Manually manage files on iphone on a new computer

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Manually manage files on iphone on a new computer

i managed all files (audio, video, etc) on my iphone manually over itunes. then my computer went down and i bought a new one. now i connect my iphone to the new computer and want to manage files manually again (like i did before) itunes shows a stange message.
i checked the "do not auto synch" in program-settings and if i check the "manage music and videos manually" in the iphone-settigns on my itunes a message appears wich tells me that my iphone is connected to another media library and i have to delete all the files on the iphone and resynch it with my new computer.
what i want is simple: i want to to keep all files on the iphone as they are and just manage them manually again with another itunes. i don't have any songs or other files in itunes, so i dont't synch the iphone - i just have to use itunes to drag files to the phone.
and i did NOT connect the old media library, i ALWAYS managed the files manually, that's why i don't understand why itunes tells me about the connection.

i know, this question is not new but i searched a while througt different forums and did not find a solution for my specific problem. all other users want to copy music back to a computer from an iphone or have different computers which they want to synch their iphone with. bit i dont want do do any of this, i just want to manage all files manually again!

sony vaio, Windows 7

Posted on Jan 19, 2010 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:14 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

You CANNOT manage.sync/access itunes content with more that one computer. The iphone will ONLY sync/manage access itunes content with ONE computer at a time. If you sync/manage content with a different computer it will indeed erase the current content from the iphone and replace with content from the new computer.

The iphone is NOT a backup device.

You should have a backup copy of your music/pics/docs/etc. Just use this to move everything to the new computer.

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Answer 2

Jan 19, 2010 9:14 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

That's the way it works. Changing from syncing to manually managing (or back) results in content on the phone being deleted and replaced. By design, the iPhone syncs with _one and only one_ iTunes library. Since you have a new computer, it's a different library, so the content is going to be erased and replaced. The iPhone is not a backup device. You need to restore all your iTunes content from your backup (external hard drive, etc.), then sync your phone.

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Answer 3

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:16 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

Well, here's the deal, like it or not: The iphone will sync or manually manage itunes content with ONE computer at a time. If you attempt to sync itunes content or manually manage such content with a second computer, all itunes content will first be erased from your phone & then replaced with the content from the second computer.

You bought a new computer, that's the way it works. You need to transfer your itunes content to your new computer first.

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Answer 4

Jan 19, 2010 9:18 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

Although you can manually manage music and video with an iPhone, the iPhone does not support disk mode and the iTunes content manually transferred to your iPhone is tied to the iTunes library on the computer the content was transferred from.

In regards to iTunes content, an iPhone can be synced or manually managed with an iTunes library on a single computer only, and photos can be transferred from a single computer only.

When transferring iTunes content and photos from another computer, all iTunes content and photos transferred from a different computer will be erased from the iPhone first.

You need to transfer your iTunes library from your old computer or from your computer's backup, or iTunes includes an option to transfer iTunes content that was purchased/downloaded from the iTunes store from an iPod or iPhone, but this is for iTunes content that was purchased/downloaded from the iTunes store only.

First you need to authorize your new computer with your iTunes account with iTunes. With your iPhone connected and without syncing or doing anything else, at the iTunes menu bar go to File and select Transfer Purchases From - the name of your iPhone.

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Answer 5

Jan 19, 2010 9:23 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

The iPhone will accept iTunes content from _only one_ computer. It doesn't matter if you sync automatically or manually manage music and videos. Trying to use iTunes content from a second computer will result in iTunes erasing the content from the first computer.

You need to use a third party solution to move your media from your phone to your computer and then install it on your phone again. See this thread for suggestions: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9199493&#9199493

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Answer 6

mezza@gmx.ch Author

Level 1

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Jan 19, 2010 9:31 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

Really? Thanks for your answers but i cannot imagine that anyone (apple or any other company) would create a device which is bound to a single computer!?!
i did not use my iphone as a backup device, i hav all music saved on a external hard drive BUT my music has about 1 tb of size and i just have SOME of the music on the iphone. i dont want to have all music on the laptop too, just on the iphone and i think many other users do handle their music like i do.
to assume that ANY iphone and itunes users do have the same files on their phone is just dumb and to force users to delete their phone and compy all files again if they have a computer crash is dumb too. if it is like that, why does itunes have the possibility to manage content manually if it doesn't work again after a computer crash?

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Answer 7

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:33 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

It's been like this since day one of the iphone. Perhaps you need to read the manual:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iphoneuserguide.pdf

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Answer 8

Jan 19, 2010 9:36 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

mezza@gmx.ch wrote:
Really? Thanks for your answers but i cannot imagine that anyone (apple or any other company) would create a device which is bound to a single computer!?!

