HT4972 HELP ON NEW IOS FOR NEOPHYTE USER!!

Question

I meant to rate this article 1 vs 5!! Not enuf info for total neophyte. Do I need a PC to update iOS on my iPad?? (then what good is it!?) how do I save my downloaded media content??

Answer 1

If you are on iOS 4 then yes, you will need to do the next update by connecting to a computer's iTunes - when you've done that update and you have iOS 5+ installed (the current version is 5.1.1, so that is what you'd be updating to), then you will then be able to do future updates directly on the iPad (you will get a Settings > General > Software Updates option appear on the iPad).
To update to iOS 5.1.1 you will need the latest version of iTunes on your computer - you can check if your computer's iTunes is up-to-date via, on a PC, 'Help > Check For Updates', and on a Mac 'iTunes > Check For Updates'
When you have that installed, connect the iPad to it and copy any purchases off it via File > Transfer Purchases - that will copy your iTunes purchases to your computer, which will include music, apps, ibooks, tv shows, films (but not films rented directly on the iPad, so you will need to watch them first). You may also want to copy photos off the iPad as well. Then force a backup of the iPad by right-clicking the iPad 'Device' on the left-hand side of iTunes and selecting 'Backup'. You should probably also copy off the iPad any important documents, notes, files etc e.g. via the file sharing section at the bottom of the device's apps tab when connected to iTunes, via wifi, email, dropbox etc - they should be included in the backup, but it's best to have a copy of them outside of the backup just in case.
You can then start the update by selecting the iPad on the left-hand side of iTunes, and on the Summary tab on the right-hand side clicking the Check For Updates button.
Updating to iOS 5+ : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4972