Difference between Sync and Backup?

Question

Difference between Sync and Backup?

I've asked AppleCare but can't seem to get an understandable answer. Maybe someone can help here.

What is the difference between doing a Backup and doing a Sync via iTunes on your computer for either your iPad or iPhone?

Thanks,
Steven

Mac Pro 3.0 GHz Quad-Core, iPad WiFi + 3G (Yea!), Mac OS X (10.6.6), 30" HP LP3065 Monitor, 22" Cinema Display

Posted on Feb 27, 2011 9:00 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2013 10:00 AM in response to leetut

That is definitely strange. The restore process normally does try to make one last backup before the restore, just in case you change your mind later 😉

I've seen the backup get jammed up before, and that's probably what is happening here. I have a few simpler suggestions to try first:

Try turning your phone all the way off (holding the top button) and back on (holding the top button until it powers on) to reboot it, in case it's just a one-off problem with the backup process.
In iTunes, when the long backup is happening, click the small X button or curvy arrow button to the right of the little status bar to tell it to skip that step. It may take a little while to respond to the skip (it has to finish up what it's doing first to skip safely), so you only need to press it once, even if it seems like it's doing nothing.

Let us know how it goes, maybe we can get more fancy with the suggestions otherwise.

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Answer 2

Mar 4, 2011 10:11 AM in response to Rudegar

So if you have just added something to your iPad and do a Backup, everything will be transferred from the iPad to my Mac. Which if I'm reading you right, would be the exact same thing if I did a Sych which would ADD the new item I added.

Herein is exactly why I do not "get" the difference between a Sync and a Backup. They sound the same to me. I've call AppleCare several times and even they can't "REALLY" tell me a difference.

Further, you have transfer purchases, which to my mind should be "sync'd" or "backedup" when you do either one.

As a LONG LONG LONG time Mac user, enthusiast and evangelist, I have to say this is the first time I've come across something that is this confusing.

IMHO, there should be one action to transfer your device's data to your computer. It could be called either "Sync" or "Backup" but whichever, that one function should make a mirror copy of your data, all data, all purchases, etc. the same on your device and computer. ANd then if you need to restore, your device's data, all of it, is on file on your computer and gets transferred to your device.

But this business of 3 things: sync, backup and transfer purchases, seems borderline redundant, certainly enough to be confusing to laymen and AppleCare tech support. So again, IMHO, the system and logic to it, is broken.

I shouldn't have to call AppleCare multiple times, and then have to write in Discussions hoping to find someone that can explain it in a way I can thoroughly understand. And I have to say, I STILL don't get the diff. And I read the article.

Oh well.

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Answer 3

Diavonex

Level 9

67,235 points

Jan 3, 2012 9:43 AM in response to geekgirrl

Difference between Backup and Synchronization

File Synchronization (or 'synching') is the process of ensuring that two or more locations contain the same up-to-date files. If you add, change, or delete a file from one location, the synchronization process will add, change, or delete the same file at the other location.

Backup refers to copying of data from one location to another.

Sync is not a backup.

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Answer 4

Rudegar

Level 10

173,892 points

Feb 27, 2011 10:38 AM in response to lllaass

Sync Will ADD things from the iPad to the computer
Backup just save a copy of whats on the iPad in the computer

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Answer 5

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Feb 27, 2011 9:46 AM in response to Steven Shmerler

Here is a portion of the support article mentioned above. The way I can personally understand it is that the sync transfers the content back and forth and a backup is created when you perform the sync. This talks in terms of the iPod and iPhone but it works the same for the iPad.

About Syncing and Backups
You can use iTunes to sync content on your computer (such as music, applications, podcasts, videos, ringtones, photos, notes, email account settings, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks) with your iPhone or iPod touch (Note: Some content is available only on iPhone and some features require iOS 2.0 or later software). Syncing makes sure this content is the same on your iPhone or iPod touch and computer.

iTunes creates a backup of your iPhone or iPod touch when you sync, which you can then use to restore from if you need to return to a previously backed-up state. You can use a backup to transfer this information to a new device, except for some specific exceptions noted in parenthesis below. With iOS 4 and later, if you encrypt the backup it can transfer the keychain items (passwords, credentials) to a new device.

If you protect your iPhone or iPod touch with a passcode, you will be prompted to enter the passcode when you connect to iTunes. Once you successfully enter the passcode, iTunes will recognize that device as authorized and you will not need your passcode to back up or sync. When restoring from an iOS 4 (or later) backup, if the device had a passcode set, iTunes will ask if you want to set a passcode (and remind you that you had protected your device with a passcode.) iTunes will not ask you to set a passcode when restoring from iOS 3.x and prior backups.

iTunes only keeps one backup created during the sync process for each device. If you restore the iPhone or iPod touch and choose to set up as a new device from the Set Up your iPhone (or iPod touch) screen, iTunes will automatically sync and create a new, empty backup that will replace your previous backup. If you change your mind and want to restore to your previous state, you will have to retrieve your previous device backup from Time Machine (on your Mac), or other backup solution you regularly use. If you have Mac OS X 10.5.5 or later and use Time Machine, you may use Time Machine to find a previous backup.

