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Can I Use iTunes From Two Computers?

My computer no longer operative but I have a second notebook also with iTunes. If I sync my iPhone to that will it work or am I allowed only one computer? Eventually my primary will work again after I have it repaired and would like to go back to it then. Thanks

iPhone 3Gs, iPhone OS 3.0

Posted on Feb 12, 2010 9:33 PM

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3 replies

Feb 13, 2010 2:34 AM in response to Kilaeua

Kilaeua wrote:
Are you saying each time someone gets a new computer their iPhone gets erased and you must start over?


If they haven't bothered to keep any backups of their hard disc,the answer is yes. Thats why backups are important and yet so few people bother, and then come here expecting miracles 🙂 Most peoples libraries are larger than their iPhone so the iPhone contents are only a subset of the complete library, and so it does not make a good backup device. Even if you transfer the library over to the new computer intact, the first thin that happens is that the iPhone data is erased and it is refilled with the data from the new computer.

Can I copy my iPhone to the new iTunes instead?


Indirectly, yes. there are third party tools to recover the content from the iPhone safely and you can then upload them to the new library and resync. However as the iTunes library is on a different computer, it will delete all content on the iPhone to pair it with th new library. Any bought Apps can be downloaded for free without problems however any purchased music which was on th old computer, and could not be recovered from the iPhone, is gone and you would need to buy again.

The moral if there is one, is to keep backups of your computer data and the iTunes library and iTunes iPhone backup data in particular..

Can I Use iTunes From Two Computers?

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