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Restore from backup or start new
- Thread starter kaydot
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The only drawback I could see would be if any corrupt files that might carry over. I always restore though and have never had an issue.
I prefer to start fresh and set it up as a new device. Yeah, it is more work setting things up, but you start with a fresh iPad without any carry-over cruff. It also forces you to go through your apps and decide whether you really need them or are still using them.
Do you need anything on the old setup that can't be brought in via other means on a clean slate restart? Would this be too time consuming/ high pita factor?
My personal stuff I have often opted for fresh start. Idevices, new MBP's....I like clean slates. Apps like notability I just dropbox back in notes I need. That's my way. Not a big iOS gamer so don't have that issue. Pics and vids I have my dedicated gear for so don't collect much on my ipad in this regard.
Wife's/sons stuff is bogged down with game saves and such. So their devices become restores. Process I never had an issue with the few times I have done it.
Depending on how much you have the restore can be a good chunk of time. Like an hour assuming lightning/usb connection to a puter with iTunes and full backup. Not sure about icloud if its all in the cloud.
My personal stuff I have often opted for fresh start. Idevices, new MBP's....I like clean slates. Apps like notability I just dropbox back in notes I need. That's my way. Not a big iOS gamer so don't have that issue. Pics and vids I have my dedicated gear for so don't collect much on my ipad in this regard.
Wife's/sons stuff is bogged down with game saves and such. So their devices become restores. Process I never had an issue with the few times I have done it.
Depending on how much you have the restore can be a good chunk of time. Like an hour assuming lightning/usb connection to a puter with iTunes and full backup. Not sure about icloud if its all in the cloud.
I know a lot of people advocate the starting fresh for the best possible setup. But I've been restoring mine from iCloud backups for as long as it's been available without a problem.
Out of curiosity, when I got my iPad Pro, I decided to set it up as a new device first. I used it for a couple of days, did some benchmarks then wiped it and restored from my iCloud backup. Used that for a few days and did the same benchmarks and got the same results.
So unless you encounter some weird issue after restoring from a backup I'm inclined to say just restore it. You can always revert in the unlikely event of a problem.
Out of curiosity, when I got my iPad Pro, I decided to set it up as a new device first. I used it for a couple of days, did some benchmarks then wiped it and restored from my iCloud backup. Used that for a few days and did the same benchmarks and got the same results.
So unless you encounter some weird issue after restoring from a backup I'm inclined to say just restore it. You can always revert in the unlikely event of a problem.
Just following up on markov's points and starting from a clean slate, cloud services make setting up a new device pretty easy these days. Just logging into iCloud as part of the setup process will download many settings an lots of data. After that, I add 1Password and Dropbox and let those sync to the new device. The add my email accounts, etc. That accounts for probably 75% of it. All my movies and music are in the cloud and are not downloaded to the iPad. For me, it took me about an hour to set up my new iPad Pro, including downloading apps (less than 30) and setting them up.
This. I always seem to accumulate a bunch of apps I rarely use and this does clean things up.
I've been carrying on (restoring from backup) across 3 iPhones and 1 iPad so far, spanning back about 4 or 5 years and I haven't noticed any ill effect. I've never had a reason to wipe an iOS device or start fresh.
Me too, my mid-2010 iMac is in desperate need of an update because it's so darn slow. The next iteration of 5K iMacs will be its replacement.
I wish apple would allow backup of messages to the cloud as a separate entity like photos, contacts etc. The only reason I never do a clean install is because I'd lose messages. Everything else comes down via iCloud in one form or another.
You can restore up, but not down. e.g. 8.0 -> 9.3 but not 9.3 -> 8.0.
I'd set it up as new only if I didn't have data that I had to have. In other words, if I had a drawing in Procreate that wasn't saved elsewhere or I really cared about carrying over 3 stars from every level in angry birds, I'd restore. If I didn't care about game progress or didn't have any saved data that wasn't saved in iCloud, then I'd start over fresh.
I'd set it up as new only if I didn't have data that I had to have. In other words, if I had a drawing in Procreate that wasn't saved elsewhere or I really cared about carrying over 3 stars from every level in angry birds, I'd restore. If I didn't care about game progress or didn't have any saved data that wasn't saved in iCloud, then I'd start over fresh.
Have never started as new on my iPhone or iPads. I keep them clean and lean so there is no need to fear my encrypted backups!