Why is syncing so scary?

Hi,
I wanted to update my iPad to iOS 5.1, and my boyfriend thinks that I should back the iPad up before doing so. Thus, he created an account on his MacBook (running Lion) for me, as I don't have another computer of my own.
I had synced my iPad with my old netbook, before giving it to my parents. When I plug my iPad into iTunes on this new account, it says that it can only sync to one account, and thus that to sync the iPad would be deleted!
Can I back up my iPad without syncing?
But more than anything, WHY IS SYNCING STILL SO SCARY?! I just want to be reassured that my actions will not destroy my work, rather than feeling my heart in my throat at the risk of loosing 2 months work.
Cheers,
Sophie

Syncing isn't scary - if you know what you are doing and if you are only using one computer to sync with - which is the way that the iPad was designed to work.
Yes you can backup without syncing - if you turn off auto sync in iTunes on the Mac.
Launch iTunes and go iTunes>Preferences>Devices>Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from automatically syncing. Click OK and then quit iTunes. Connect your iPad to the Mac, launch iTunes, right click on the device name and select Backup.
Now there will be a backup on his computer - but you still have no place to transfer you apps and the rest of your content - unless you create an iTunes library on his computer. So if you update and lose any content - you will have to download it all again.
If you want to create an iTunes library on his computer - so that you have a place to store all of your content and not have to download it all again - read this.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3445538?start=0&tstart=0

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In the Apple world, why does 'Sync' mean 'Erase' ??

I have some photos on my iPod, and a few applications. When I try to 'Sync' at work, iTunes 8.0.1 tells me that it will erase the content on the iPod and 'Sync' it to the current iTunes library, which does not contain any photos or apps.
Why does 'Sync' mean 'Erase' and is there a way around this?
I'm fine not syncing the photos, but I want to be able to add applications to the iPod from my work machine, and dragging the app icon from the iTunes Library to the iPod does not work.
Work computer is authorized...

Sync means sync. But it's a one-way sync, not two-way. That is, iTunes will, if it's set to automatic, sync your library to your iPod making it identical to the content on your computer. By demand of the content owners, way back when the iPods first came out (who by some ludicrous logic feared that it would promote piracy if it was easy to get tracks back off an iPod), though, the reverse isn't the case; iTunes will not sync your iPod back to your library on your computer (except for content purchased from the iTunes Store and for that there's a command; it doesn't happen automatically).
If you want to connect your iPod to more than one computer's iTunes library, set things up for manual control:
Managing content manually on iPod
Regards.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

HT1386 why the sync session failed to start with my iphone

Why the sync session failed to start with my iphone

i did this step. but still it says syncing failed... am having iphone 5 updated to 6.1.4 & itunes is updated to 11.0.4.. pls help!!

Why does syncing take so long? 2GB is taking 215 hours

Why does syncing take so long? 2GB is taking 215 hours

Thats a fair enough comment, but I would have thought that syncing a mere 2GB of data, 215 hours seems a bit ridiculous, especially as it's not explained very well on the Adobe Cloud exactly what syncing is and how it benefits me. My internet connection is BT broadband and my download speed is 10 Mb/s, upload is 0.261 Mb/s crap I know.

HT4972 why after syncing is my version still at 4.3.5?

why after syncing is my version still at 4.3.5?

Just syncing won't update the version. Have you got the current version of iTunes on your computer ? If you have then you should be prompted as to whether to update to iOS 5.1 or not. If you aren't prompted then with your iPad connected to your computer and selected on the left-hand side of its iTunes, on the Summary tab on the right-hand side click the Check For Updates button.
Before starting the update process, copy any purchases of the iPad and force a backup : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4972

Why does "sync now" appear in the menu bar ?

Why does "sync now" appear in the menu bar ?

This is actually still relevant if you are syncing with Gmail or Google Contacts or Calendar:
http://todayspiece.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/sync-now-lion/
If you have already removed it, you can still get it back (if you need) following the instructions in the article.

Why does sync remove songs from iPod?

why does sync remove songs from iPod? My itune library lost songs with an ! symbol.

It means iTunes can no longer locate those particular files at the specified location on your PC's hard drive. So you'll need to search for these track's on your PC and re-import these tracks from their new location.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
B-rock

Why does Syncing an iPad have to be so painful?

Everytime I Sync my iPad with my Macbook Pro movies get copied which is odd since both files exist on both units. But with this one file in particular (Star Trek, the reboot) whatever data is transferred from my Macbook Pro to my iPad crashes my movies app on the iPad which means I can't watch my movie on the iPad. So I redownload the movie directly to my iPad again only to have it resync with my Macbook Pro and introduce the problem all over again.....thanks Apple.
My question is why is it doing that? The movie is already in the iPad why does it copy it and subsquently screw it all up again on the iPad? Even if I tell it not to actively resync it still copies the stupid file to the iPad and wrecks my iPad everytime I hit the playback button. To make matters worse, if I tell the Macbook Pro to simply not Sync movies at all with my iPad it goes on to delete all my movies from my iPad....thanks again Apple.
This is the most ridiculous process I have ever seen Apple implement and I have been a customer since the days of the Excaliburs when OS 7.5 was all the rage.
Needless to say I am not impressed and I am quite frustrated and tired of redownloading 4 gigs of video every time I want to watch it on my iPad....when my Macbook is not with me. ...
Anyone else run into this problem and is there a way around this?

