Syncing iPhone after reinstalling iTunes

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Syncing iPhone after reinstalling iTunes

Hi, I recently uninstalled iTunes on my computer because I was trying to install XP on it. When that failed, I reinstalled iTunes and tried to sync my iPhone, and a message pops up wanting me to erase everything on my iPhone. Will this get rid of all my contacts and everything? Is there a way to back up my phone then restore it after erasing and syncing?

Gateway, Windows Vista

Posted on Apr 22, 2009 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,280 points

Apr 22, 2009 9:51 AM in response to Binsky

It will remove all "media" from the phone (music, videos, etc). Contacts will be synced/merged with what you tell iTunes to sync your contacts with.

Backups of your settings are always done but if you didn't back them up when your cleared your machine, they may of been lost (not fully sure what you did to your computer).

You can resync back all your media. Contacts will merge with your address book you point iTunes to that you want to sync with. Same as with calendar.

Big thing to remember, the iPhone is not a backup storage device. It gets stuff from your computer and your computer is the REAL location of your data. Your contacts should already be on your computer with what you sync with, same as your music, etc.

Message was edited by: DaVBMan

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Answer 2

Jason L

Community Specialist

Apr 22, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Binsky

Hi Binsky,

iTunes will sync the iPhone with one music library at a time. If you've created a new iTunes library on your PC and try to sync the iPhone to it, iTunes will show prompt asking if you want to erase the content synced from that library and replace it with music and videos from the new library.

You can backup the iPhone before choosing the erase and sync option, but the backup does not contain music synced from the old library. This article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766 provides more information about the data stored in the iPhone backup.

This article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296 provides more information about the data that can be synced and merged on multiple computers.

-Jason

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