Set iPhone on a new PC without erasing current data

I have recently bought a new PC and will need to transfer my iTunes database from the old PC to the new one. I know how to backup my current iTunes and how to copy it onto the new computer, but my issue is with making my iPhone recognize my new PC as its "home" computer, rather than the old one.
The problem is that I manually manage my music on my iPhone and have painstakingly added the proper album art and grouped all albums as their proper collaborations directly on the iPhone. I know that when I move my library to the new PC, the iPhone will want to wipe itself clear and sync, but since the iTunes library does not have the same playlists or album art, I will have to start all over with adding the album art, recreating my playlists and re-categorizing all the albums.
Is there a way to set up my iPhone to recognize the new PC and still retain all its current settings?
I know that making my current iTunes library match the iPhone and then moving the database to the new PC could possibly work, but I would rather not have to spend the hours making iTunes match the iPhone, especially when that would change the information on the other iPods I have associated with my current PC.
Many thanks!

The answer is no, with a possible exception.
If not, why would you need to re-add album artwork? This should remain with each song in your iTunes library.
Since the iPhone does not support disk mode as with an iPod, this situation is a downside when manually managing music. The same would apply when restoring your iPhone with iTunes if needed or wanted.
If you make use of iTunes playlists and sync instead of manually managing music, this situation would be avoided and the same when restoring your iPhone with iTunes if needed or wanted. Syncing provides more options and flexibility and avoids this problem compared to manually managing music.
If you copy the iTunes folder on your old PC and all music imported into your iTunes library from another source besides the iTunes store is in your iTunes folder, and place the copy in the same location on your new PC with iTunes quit when doing so, you may be able to avoid this. I did with a new computer purchase, but I sync.

Similar Messages

How can I sync my iPhone with the new iTunes without erasing my iPhone?

My iTunes computer crashed and I needed to format it. How can I sync my iPhone with the new iTunes without erasing my iPhone?

See this user tip ...
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive

How to sync my ipad to a new computer without erasing all data on it

how to sync my ipad to a new computer without erasing all data on it thanks

Check out this user tip from TuringTest:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991
and this page on "How-to Geek":
http://www.howtogeek.com/104298/sync-your-ios-device-with-a-new-computer-without -losing-data/
Regards.
Forum Tip: Since you're new here, you've probably not discovered the Search feature available on every Communities page, but next time, it might save you time (and everyone else from having to answer the same question multiple times) if you search a couple of ways for a topic, both in the relevant forums and in the Apple Knowledge Base, before you post a question.

How can I back-up my iphone to a new laptop without erasing my iphone files?

I was able to back up my iphone to a different laptop before but now I have a new laptop how can I back up my phone without erasing all my files?

See these 2 Links...
Syncing to a New Computer...
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

How do I sync my iPhone to a new Comp. without losing app data?

     A few weeks ago I bought a Mac Pro from Ebay. I'm trying to sync my iPhone to it, but I can't figure out how to sync without losing my son's data on the apps he plays. I have some music on the new computer that I ripped from some of my old CD's. Is their any way to sync my phone's app info. with my computer's songs?

To be sure you don't lose any App data
         Create an iCloud backup
2nd
Prevent syncing automatically in iTunes
        Windows    Edit > Preferences > Devices
       √ Prevent iPods, iPhone .... syncing automatically
3rd
      Connect the iPhone to the PC
     Setup as new. This just tells the PC to treat the iPhone as a new device
4th
From the summary screen
Create a backup
Transfer apps
Save App data.

SYNCING MY NEW SONGS WITHOUT ERASING MY DATA AND SONGS

So here is the deal my pc have some issues during some months and is where i synch my music with my ipod touch, ipad and also ipod. Then i send it to service to format it and then my pc was new. And when i have already purchased some songs from the store and when i tried to sync again my devices (ipod, ipad and ipod touch) I could but it asked me if i want it to sync and erase all my songs and data from my ipod in which i didnt want because i have around 100 songs wich i have already bought and downloaded in that same pc. So how can i sync my ipod, etc with another pc in this case with mine without deleting my data and songs?
Note: I have Windows 7

You can only sync to one computer/iTunes library. The iPod not thinks that this computer/iTunes library is a new one. Do the following to not lose anything
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities

How can I sync my iPhone to a new PC without losing app data?