Message was edited by: Demo

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Answer 6

Mar 4, 2011 10:26 AM in response to Steven Shmerler

My understanding is that syncing is the process of updating and backing up the iPad (or other iOS device) that includes creating a backup of the device and updating the content of iTunes and iPad (e.g copying purchases made on the iPad to iTunes, transferring newe songs etc that you want on the iPad from iTunes).

The backup contains everything iTunes needs to restore the device to it's current condition, but doesn't include media e.g music, films, TV programmes. Theres no need to back these up as they are already in your iTunes library. As medis probably takes up the most room on most people's devices excluding these from the backup saves a lot of space - I have an iPad and an iPhone and I don't really want two 16GB backups sitting on my hard drive when the bulk of those backups would be duplicates of items already in my iTunes library.

For most part, you just need to think if sync as that does everything you need to keep your device running the way you want. Occasionally when troubleshooting it is useful to have the options to perform a backup or transfer purchases separately.

As already mentioned the support article at
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766
Does a good job of describing the process.

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Answer 7

Chris CA

Level 10

82,476 points

Jan 3, 2012 1:23 PM in response to geekgirrl

geekgirrl wrote:

In early posts it says that syncing also creates a backup. Were they wrong?

When syncing a backup is also created. They are done at the same time but they are not the same thing.

still afraid to sync as it might delete my app data and if I update I might find my pics and contacts gone and they are not synced with anything, they are only backed up by iTunes backup.

iTunes should sync the photos and contacts between computer and iPad. Connect the iPad and click the Info tab then scroll down to see what applications on your computer (contacts and calendar) the iPad is sync'd with.

Clickt he Photos tab to see which pjhotos are sync'd.

See this for info on what is backed up.-> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

Note that to get this backed up info back onto your iPad, you need to Restore from backup.

Photos and contacts and calendars (and music and movies and tv shows and audiobooks) will simply be sync'd as shown in the tabs across the top when selecting the iPad in iTunes.

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Answer 8

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Aug 6, 2012 3:13 PM in response to Glenn Broadway

Glenn Broadway wrote:

So, here's my question: Will the iPad now be identical to the one I just returned to Apple?

No. You still have to sync the apps back onto the iPad. The backup contains app data and device settings ... Safari bookmarks and history, your Notes, your calendar entries, your camera roll (I know you don't have photos), text messages, email settings, etc.

Copied from the iTunes: About iOS backups website.

Summary

iTunes can back up your settings, Messages, Camera Roll, documents, saved games, and other data. Backups do not contain content synced to the device, such as movies, music, podcasts, and apps.

You can read more about it here.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

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Answer 9

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Dec 22, 2013 7:10 AM in response to Cielkel

This will tell you what is contained in the backup, and where the backup files are located. No you cannot see the actual files, photos, contacts and so on as the information is "coded" as you described it.

iTunes: About iOS backups - Support - Apple

You need to make the iTunes Library on the Mac your syncing library - unless you have already done that now. I know that you said that you performed a manual backup and that's the first step, but there is more to it than that. this should be helpful. It was written for the iPhone but you perform the same steps for an iPad.

Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

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Answer 10

Apr 2, 2014 10:08 AM in response to fredfighterapple

Ok, I made space on the iPhone 5c by deleting photos from the photos app and deleting apps using the 'manage space' feature in Settings. (I can't find 'manage space' in the iPhone 5c Settings now, so I suppose that feature was removed from IOS 7.1

iTunes STILL would not connect to the 5c for backup or sync. When I clicked on the iPhone tab in iTunes, that tab again disappeared. But I was able to upgrade the iPhone 5c to IOS 7.1 over wifi.

After upgrading to IOS 7.1, iTunes STILL would not connect to the iPhone, just as before. I read on another forum that I would have to uninstall iTunes and then download and install it again. So I uninstalled it, and then went to

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ to download it. When I click on the "Download" button, a popup asks me if I want to lave the file: iTunes64setup.exe. I click on 'Save File' and the popup goes away, but nothinhg is downloaded.

So, does anyone have any hints as to how to download and install iTunes now?

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Answer 11

Nov 19, 2012 9:10 AM in response to Mfeelngs

There's a few different things going on with iTunes and iCloud:

Apps themselves can add functionality to store data to iCloud. But if they don't offer it, there's no real way to do anything about that as a user.
You can back up your iPhone/iPad/iTouch to iCloud, which does the same as backing up to iTunes, just stored in iCloud.
You can sync with iTunes on your computer, and this is more about pushing data from your computer to your phone (contacts, photo albums, music, movies, etc) choosing what gets pushed from your iTunes settings for the device.
You can backup with iTunes to your computer, copying data on your phone to the computer.

