Machine Backup for SSD)
OS X Snow Leopard Installation
OS X Lion Installation
Clean Snow Leopard (Untouched, nothing installed)
Clean Lion (Untouched, nothing installed)

 

[Eradik]

Thanks, man. I did that with my fingers crossed and it did indeed work for me. The music and apps are not a problem because I backed up my music before my clean install and can easily re-download the 10 or so apps I have on my phone. As for everything else, it combined what I have on my phone with what I have on my computer. This basically just means it worked, lol.

Glad it worked out for you! It always makes me nervous too, since if it doesn't work so much stuff is gone!

 

[Cougarcat]

Always have another partition for iTunes or files that need Backup

For example in my old MBP, I have 1 HDD with 2 partition. I only delete System Partition.

Now, with my old MBP, I have 2 HDD with totally 8 partition

SSD:
Lion System (Active Used)

HDD:
Files (Movies, Apps, etc.)
iTunes (iTunes files, iTunes library)
Backup (Time Machine Backup for SSD)
OS X Snow Leopard Installation
OS X Lion Installation
Clean Snow Leopard (Untouched, nothing installed)
Clean Lion (Untouched, nothing installed)

That setup doesn't help you in the event of a HDD failure, just an OS install failure. (Unless I'm misunderstanding you and you also have Files and iTunes on the SSD.)

 

[mrapplegate]

Glad it worked out for you! It always makes me nervous too, since if it doesn't work so much stuff is gone!

There is no need to worry. It sounds like the OP did not back up his system before a clean install. If you save your iTunes folder and your ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync folders you are fine. That will take care of iTunes/iPhone combined. Other data will still need to be backed up of course.

 

[Eradik]

There is no need to worry. It sounds like the OP did not back up his system before a clean install. If you save your iTunes folder and your ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync folders you are fine. That will take care of iTunes/iPhone combined. Other data will still need to be backed up of course.

True (I keep TM backups and a CCC of my drive consistently). But, like in the case with my sister, she had no backups. It can be scary in a case like that.

 

[mrapplegate]

True (I keep TM backups and a CCC of my drive consistently). But, like in the case with my sister, she had no backups. It can be scary in a case like that.

Tell her to have some kind of backup, if only TM before she upgrades. Things happen. You don't want her losing data.

 

[Kuray]

That setup doesn't help you in the event of a HDD failure, just an OS install failure. (Unless I'm misunderstanding you and you also have Files and iTunes on the SSD.)

I have files in SSD but small ones. I mean, some setup files, important files but not used that much is in HDD.

I don't have iTunes in SSD. All musics, videos, library files or related with iTunes files (except application's itself) is in partition iTunes

That setup works in SSD or system in SSD failure. Or if I have problem, to understand it is related to software or hardware, I use clean lion or sl.
For example, If AirPort isn't working well in Lion that located in SSD, I try it from Clean Lion partition.
Clean partition doesn't required that much.

Other partitions are great. In SSD failure, I'll have everything in 2nd HDD. In software failure which is in SSD, I can re-install system easily with Installation partitions in HDD

 

[LikuidMetal]

I did a clean Lion install and now I'm looking to safely get all information on my iPhone (Mail accounts, notes, apps, contacts, etc.) to sync back to my Mac without deleting it from my iPhone.

I see iTunes has an option to replace information on the iPhone with information on the computer, but I need to do the exact opposite. What is the safest way of doing so?

How did you do a clean install on lion?