How do I migrate to a new mac without losing application data

Question

I've got an older iMac and have recently purchased a new macbook pro. I have an iphone and an ipad that I would prefer to start syncing with my new macbook but when I connect it, it warns me that it's going to wipe out my iphone first. I've already gone through and moved all my music, books, media & apps to my new macbook. I know I can go through the process of wiping out my iphone and then reset up again but apart from that painful excercise, the biggest issue is the app data will be lost. I've been checking the internet for a solution and everyone seems to have a different way of going about it but they don't seem to work. I also checked in the apple communities but I don't see any answers there either for this specific question.
Does anyone know the best way to handle this?
jd

Answer 1

The best thing to do is to move all of your important data, including your iTunes library, from your old computer to your new computer. If you don't want to do that, follow the instructions here:
By design, the iphone will sync itunes content with one computer at a time. Any attempt to sync such content with a second computer will result in ALL itunes content being first erased from her phone & then replaced with the content from the second computer. This is a design feature and cannot be overridden. Because you are replacing your computer, your phone will see this computer as a "new" computer. The itunes content sync is one way: computer to phone. If you have photos that were synced to your phone or music ripped on her own that were not backed up, you will first have to extract them from your phone using third party software, or copy them from your old computer, before you do anything else, as Apple makes no provision to do so:
Once you've done that, do the following in the order specified:
1. Disable auto sync when an iPod/iPhone is connected under Preferences>Devices in itunes.
2. Make sure you have one contact & one event in the supported applications(Address Book, iCal) on your computer. These entries can be fake, doesn't matter, the important point is that these programs not be empty.
3. Connect her phone, iTunes running, do not sync at this point.
4. Store>Authorize this computer.
5. File>Transfer Purchases(To make sure all purchased content on your phone will be in your itunes library).
6. Right click in the device pane & select reset warnings.
7. Right click again and select backup.
8. Right click again & select restore from backup, select the backup you just made. When prompted to create another backup, decline.
9. This MUST be followed by a sync to restore your itunes content, which you select from the various tabs, You'll get a popup regarding her contacts & calendars asking to merge or replace, select merge.
You should be good to go.