Whether or not it fits into your world view, Apple did indeed design just such devices (all iPhone and iPod Touch models), and has sold millions upon millions of them.

i did not use my iphone as a backup device, i hav all music saved on a external hard drive BUT my music has about 1 tb of size and i just have SOME of the music on the iphone. i dont want to have all music on the laptop too, just on the iphone and i think many other users do handle their music like i do.

Then, you need to re-establish the same setup on your new computer.

to assume that ANY iphone and itunes users do have the same files on their phone is just dumb and to force users to delete their phone and compy all files again if they have a computer crash is dumb too. if it is like that, why does itunes have the possibility to manage content manually if it doesn't work again after a computer crash?

It works again after a crash - manually. You just need to manually set it up again. The old-fashioned, manual way.

You can submit feedback to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html.

I'm sure if you start off your feedback request with something like "It's really dumb that this phone..." your request will get top priority!

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Answer 9

mezza@gmx.ch Author

Level 1

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Jan 19, 2010 3:00 PM in response to neuroanatomist

thank you for the good idea, i did send the following changerequest to apple AND i did not choose a provocant title like you suggested 🙂 the title is "behaviour on manually managing files" and the text is:

how to reproduce:
I have an iphone and use itunes simply to copy music and video from an external hard disk to the iphone. i do not have any music on the computer and my external hard disk is not connected all the time, that's why i did not add it to the itunes media library - i just want to manage the music files on the hard disk and the music on the iphone manually (no synching).
my computer crashed and i bought a new one. i installed itunes and set it to NOT synch with the iphone. after that i connected the iphone and saw that the checkbox "manage music and video manually" was not set. i checked it and ran into a message wich told me that the iphone is connected to another media library and all files will be removed and resynched.

the problem itself:
that would be a good behaviour if i UNCHECKED the checkbox and want the computer to synch its library with the phone, but if i wand to manage it manually (that's why i checked the box) it is a stange behaviour because i wand itunes to disconnect the phone from the old library (wich does clearly not include a detion of all files from the old library), leave the files as they are and let me manually delete some of the them and add new ones.

a possible solution:
it would be great if itunes would not do anything to my iphone if i check the "do it manually" box. just unlock the "greyed" media lists to let me do edit it like on a old ipod.
when i UNCHECK the box to have the phone snched again, i would understand that it has to delete and resynch all items because of it would not be synched otherwise.

the question:
why does itunes behave like that? is it a wanted behaviour or is it a "bug"? i can not imagine why anyone would implement a behaviour like this because this would only make sense in a theoretical world where noone changes a computer, no computers crash (anyone is able do deativate the itunes account on the old computer before changing to a new one), all users make backups and everyone has enough disk space on the computer to have all media there AND on the phone. in a real world most people don't make backups and they all do have problems after a new setup of their systems and i think that lots of people want to have different media files on their computer and their iphones.

to be clear, i don't talk about moving the media from the iphone back to a computer because that would create copyright problems. i'm talking about letting the media on the phone as it is and then modifying it without doing a synch.

it would be great to have this behaviour corrected in further versions of itunes or at least to have a statement from apple why it would not change.

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Answer 10

Jan 19, 2010 3:15 PM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

why does itunes behave like that? is it a wanted behaviour or is it a "bug"?

This has nothing to do with iTunes.

The iPhone does not support disk mode as is supported with most iPods - to be used as an external storage device to transfer data to and from as with any other external storage device. Apple has not stated why the iPhone does not support disk mode as is supported with most iPods, but this is likely due to security reasons which isn't a concern with an iPod.

Since the iPhone does not support disk mode, nothing can be installed on an iPhone from a received email or from a website except for a photo, and I haven't read any reports about malware being included with a JPEG file. There have been reports about malware being included with unofficial 3rd party software for the iPhone downloaded and installed on a hacked iPhone from unknown and untrusted sources. This isn't a problem or concern with an iPhone that has not been hacked since the iPhone does not support disk mode, which is required to manually manage music and videos with iTunes on multiple computers.

in a real world most people don't make backups and they all do have problems after a new setup of their systems and i think that lots of people want to have different media files on their computer and their iphones.

Anyone who chooses not to maintain a backup for the important data stored on their computer's hard drive which should include their iTunes library is playing Russian Roulette with their data. Real world or not, this is not Apple's responsibility nor should it be their concern alone for enabling disk mode if doing so also opens the iPhone to security risks that could affect someone like me who maintains a backup and chooses to have all of my iTunes content in one location - on a single computer or external drive.

it would be great to have this behaviour corrected in further versions of itunes or at least to have a statement from apple why it would not change.

It has been nearly 3 years since the original iPhone was released and Apple didn't make a statement why disk mode is not supported with the iPhone so I seriously doubt Apple will be making a statement regarding if this doesn't change anytime soon if ever.

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Answer 11

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Jan 19, 2010 3:21 PM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

It is basic to maintain a backup - always has been.

