Questions about itunes, et cetera. Please help!

[mpick]

Hello. New guy maybe posting in the wrong section... please move if better elsewhere.

Total neophyte here. In our family we have my wifes iphone 7, my first gen se, and our daughters ipad mini thats about 3 years old( 4th version I think)

I would like to have one backup / storage location on my pc for all three devices.
My questions essentially all have to do with wifi syncing. I expect to have a few more specific questions after you guys bring me up to speed on some terminology first.
I am hoping to accomplish most of my goals using iTunes, not iCloud.

1. Don't laugh, but what exactly is syncing? If all three devices are synced to the pc, are photos and other data visible to the host pc? or to each other?

2. Syncing via wifi has the same effect as hardwired interface?

3. Can backups, to be stored on the host pc, be "installed" into new devices? (We will probably get new devices next year)

4. Can backups be made over wifi?

5. Can backups be opened/viewed by the host pc?

Thanks for your attention.
Mike

 

[Shirasaki]

1. Syncing is the action of putting data stored on your host PC Managed by iTunes to your device. For iTunes it’s a one way trip so no reverse data transfer.
2. In theory yes. I don’t have good experience though cause it is highly unreliable and drops like crazy.
3. Yes, backups can be restored to a new device. You can even restore iPad backup to iPhone and vice versa. iTunes will handle settings and data that does not fit.
4. My attempt of backing up using wifi is beyond horrible and fails every single time.
5. iTunes cannot open backups for you to browse. You need third party software. (iMazing, iExplorer. Both are paid software)