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iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS migration

E

edblor

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
129
0
Hi all,

I have my iPhone 3GS on the way, and I was wondering if there were any tips to upgrading to the new 3GS?

Other than a backup, and sync, will changing to the new 3GS, sync with iTunes, and restore from backup get me all of my apps/contacts/events/settings?

Do I need to restore from backup? Should I NOT do a restore?

Thanks,

Ed
 
It brought everything over for me.

I sync'd/backed up my 3G then when the S arrived I did a 'Set up as new phone using backup' (paraphrased) and it worked perfect. Even put the icons in the order I had them.
 
danpass said:
It brought everything over for me.

I sync'd/backed up my 3G then when the S arrived I did a 'Set up as new phone using backup' (paraphrased) and it worked perfect. Even put the icons in the order I had them.
Click to expand...

TYVM, that's what I was hoping would happen.

Cheers for the response:)
 
YVWGICHYITTON*

Enjoy the faster speed :)



















* your very welcome glad i could help you in this time of need :D
 
I did not do a restore, since it is different hardware I don't recommend it although as you see it can work. It would be like cloning an OS from one computer to install on one that is not of the same hardware... while it may work, it will likely lead to issues down the road.
 
nikhsub1 said:
I did not do a restore, since it is different hardware I don't recommend it although as you see it can work. It would be like cloning an OS from one computer to install on one that is not of the same hardware... while it may work, it will likely lead to issues down the road.
Click to expand...

It is completely safe to restore your iPhone 2G or 3G backup file onto a 3GS

If this were a PC I'd agree with your fears about different hardware; however, in the case of the iPhone, you would not have this problem. The iPhone backup file does not contain the OS or apps, rather it's just parts of the user home folder. Restoring only copies back the user settings and application data. The OS is not touched and your apps and music are restored from your iTunes repository based on your sync settings.
 
I did the same swap on launch day. I backed up my 3G, then plugged the 3GS in and set it up using the backup.

Everything from settings to text messages were copied to the 3GS. It was like having the same phone :) Except for the new features, of course.
 
err404 said:
It is completely safe to restore your iPhone 2G or 3G backup file onto a 3GS

If this were a PC I'd agree with your fears about different hardware; however, in the case of the iPhone, you would not have this problem. The iPhone backup file does not contain the OS or apps, rather it's just parts of the user home folder. Restoring only copies back the user settings and application data. The OS is not touched and your apps and music are restored from your iTunes repository based on your sync settings.
Click to expand...
Good to know... I have been told on several occasions by Geniuses that restoring from backup can lead to an issue in certain instances... maybe they are wrong?
 
nikhsub1 said:
Good to know... I have been told on several occasions by Geniuses that restoring from backup can lead to an issue in certain instances... maybe they are wrong?
Click to expand...

well ............ they're merely Geniuses ......... not true prodigies.

:D
 
Ok so if everything is copied to the 3GS, what will happen to the applications already in the 3G? Can i still use them? What i am asking, can you still use both the 3GS and the 3G with the applications they have?
 
u49aa2 said:
Ok so if everything is copied to the 3GS, what will happen to the applications already in the 3G? Can i still use them? What i am asking, can you still use both the 3GS and the 3G with the applications they have?
Click to expand...

The apps can be installed on all iPhone connected to your iTunes account (there may be a 5 phone limit, I can't remember). Keep in mind that you can only be connected to a single iTunes account and if you change the account on the phone, the apps will stop working.

As for "other" issues with restores; you can have issues, but they are normally related to damaged setting/data files in your profile, not hardware compatibility. The recommendation to "not restore" is really a workaround to recreate these files.

I wish Apple would supply a more granular restore method because as it stands now, if a critical file is damaged, you may lose all of the application data saved to the phone.

scenario:
Your profile is corrupted, but it goes unnoticed since the you have not restarted your phone in a few weeks. Your recent iTunes backups include the bad files. When you finally do reboot your phone, it fails to start. restoring your backup does not help since the same damaged info is applied after the restore.

FYI - jailbraking can make this scenario more likely to happen, but I have seen it on "clean" phones also.
 
ok i need much help.. lol

i have a 3g iPhone, synced to windows XP.... and i just bought a MBP and a 3GS iPhone... how do i transfer my 3g iPhone (sync to xp) Txt messages and stuff like that to my 3GS iPhone, on a mac... is it compatible, and can you even transfer txt messages from the backup?

Thanks
 
I've never tired it, but you should be able to perform an initial sync from XP machine to restore your 3G backup and then just plug it into your Mac and setup your sync options for going forward.
 
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