My laptop has died completely and no back up. I am not concerned with music or photos as they're all online somewhere. I do have a couple of apps with data on them which I cannot lose if I sync my iPhone with iTunes on a new laptop. Will my data be lost if I sync it and if so is there an (easy) way to keep my apps/app data?

To be sure you don't lose any App data
         Create an iCloud backup
2nd
Prevent syncing automatically in iTunes
        Windows    Edit > Preferences > Devices
       √ Prevent iPods, iPhone .... syncing automatically
3rd
      Connect the iPhone to the PC
     Setup as new. This just tells the PC to treat the iPhone as a new device
4th
From the summary screen
Create a backup
Transfer apps
Save App data.

I had to re download itunes on my computer and when i plug in my iphone it says im connected to a different itunes library. is there a way to sync my iphone to the new library without erasing the stuff on my phone?

On my laptop i had itunes but recently i needed to delete everything on my laptop including itunes. When i went to update the music on my iphone i re downloaded itunes but when i plug in my iphone a message pops up saying my phone is connected to another itunes library. When i clicked sync it says that i have an option to erase and re sync my iphone. I dont really care about loosing my music but i dont want to lose all my pictures on my iphone. Is there anything i can do to keep them?

Syncing shouldn't trouch you photos unless you have photos in a Photo Library album. These would be photos that were synced to your phone from your computer. If you do have any, you'll need to use an app like PhotoSync to transfer them to your computer prior to syncing.
If you prefer to backup your camera roll photos prior to syncing, open iTunes and go to Preferences>Devices and check "Prevent...from syncing automatically". Then connect your phone to your computer and import them as explained here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083.
Then, to minimize data loss, follow the steps in this user tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141. To follow the steps, first open iTunes and go to View>Show Sidebar. Also, Transfer Purchases is now located in File>Devices.

How do I transfer music from my iPhone to my new MacBook without erasing everything off my iPhone?

All that seems available is to 'sync' my new and empty iTunes library to my phone, which is not what I want. How can it be this difficult to get my music purchased from iTunes and under the same apple account which my MacBook runs onto the new MacBook?

Furthe question to this one: Don't want to synch, simply want to transfer new music in iTunes to my iPhone. Reason I don't want to synch, I burned some of my CDs in iTunes (i.e., didn't buy them through iTunes which iTunes/Apple doesn't seem to like at all) so don't want to lose everything I burned which is what synching appears to do. So I was hoping for a simple drag and drop from iTunes to iPhone or similar. Thank you.

How do I sync my iPhone to my new computer without losing App data?

Okay, I just recently got a black 13" MacBook & did a clean install of everything on it. I also just updated my iPhone 3G to iOS4, which erased all my music but left my apps & other data in place. When I click the "manually manage" checkbox in the summary tab for the phone & click Apply, I get the error message "The iPhone " " is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library? Well of course not! I have already authorized the account on the new computer & transferred purchases from the phone. My question is, if I go ahead & do this, will all my apps be reset as if they were brand new? I know it sounds silly, but I have HOURS invested into my Angry Birds game & would rather live without music on the phone than lose that game's progress. Obviously, I shouldn't have to choose, it should "just work"....... Where do I go from here? My old computer is long gone but I do still have a Time Machine backup of it on an external drive if I need to pull a file from the old iTunes folder or anything (which I hope not because I already spent hours sorting through & figuring out what I wanted to add to my new computer's library). Any help on this would be much appreciated!

Any luck? I have this exact problem, only I prob have days invested in angry birds LOL. Scares the poop out of me to see that warning.

