Iphone4--Library on External Drive, computer Crashed

[Slater68]

I am hoping someone can give me advice on how to handle this situation.

We have two Iphones--wife has an Iphone4 and a I a 3GS. We have seperate contact lists and photos on the phone. We also have an older ipod nano. Our Itunes Library is on an external hard drive. Our windows XP computer crashed and the C: drive is wiped out. I am trying some data recovery, but I think some well intentioned relative made it worse trying to fix it. I dont know if itunes would have stored the backups on the E: drive or not. (a sickening feeling in my gut tells me it would not have)

I will need to reinstall Windows XP entirely on a new HDD. I do not know what to do with Itunes and the two Iphones. After I reinstall Itunes on the computer, what do I do? I am worried about Contacts and photos that were taken on the phones.

I know to tell Itunes not to automatically synch..but beyond that I dont know what procedures to follow. I know a mistake can result in empty iphone...also--I did all purchases in Itunes on the computer, not on the phones.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Flake]

if your iTunes library is on the external drive then you should be able to sync just fine once you reinstall iTunes. it will be the same library so iTunes shouldn't ask you to delete anything from your phone

 

[eseminario]

There is no problem! If your iTunes library is on your external drive then you will be able to load all your info when you fix your computer and reinstall iTunes. Just be sure you change the default directory in iTunes Preferences.

 

[kuebby]

As long as you don't check the "Replace Information on iPhone" option in iTunes then a SYNC does exactly that, it's synchronizes the information, it doesn't write over one with the other.

 

[Slater68]

I want to make sure I am clear about this...all of my music files are on the external drive---I was under the impression that there is a "library file" that keeps everythign organized...if such a thing exists, would that be on the ruined C: drive, or would it be in the external drive? How can I verify the existence or location of a "library file"?

Also, where is the option "Replace Information on Iphone" located??

Finally, does anyone have a recommendation of any of the utility programs out there that could, in the name of caution, allow me to back up the contents of the phone (particularly photos, contacts, playlists) without using Itunes--i see lots of utilities but dont know if they are scam software or just pure crap.

Thanks to all who responded, I am most appreciative--

 

[mstrze]

I want to make sure I am clear about this...all of my music files are on the external drive---I was under the impression that there is a "library file" that keeps everythign organized...if such a thing exists, would that be on the ruined C: drive, or would it be in the external drive? How can I verify the existence or location of a "library file"?

Assuming you didn't do anything wacky in how you organized your iTunes library, this 'library' file should also exist on the same drive as your files. At least that how it is done on the Mac...Windows would hopefully not screw with that functionality.

As for other methods to back up an iPhone, I feel that nothing out there really compares to iTunes. Just make sure that in the future, both your internal AND the external are backup up consistently. If you were using a Mac I would highly recommend the built in Time Machine. Since it's Windows, I cannot make any recommendations.