Synchronizing iPhone with another machine without wiping.

[brdeveloper]

Hello,

I never found a satisfactory solution for synchronizing iPhone with a new machine without having to wipe the phone memory. I don't need that the phone keep bound to the old Mac, but I don't know how to order iTunes to do something like this:

"Please forget that older machine and use only the newer one to synchronize my iPhone. AND DON'T WIPE ANYTHING."

Is it possible?

 

[adamhenry]

I must be missing something. A new phone doesn't have anything on it. Wiping it wouldn't cause you to lose anything. I restore a new phone with a backup of my old phone to prevent having to setup everything again.

When you restore a phone you choose the backup to use. You can choose the backup based on the date of the backup or the name of the phone if you give the new phone a different name.

You use the word 'sync' though. What are you wanting to sync?

 

[mhunter6378]

Hello,

I never found a satisfactory solution for synchronizing iPhone with a new machine without having to wipe the phone memory. I don't need that the phone keep bound to the old Mac, but I don't know how to order iTunes to do something like this:

"Please forget that older machine and use only the newer one to synchronize my iPhone. AND DON'T WIPE ANYTHING."

Is it possible?

If I understand correctly, what you need to do is move your iTunes library from the old Mac to a new one. Doing so will put your existing data from iTunes on the new computer and your phone should sync same as with the old computer. Here's a link https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204318

 

[aristobrat]

"Please forget that older machine and use only the newer one to synchronize my iPhone. AND DON'T WIPE ANYTHING."

Is it possible?

IMO, if Apple ever changes that philosophy, you'll see the forums here go crazy.

AFAIK, the iTunes sync process with an iPhone today works exactly the same as it did with the original iPod in 2001. The "iDevice" is a spoke off of the hub (which is your machine or iCloud today). If you plug your iDevice into a new hub and try to sync it, it's going to want to delete most of the data on the iDevice that came from the old hub. Then it'll copy on the new stuff from the new hub.

 

[brdeveloper]

I must be missing something. A new phone doesn't have anything on it. Wiping it wouldn't cause you to lose anything. I restore a new phone with a backup of my old phone to prevent having to setup everything again.

The iPhone is old. The Mac (a 2015 MBA) is new, but when I ask the new Mac iTunes to sync with the iPhone, it asks to wipe the phone contents.

When you restore a phone you choose the backup to use. You can choose the backup based on the date of the backup or the name of the phone if you give the new phone a different name.

Well, let me be clearer. My wife has an iPhone 5C with a lot of media (pictures, videos, audio recordings). Some day in the past I plugged the phone into my White Macbook to access the files via USB. Everything went fine.

Now, I want seeing the iPhone media files reflected in her new Mac without having to wipe the phone. But if I understood your answer, I need to backup the phone, then wipe it so it will be allowed to be "bound" to the new Mac. Finally, I should restore the backup. Is it right?

 

[aristobrat]

If your wife got a new Mac, the way Apple would tell you handle it would be to copy the iTunes folder from the old machine over to the new Mac.

Then when you plug her iPhone into the new Mac, and iTunes sees the serial number of the iTunes library on the phone matches the serial number of the iTunes library on the new computer, it should sync just as easily as if it were syncing to the old computer.

 

[brdeveloper]

If I understand correctly, what you need to do is move your iTunes library from the old Mac to a new one. Doing so will put your existing data from iTunes on the new computer and your phone should sync same as with the old computer. Here's a link https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204318

Actually the iTunes library from the previous Mac is worthless. What I really need is accessing all the phone's files from the new Mac. Some files, like audio ones cannont even be uploaded to OneDrive or iCloud, so the only option (I presume) is through USB/iTunes. But when I try to "download" the phone's library to the new Mac it asks to wipe it.

 

[aristobrat]

But when I try to "download" the phone's library to the new Mac it asks to wipe it.

iTunes doesn't really do "downloads", where you can copy files from iDevices back to the computer. It will let you sync anything you bought from the Apple Stores on the iDevice to pretty much any computer, but it doesn't do that for music/photos/etc that came from elsewhere.

Also, I don't think that if you do a backup of the phone in iTunes on the new computer that it's going to catch what you're looking for:

iTunes backups
From your Mac or PC, you can make a backup of your device in iTunes. Syncing your device with your computer isn't the same as making a backup.
An iTunes backup includes nearly all of your device's data and settings. An iTunes backup doesn't include:
Content from the iTunes and App Stores, or PDFs downloaded directly to iBooks
You can back up this content using Transfer Purchases in iTunes.
Content synced from iTunes, like imported MP3s or CDs, videos, books, and photos
Photos already stored in the cloud, like My Photo Stream, and iCloud Photo Library
Touch ID settings
Apple Pay information and settings
Health and Keychain data
To back up Health and Keychain data, you'll need to use Encrypted Backup in iTunes.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204136

I occasionally have friends try to do what you're doing, but mostly looking to recover their music files. I bought a copy of senuti a few years ago, and it's been handy for being able to connect to an iDevice and copy music back to a Mac. Haven't tried it in awhile so not sure if it works with the more recent iOS versions. Don't know if other third-party programs like that exist for photos, etc.

 

[brdeveloper]

IMO, if Apple ever changes that philosophy, you'll see the forums here go crazy.

AFAIK, the iTunes sync process with an iPhone today works exactly the same as it did with the original iPod in 2001. The "iDevice" is a spoke off of the hub (which is your machine or iCloud today). If you plug your iDevice into a new hub and try to sync it, it's going to want to delete most of the data on the iDevice that came from the old hub. Then it'll copy on the new stuff from the new hub.

I'm not used to iPhones (or cloud-centered phones like my new Lumia 930). In the past, with Nokia and Android phones, all I needed to accessing my phone media was mounting the phone as an external storage unit. Now it wants to keep the entire phone media library mirrored in the computer, which is not exactly what I need. Sometimes I just want accessing a single picture or video. I usually don't need to store every cr***y picture I keep in the phone on my precious SSD space.

Actually I can access some random files from my wife's iPhone through iTunes, but there are media files that seem blocked for sharing (like everything from the Audio Recorder app) or accessing via USB. My guess is that enabling synchronization, iTunes will copy these "hidden" files to the computer's library.

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If your wife got a new Mac, the way Apple would tell you handle it would be to copy the iTunes folder from the old machine over to the new Mac.

Then when you plug her iPhone into the new Mac, and iTunes sees the serial number of the iTunes library on the phone matches the serial number of the iTunes library on the new computer, it should sync just as easily as if it were syncing to the old computer.

Nice! It seems to be the solution, if it works.

Thank you!

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I occasionally have friends try to do what you're doing, but mostly looking to recover their music files. I bought a copy of senuti a few years ago, and it's been handy for being able to connect to an iDevice and copy music back to a Mac. Haven't tried it in awhile so not sure if it works with the more recent iOS versions. Don't know if other third-party programs like that exist for photos, etc.

Giving some additional information: she usually record lectures using Audio Recorder. Also, we sometimes make music recordings (I play guitar, she sings). These files can't be shared to OneDrive, DropBox or iCloud. They seem to be stuck in the phone. I wonder if I can copy these files once iTunes start mirroring the phone library to the Mac.