All iPads Restore from Backup or load all the apps again?

[Centris 650]

I backed up my iPad 4 before selling with the intentions of restoring it to the iPad Air. HOWEVER, I've heard many people say you shouldn't restore from your backup and just reinstall all of your apps again.

Question 1) Why? What's the reason?
Question 2) Will I lose any information from my old ipad?

Thanks in advance.

 

[nostresshere]

One of the few REAL questions asked here all day. Hope you get a good answer - as I and many others need it as well.

 

[iMas70]

I usually restore from the backup. That's one of the reasons why we do it. Some people prefer to manually install their apps.

When I get a new iPhone or iPad, I want all of my apps and pictures to be there like they were on the previous version.

I don't remember if you lose anything, I don't think so but someone else should be able to answer that.

 

[nostresshere]

Just did a quick google and found this on the Apple site.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766

 

[Centris 650]

The reason I'm asking is that many people here in the forums warn not to restore from backup. I was just wondering why.

 

[mcdj]

I backed up my iPad 4 before selling with the intentions of restoring it to the iPad Air. HOWEVER, I've heard many people say you shouldn't restore from your backup and just reinstall all of your apps again.

Question 1) Why? What's the reason?
Question 2) Will I lose any information from my old ipad?

Thanks in advance.

If you backed up via iTunes and restore from iTunes, all your apps are restored from your backup file. Pros: faster than downloading. All data restored. Cons: if there were any software issues or conflicts/corruptions, they're coming back.

If you backed up to the cloud and restore from the cloud, all your apps are restored from the App Store. They were not stored as part of your backup file. Pros: all your settings are restored, and you get fresh copies of all the apps. Sort of the best of both worlds. Cons: Slower to download all your apps from the cloud than from your computer.

If you set up as a new ipad and reinstall all your apps manually from the App Store, your previous settings are NOT restored. Pros: starting fresh. Cons: losing all your game saves, app settings, camera roll, messages, etc.

 

[Night Spring]

I backed up my iPad 4 before selling with the intentions of restoring it to the iPad Air. HOWEVER, I've heard many people say you shouldn't restore from your backup and just reinstall all of your apps again.

Question 1) Why? What's the reason?
Question 2) Will I lose any information from my old ipad?

Thanks in advance.

Answer to 2 is easy. Yes, you will lose all data in your apps, unless they somehow sync to the cloud somewhere. Like, Angry Birds recently introduced a feature where you can create an account with them to save your game progress. Without such a feature, your game progress is lost if you switch to a new device and set it up as new.

Reason why people warn against restoring from backup. IMO, this is not relevant unless you have jailbroken or have used beta versions of iOS. When you do either of these things, there could be things in your backup that can potentially mess up your system. Even with stock OS, there is a slight possibility that things could creep in to your backup that could cause slowdowns or problems in your system. But overall, my advice is to just restore from backup and enjoy your device. If you find your system does develop problems, you can always restore as new AFTER you actually experience problems. To give up the benefits of restoring from backup in order to preemptively avoid problems that may not even happen seems paranoid to me.

 

[Centris 650]

Answer to 2 is easy. Yes, you will lose all data in your apps, unless they somehow sync to the cloud somewhere. Like, Angry Birds recently introduced a feature where you can create an account with them to save your game progress. Without such a feature, your game progress is lost if you switch to a new device and set it up as new.

Reason why people warn against restoring from backup. IMO, this is not relevant unless you have jailbroken or have used beta versions of iOS. When you do either of these things, there could be things in your backup that can potentially mess up your system. Even with stock OS, there is a slight possibility that things could creep in to your backup that could cause slowdowns or problems in your system. But overall, my advice is to just restore from backup and enjoy your device. If you find your system does develop problems, you can always restore as new AFTER you actually experience problems. To give up the benefits of restoring from backup in order to preemptively avoid problems that may not even happen seems paranoid to me.

Awesome! Thanks! I've just seen so many posts about not restoring from backup I was kind of concerned. I have my backup on iCloud so it'll be fairly easy to restore.

Thanks again!

 

[Sleepnclass]

I never restore from backup. I don't have a real reason other than preference, I like the feel of a clean start. That, and all of my data is in the cloud. I sign into my apps once I load them back on and things are back the way they were.

I rely heavily on services. iCloud, Evernote. Rdio, Twitter, etc. so there isn't really anything to backup. Except my photos. I use iPhoto for that though.

OP depending on how you use your iPad, you could lose data. Only you can answer your original question. There is nothing wrong (usually) with restoring from a back up.

 

[iMas70]

If you backed up via iTunes and restore from iTunes, all your apps are restored from your backup file. Pros: faster than downloading. All data restored. Cons: if there were any software issues or conflicts/corruptions, they're coming back.

If you backed up to the cloud and restore from the cloud, all your apps are restored from the App Store. They were not stored as part of your backup file. Pros: all your settings are restored, and you get fresh copies of all the apps. Sort of the best of both worlds. Cons: Slower to download all your apps from the cloud than from your computer.

If you set up as a new ipad and reinstall all your apps manually from the App Store, your previous settings are NOT restored. Pros: starting fresh. Cons: losing all your game saves, app settings, camera roll, messages, etc.

So, to set up a new device and have it be just like the old one (photos, game saves ect...), you either back-up to iTunes or to the cloud first? I think the last time I bought a new phone I installed everything manually so my photos didn't transfer over. Someday I'll transfer them over to my Mac.

 

[PaulNY]

I generally restore from backup with each new device.

I do however "reset all settings" (non destructive for data). I've had good luck with several generations of iPhones and iPads

 

[haruhiko]

Restore from backup, of course, if you want to preserve all your precious app data.

 

[pat park]

I usually restore from back up and have usually had no issues. But for some reason my iPad mini back up did not jive with the Air. I had a ridiculously high "Other" data taking up 7 gigs. So I had no other choice than to restore as new to get rid of it.

I don't play games so starting over wasn't that big of a deal. With Photostream, all of my photos were restored. iCloud bookmarks, contacts and calendar settings all came back, so no worries there. Just had to choose which apps I wanted. Took a little longer to get everything where I like it, but again, no biggie. Loving the Air so far.

 

[AppleFan360]

I have been restoring from backup since the iPad 1. It works fine. People who say to never do that usually are still stuck in the "windoze" mentality.

 

[Bear]

I restored from a backup of a 3rd gen iPod Touch (iOS 5.x) to an iPad mini (iOS 6) without an issue. And if it can restore a backup to a different device type form an older iOS version, then iPad to iPad should be no problem.

 

[The 2nd G]

Some good advice in this thread. Here's my two cents...

Restore from previous works well, and you should have no hesitation doing that if you want your new iPad to look like your previous one. I've done it three times. However, sometimes you just want to start over. I would never do that with my iPhone, but for some reason, I did it with the iPad Air. I just felt like doing a real spring cleaning, and...immediately regretted it! Just kidding.