Can you see your ipod in the System Profiler/usb-highspeed port when it is connected to your mac?
Is Apple Mobile Device Service installed and working? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1747
Message was edited by: Ingo2711

Here's why iPhone sync is failing for so many

One of the first things iTunes does during sync is try to connect to port 443 at iphonesubmissions.apple.com (that's the port for HTTP over SSL). Unfortunately, no server is responding on that port.
So, it's nothing wrong with your phone, or your Mac. It's Apple's problem.
This is why the workaround that many have suggested of disconnecting the network works. Whatever iTunes wants to do with iphonesubmissions.apple.com is not essential to syncing.

Here's another way to stop the problem, more convenient than turning off the network.
Open your home folder. Find and open "Library". In there, find and open "Logs". In there, find and open "CrashReporter". In there, find and open "MobileDevice". In there, you should find a folder named after your iPhone. It contains crash logs from when applications on your iPhone crashed. Either move this folder out of "MobileDevice" or delete it. You should then be able to run iTunes and sync normally until you next have an application crash on the iPhone.

Why is syncing so restrictive & unfriendly

Is there any practical reason why syncing with itunes is so "all or none" restrictive and completely unfriendly?
why a one way sync only?
why can't i just dump a playlist on my iphone like i did my ipod?
its not a hardware issue.
I am afraid to sync because i do not want to loose all my contacts. again. apple is driving people to 3rd party software to interact with their iphones. I do not understand it. I have been a mac user since 1989 and an enthusiastic supporter of the intuitive apple approach. between overly complicated syncing restrictions and poorly documented/ineffective iphone software releases, i am starting to loose faith.
I am also very disappointed that the power pc platform has been hung out to dry. I've got a rockin fast G5 that exceeds my computing needs, yet by design i can only install up to OS X 10.5, and cannot connect to the cloud, wifi sync, etc etc. Apple is forcing me to buy new equip i do not need in a poor economic climate. Apple used to consider their customers needs. I guess that's dead like Apple's founder. too bad.
NOTE: I am quite serious about the syncing questions, if anyone has a theory (besides poorly protecting copyrights). The other comments are more rhetorical, but if you've got an educated comment, i would luv to engage.

It is not all or none. You can select what to synch in iTunes. And you you can create playlists and synch them as well.
If you have any comments and feedback post them in the feedback section of the site. Apple does not read posts here.
www.apple.com/feedback

Why remove sync to iTunes for calendar and contacts?

Why in the world would Apple remove the capability to sync your iphone's calendar, contacts and notes to your desktop via iTunes in Mavericks? I can see no benefit whatsoever. Do you really believe everyone wants to use iCloud? I don't care how strong your firewalls are and how well you encrypt data ... a dedicated and motivated hacker can get into your systems and Apple is a huge target.
I was just fine with syncing my calendar and contacts locally on my computer (not a huge target).
Please reinstate this very useful and convenient capability.

Do I really have to justify why the feature is useful? Just because you need updates every second and don't mind putting all the personal contact information for your friends and family on a server accessable to the internet and a world of hackers that would love to compromise a big target like iCloud doesn't mean everyone should have to. There are valid reasons to keep your information private and there was a perfectly useful option to make that easy. There is a huge list of top tech companies that have been breached by determined and motivated hackers (read Sony, Microsoft, and even developer.apple.com). It makes no sense to me to remove a useful tool and force everyone to entrust their personal information to a third party (any third party). Options are good. Choice lets everyone satisfy their needs.

Why does sync update unused files.

Why does the ipod touch update files that have not been used? I have a list of songs that I have not actually listened to and as they get used once they are removed from the list. So I go to update the ipod after listening to a couple of albums but instead of just updating the 30 some odd songs or so it is updating 300+ songs. Every time I go to sync my ipod touch it always ends up playing with more songs than it needs too and I am wondering why this is and also wondering if this is one of the reasons that I keep loosing album covers.

Adobe's FTP code in DW is sorely lacking. I too found it
painfully slow. I
have since gone to a dedicated FTP program and live much
happier.
"kirkdickinson" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:fnocjd$8pk$[email protected]..
> Still unanswered. Bump

Why does Sync NOT download artwork to my iPod nano even though the artwork shows on iTunes?

Why does iTunes NOT sync CD artwork to my iPod nano even though the artwork shows on iTunes?

Solved

Why does syncing take so long if I'm not syncing anything?

I have ATV set up for manual sync and I stream everything - nothing is sync'd to the ATV. When I manually update the sync, the sole purpose is to update additions to the library (video and music). This is a sizable library with 50,000 songs, but only 25 or so video files. The itl and xml files are roughly 100meg, but this should take no time to transmit through my wired network. Why on earth does it take 5-10 minutes to complete a sync if no significant files are being transferred?

Actually, these sync times are closer to 15 minutes over a WIRED network. Network is lightning fast as far as file transfers from peer to peer, etc, so this is purely an ATV issue. Honestly, though, I'm not really over concerned about it at this point as all the freezing, glitches, etc related to v2 render my two ATV's essentially useless anyway. I wish Apple would do or say something.

Why does syncing take SO LONG?

I'm transferring 1K songs to iPhone and I'm only on number 58 and it's been going on 30 minutes. This is going to take hours! Why does this take so long? Isn't it just like copying to a hard drive? This is crazy!

make sure that you are connected directly to the main USB source on the computer... the iPhone is finicky about syncing through a hub replicator.

Why is syncing so scary?

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