How to sync my iPhone to my new laptop without losing my data

I have a new lap top I need to connect my iPhone to. It states when I do, it will replace my phone with the new itunes which is empty. How do I transfer apps and info from my iphone to the itunes on my new lap top.

After tinkering for flipping ages I've finally found the best way to do this. It's not really that hard now I think back to all of the fuss I made figuring this out.
1. You want to move your iTunes library from your old computer to your new computer.
You need to buy a hardrive or a USB pen (cheap ones are available). You need to do this because you are going to copy your whole iTunes folder and place it in this new hardrive or pen drive. Locate your iTunes folder in your old computer's files and copy it. Make sure you copy the whole iTunes folder and not just the library or something. Now just paste the folder into your plugged in hardrive.
NOTE: If you dont have a pen drive or external hardrive then you can make this step cheaper. To do this check the size of your iTunes folder by right clicking on it and looking at its properties. Then buy as small a hardrive as possible that can fit your iTunes folder into it.
Safely unplug your hardrive and connect it to your new computer. You should have a folder for music that was there when you got your computer so copy and paste your iTunes into this music folder. Now when you open up yur iTunes programme you should see all your old songs and playlists in there.
2. Syncing your iPod or whatever you have.
Just plug in the iPod like usual. Since you have copied your whole iTunes the setting should already allow your iPod to sync. If your iPod isn't syncing then click on your device on the sidebar on the left. Now you will see buttons to click on at the top of the screen such as 'Music' or 'Films'. Click on these and make sure the 'Sync Music' or 'Sync Films' box is ticked.

How can I sync with this library without erasing my data?

The iPod "Sayira's iPod" is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPod and sync with this iTunes library? An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of this iTunes library.
So, okay, here's my story: My laptop caught a virus, so i sent it to this guy who fixes computers, now that my laptop is fixed, everything is deleted from it. I didn't really mind this too much, but anyway I redownloaded iTunes to my new hardrive and then it said the following (posted above). My question is, how can i sync with this new library without erasing any data from my apps (such as games, photos, videos, music)? I REALLY don't want to lose this data!

- Transffer iTunes purchases to the computer by:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
- Transfer other music by using a third-party program like one of those discussed here.
Copy music
- Connect the iPod to the computer and make a backup by right clicking on the iPod under Devices in iTunes and select Back Up
- Restore the IPod from that backup
Note that the backup that iTunes makes does no include symec media like apps and music.

How do i get all my data and info from my old iphone onto my new one without access to the original itunes that i set my first iphone up on? my partners itunes keeps telling me that its going to replace all my apps and data with his stuff

how do i get all my data and info from my old iphone onto my new one without access to the original itunes that i set my first iphone up on? my partners itunes keeps telling me that its going to replace all my apps and data with his stuff

ok so i have my own i tunes library - how do i get all my old apps onto my new library?

I have a new computer from my father that already has his iphone content on it. what do i need to do to switch my phone over from my old computer to the new one and have the new computer sync MY contacts and content to the new computer without erasing

i have a new computer from my father that already has his iphone content on it. what do i need to do to switch my phone over from my old computer to the new one and have the new computer sync MY contacts and content to the new computer without erasing my contact lists and purchased apps?

okay from reading posts it seems if I transfer my backed up info from my old comp to the new one and erase my dad's phone's back up i could reset my phone and it would transfer all my old data back onto the phone, be linked to the new computer and i could proceed. Where do i find the backed up info from my phone?

I bought a new PC. How can I transfer the musics of my Iphone to the iTunes in my new PC without erasing them in my iphone?

I bought a new PC. How can I transfer the musics of my Iphone to the iTunes in my new PC without erasing them in my iphone?

If you want Everything...
On your Old Computer... Copy your ENTIRE iTunes FOLDER to an External Drive... and then from the External Drive to your New Computer..
iTunes to an External Drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
An Added Bonus is that you will have a Backup of iTunes.

Set iPhone on a new PC without erasing current data

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for