It does get muddled a bit more because periodically (chosen by iTunes), syncing will also trigger the backup process. It's still a separate operation, it's just that iTunes decides that a new backup is a good idea since the other one is old.

I know this link appears on the previous page, but I can't push it enough 🙂 I've written up this article about syncing vs backing up. It's still very true, but it sounds like I should do an update to discuss some of the new iCloud app data stuff too.

http://decipher-media.blogspot.com/2011/05/itunes-sync-vs-backup-how-to-ensure-y ou.html

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Answer 12

Apr 11, 2013 10:07 AM in response to dlueds

This is a good question and I have a couple of answers. There's still some hope, although yes, in the worst case, there is no backup of that new data from 2/2 until now.

Before we get to backup looking, let's look for some notes drafts elsewhere a sec.Does your wife sync her notes anywhere? (Usually they can be sync with iCloud or an email account like GMail.) I somehow erased my notes on my Mac (same sync system), but I had a lot of drafts of them in my GMail account since that's where they were syncing. I doubt she's changed her sync settings since February, so the places to look are:
- Settings -> iCloud, to see if Notes is on. I think that means they should appear momentarily?
- Settings -> Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and her various accounts. See if Notes is checked on for any of those. If so, then there might be some or all of the notes in that email account. I found mine by searching for a phrase that I knew was in the notes.
Ok, now to backup searching. I think (with strong emphasis on think) that iTunes does a snapshot backup (that just means a backup with a date at the end of the folder name) when it restores. So, you might have a backup sitting there from today. Finding it is another issue 🙂
- On Windows, you can search (windows 8) or start->run (windows 7 and below) for %appdata% (percents included). This will open the Application Data folder. From there go into Apple Computer (or somesuch like that), and then MobileSync, and then Backup. You should see some folders with horrid letters and numbers as names, but some with dates at the end of that. Maybe there is one from today?
- On Mac, you want to open finder and hold Option (Lion/Mnt Lion) and select Library from the "Go" menu. Library will only show up with Option held for Lion/Mnt Lion machines. From there, you want the Application Support -> MobileSync -> Backup folders. Same deal as Windows -- nasty device identifier folder names, but some may have dates at the end of the nastiness. We're looking for today.

If you do find the backup, you have a decision to make about which version you want to use on the phone... today or 2/2?

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Answer 13

Demo

Level 10

166,633 points

Mar 6, 2011 5:58 PM in response to Steven Shmerler

I watched what actually does happen when I connected my iPad to my Mac and set the whole process in motion by clicking Sync. This is how I break it down to understand the difference.

The first step in the top window in iTunes says is Starting Sync.

The next thing it says is backing up and the process begins.

The backup creates a copy of everything on your iPad and it is stored on your computer in the Mobile Sync Folder. That Mobile Sync Folder can be found by navigating to User>Library>Application Support>Mobile Sync>Backup. That Backup Folder contains all the backups for each particular device that you sync to your computer - iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone. You can open the folder and see all of the days and times that your devices were backed up. These backups are what you need if you have to restore your iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone at some point.

After the backup is complete, it says Preparing to Sync and it then progresses to Sync Contacts, and goes through the entire sync process which transfers all of the apps, app data, photos, music etc, that is on your iPad into your iTunes library on your computer. After the entire backup/sync is finished, you get the message that it is safe to disconnect.

Backup comes first and creates a copy of all of the stuff on your device and stores it in a folder on your computer. Sync transfers all of the content on the iPad into your iTunes library.

Backup = copy/backup stored on computer. Sync = Transfer of data into iTunes library.

Message was edited by: Demo

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Answer 14

Chris CA

Level 10

82,476 points

Mar 6, 2011 6:08 PM in response to Steven Shmerler

So if you have just added something to your iPad and do a Backup, everything will be transferred from the iPad to my Mac.

Correct. Nothing *backed up* to the computer from the iPad would be usable on the computer because it is stored in the backup file, not in iTunes.

Which if I'm reading you right, would be the exact same thing if I did a Sych which would ADD the new item I added.

You aren't reading it right.
Syncing will copy files and data from the iPad to the computer and vice-versa. It will not copy from/to the backup files.

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Answer 15

ccnz

Level 1

0 points

Oct 30, 2011 6:20 AM in response to Demo

thank you for your post - i am unfortunately not very technically minded and this is the first post i have found which clears this issue up.

but i do still wonder why on earth one would use the back-up feature then? .. if, when you sinc, everything is backed up anyway?

and what is it you use then if (heaven forbid!!) your ipad goes south and you need to resore it to the exact condition it was before "the trip to the south"? ... do you use the back-up or sync to reconstruct your ipad to its former state? ... is that where the difference maybe lies?? ... you can only restore from a backup and not from sync??

thanks

ingrid

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