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Answer 12

mezza@gmx.ch Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 19, 2010 11:48 PM in response to roaminggnome

@Allan Sampson
you did not read my post properly. i did not ask for disk mode because i don't want to be able to drag and drop files via the files system. i want to drag and drop files via itunes, like i could when "manage music and video manually" checkbox is checked. the only problem is that if the iphone is synched with a computer and AFTER THAT you want to manage all media manually (via itunes) you check the box and itunes wants to clear the phone - because of waht? all it has to do is to "disconnect" iphone from its "connected" media library (without changing anything on the phone like deleting all media) and let you do it manually. like you could if you had checked the box from the beginning on.
!!! so, the only problem is that itunes is not able to do a disconnect of the connected meda library without deleting all depending files !!!
that is a itunes behaviour and NOT a iphone problem and has nothing to do with disk mode.
i'm aware that this is a fact sinse the beginning and apple is not responsible for backups and blablabla ... BUT as you can see in most forums hundrets and even thousends of people have the same or even a similar problem as i do and most of them have to use third parity software to solve it. i'm not asking for disk mode i'm asking for a simple change to the itunes behaviour wich would NOT create any security or copy right problems BUT would solve a few users problems. is that not worth to think about?

@roaminggnome
thank you telling me the obvious!!! a fact is that most people don't do it and any manufacturer should (doesn't have to but should) make devices and software taht supports real live issues and helps people in theyr daily life.
to create a device that does not and then tell people "haha, your problem" is not really cool. i'm a hard and software developper myself and i know how dumb most people are and i'm annoyed about most of theyr statemants too BUT i'm not building anything with a big list of points users have to follow to use it. i'm creating intuitive products which do behave like most people would estimate AND i do even implement code for dumb users who don't behave as YOU as a developer expect it. just to help them and for their success with the product.
... and besides, you did not read my post well enough as well. i did not ask for an enhancement that would solve "not backupped"-problems, i asked for a fix of a strange behaviour which has nothing to do with backups.

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Answer 13

Jan 20, 2010 12:12 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

I read your post properly, which isn't easy to do with the excellent Windoze spell checker you are using.

Sorry you are having a difficult time comprehending this but once again, this has NOTHING to do with iTunes and has EVERYTHING to do with the iPhone not supporting disk mode. This would not be an issue with an iPod that supports disk mode. You can't have a one direction disk mode only, and if this were possible it wouldn't prevent being able to install something from a recieved email or from a website including potential malware opening up potential security problems. Enabling disk mode is like a woman being pregnant - you are or you are not.

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Answer 14

mezza@gmx.ch Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2010 1:07 AM in response to Allan Sampson

I really don't want to make you angry but i don't think that you're right. The file system on the iphone is encrypted, that and the face that apple don’t want to support it because of security issues is why disk mode is not supported. Itunes on the other hand is able to write to the phones file system because it has full access. These are facts...
I want to manage audio and video manually, which is supported when you activate the checkbox. No disk mode is needed for that. That’s a fact too, you could try it if you want to. All is right with the world until now.

1. I check the activate the mentioned checkbox and drag audio files into the music list of my iphone within itunes and I can select a audio file and delete it within the iphone-music-list in my itunes.
All is well and it works just fine (because itunes writes the files to the phone no disk mode is needed – I’m not doing it via the file system).

2. I tell itunes to have its media library synched with the iphone, so it erases all audio and video files on the phone and copies all new media to it.
Once again, all is well (because itunes deletes and writes the files to the phone no disk mode is needed).

3. Go to another computer (old crashed – new bought) and turn off automatic synching to have ITUNES to handle files manually and not to do a synch, like it did in step one.
No disk mode is needed because I handle the files via itunes like I did in step one.

Don’t tell me that iphones can only be connected to one computer because I already know that, okay?!? I don’t want to have it SYNCHED with two computers because I know that this is not possible and I don’t want it to. I want to disconnect the old synch and let ITUNES handle the files on the iphone like it did on the first computer and in step one.
I see no reason why this should not be possible because I don’t want it to SYNCH, so no media files are needed on the computer, that’s why it doesn’t matter on which computer I do it. I just want to delete ONE file out of my list for example.

- Please tell me why disk mode should be needed for any of this steps!?! I think It is not.
- Please tell me why this should be an iphone issue and not an itunes issue!?! I think It is not.
- Please tell me why you should not be able to manage files MANUALLY from more then one computer!?! I can imagine why SYNCHING is not possible from more then one computer but why should it not be in manual mode?!?

Please don’t tell me again that disk mode is needed for manual file handling because as you can see and test by yourself in step one, it is not!

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Answer 15

mezza@gmx.ch Author

Level 1

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Jan 20, 2010 1:09 AM in response to mezza@gmx.ch

Sorry, I didn't use a spell checker until now and I learned English by watching English movies.

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