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Will you set up your new phone "as new" or will you restore from backup

Will you set up your new phone "as new" or will you restore from backup?

  • Restore from back up.

    Votes: 313 45.2%

  • Set up as new

    Votes: 283 40.9%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 96 13.9%
  • Total voters
    692
What is the best way to delete "OTHER", from your device once it's synced? I I had a good 5gb of "other". it could have been jailbreak files but I don't know
 
Codepiink said:
I went to the genius bar recently with call dropping and static issues (I know it's not the phone but Verizon refuses to acknowledge their crappy service where I live) and the Apple Rep told me that restoring from an iCloud back-up as opposed to restoring from iTunes avoids any corruptions that may be in old back-ups. Everything syncs over (contacts, text history, etc.) without any software issues that maybe have been encountered on your old device... I hope she was right.
Click to expand...

So they said iCloud backups are safer than iTunes backups?
 
iMaven said:
Set up as new because I don't want the previous iOS installed.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make sense, at all. If you restore an iPhone 5 from an iOS 5.1.1 and earlier backup it won't install iOS 5 on your device. If it was like that then I'd install iOS 1 on my iPhone 4 for the lulz.
 
I think I am going to restore from backup. I've been slowly going through my folders and getting rid of the stuff that I have not accessed in a very long time.

This way, I will hopefully have a small restore file.

Thoughts?
 
Codepiink said:
Yea, that's what she told me! It also got rid of that annoying "other" that was taking up space on my device. It was awesome.
Click to expand...

Ah. Maybe I'll try that! When going through the files of older and current backups I saw a bunch of stuff that shouldn't be there. Aside from jailbreak files, there were also ones of SMS attachments from conversations I had deleted, the picture and the preview image. Maybe it won't save the old SMS attachments. One way I could test this out is to restore from an iCloud backup then backup to my computer. I just despise iCloud backups because the last time I did it I ended up with a bunch of problems. It was trying to download my 1,700 pictures and my apps at the same time and it would constantly stop for some reason and wouldn't continue until I restarted my phone.
 
I never thought about setting up as new. I always jailbreak my phone and never knew what all the "other" was. My last iPhone had aton of useless rap on it so I may for the first time set up as new.
 
Defo from new! Apps can be re downloaded from App Store, dont carry much music, and photos & videos can go into iPhoto on my Mac! dont want me clog my new iPhone 5 up with all my other crap!!
 
How do I go about prepping my iPhone 4 to sell to a friend? I plan on upgrading to iOS 6 (as per earlier suggestion) and doing a final iCloud backup to restore from. After I do this and before I activate my iPhone 5, should I go ahead and do a factory reset on my iPhone 4? Will my backed up data be okay? This is probably a stupid question, I just want to make sure all my data is safe to be backed up, but also make sure it's all wiped off my phone before I hand it over. I've never restored an iCloud backup before, so I'm not really sure how to go about this.
 
Setting it up as new....I want no settings from my 4S or iOS5 anywhere near my iPhone 5....I have struggled to get rid of the bad battery on this phone for a year, tweaked countless settings, and finally can get 4 hrs of use out of it. I am going to start fresh, and spend the time to re-arrange my apps and folders again, 30 min of life vs dealing with this crap again.

I know I am overreacting but same time, new phone gets a new setup. I just don't want to deal with any issues from the start like my 4S cause I went 3GS backup to 4S...
 
bumblehat said:
I'm not worried about contacts, but is there a way to save/preserve texts without restoring from backup?

Or more simply, just backing up texts somewhere to my computer (PC) so I can review them later for reference? Thanks.
Click to expand...

there is a program called phoneview that can save your texts but it will not put them back on your phone - you can do a free trial.....

http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
 
I will restore from a backup. Never had any problems doing it this way with my other iPhones and don't expect to have any now.
 
Codepiink said:
I went to the genius bar recently with call dropping and static issues (I know it's not the phone but Verizon refuses to acknowledge their crappy service where I live) and the Apple Rep told me that restoring from an iCloud back-up as opposed to restoring from iTunes avoids any corruptions that may be in old back-ups. Everything syncs over (contacts, text history, etc.) without any software issues that maybe have been encountered on your old device... I hope she was right.
Click to expand...

texts will sync if iPhone 5 is set up as new from iCloud?
 
Restore from backup like always. I like to keep my texts (I have some from as early as 2008) Yeah Im just a digital hoarder. I will do a fresh install of all apps though.
 
Codepiink said:
Yea, that's what she told me! It also got rid of that annoying "other" that was taking up space on my device. It was awesome.
Click to expand...

iCloud backups and iTunes backups are different. And yes she was right about her suggestion. iTunes backups will bring back your corruptions if you do indeed have corruptions. Those of you seeing "other" those are corruptions from apps or apps themselves and will take up that space unless you do one of the two options

1. Restore from iCloud backup

2. DFU the phone and install fresh software and setup as new phone

And whereas iCloud as she told is better for restoring backups, there is still a chance of those corruptions returning to the phone, but still much better than iTunes backups. But really the best way to erase all issues and corruptions from phone is option 2 ^^^. It's easy to redownload all your apps, photos, songs, etc.

So those of you with "other" showing up, you need a restore.
 
Last edited:
I usually always restore from a backup but I had my 4S jailbroken for quite some time. I also have (I believe) nearly 3GB of "Other" which I'd prefer to not bring over to my 5. With that said, I'll be starting from new.

For those that are concerned about Contacts and Photos. I never worry about Contacts because I sync with my Google Contacts. Photos however, I do something a little different that might work for some of you.

Before I got rid of my 4S I manually copied all of my photos to a folder named "4S" in My Pictures (Win 7). Then, when I set my iPhone 5 up as a new phone, I'll choose to sync certain folders for pictures - i.e. the folder named "4S". So when I go into my Photos on the iPhone 5 - I'll have my Camera Roll (all photos taken with the 5) and then I'll have a folder, synced, named "4S" (all photos taken with the 4S). It might not make sense for everyone but it's any easy way I can keep my photos separated easily.
 
AlPlPlLE said:
iCloud backups and iTunes backups are different. And yes she was right about her suggestion. iTunes backups will bring back your corruptions if you do indeed have corruptions. Those of you seeing "other" those are corruptions from apps or apps themselves and will take up that space unless you do one of the two options

1. Restore from iCloud backup

2. DFU the phone and install fresh software and setup as new phone

And whereas iCloud as she told is better for restoring backups, there is still a chance of those corruptions returning to the phone, but still much better than iTunes backups. But really the best way to erase all issues and corruptions from phone is option 2 ^^^. It's easy to redownload all your apps, photos, songs, etc.

So those of you with "other" showing up, you need a restore.
Click to expand...

Thank you for clearing that up for me!



ltb7 said:
that is awesome

so then the only difference from setting up as new vs. a restore would be the apps?
Click to expand...


And as far as I know, yes. The history in some of my apps did not come over, though i did notice that some games sync back through Game Center.
 
plan as of now:

1. transfer any purchases from "old" phone to iTunes
2. do right click back up in addition to icloud back up
3. upgrade soon to be "old" phone to ios 6
4. back up "old" phone under ios6 by right click and iTunes
5. activate iphone 5 as new
6. turn on icloud + itunes match
7. add apps
8. hope that the battery lasts forever
9. make some vip's + block some peeps because i can
10. confirm to myself that black is cooler than white
11. be happy that for a few glorious days, that only myself and a select few million others have an iphone 5........
 
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