Location of iPhone sync data files or How to not have to re-install all my iPhone apps?

Hey Skyler,

Thanks for the reply! I have tried that approach already, but now that I think about it again, maybe what I can do is sync the apps THEN restore from backup. Maybe that will restore the app locations prior to the sync.

I'll let you know what I find!

Thanks again,

Rob

Ingo2711 wrote:

Just one more thing to add: How to back up your data and set up as a new device

Ahh, I may try the "Set up your device as new" from that article if the tip Skyler suggested doesn't work. Thanks!

Skyler Richard wrote:

Setting it up as new will not put anything over, then when you sync it will sync the applications over and it will sync the applications over Un organized. My advised should resolve the issue, I work for technical support for the iPhone's, iPad, and iPod Touchs for Apple...

Right Click the iPhone and click Transfer Purchases and then do the backup and restore from backup... That will transfer all your applications over to your computer and then organize them properly in their folders...

OK, that does make sense so I won't bother setting it up as a new phone.

Quick follow up question though, do I need to click the Sync Apps check box before I do a restore? The reason I ask is that I've done a transfer purchases/backup/restore cycle but all the tabs (Apps, Music, Movies, etc.) do not have the sync check box checked following the restore as I would expect. And when I go check the Sync Apps check box that's when it warns me "Are you sure you want to sync apps? All existing apps and their data on the iPhone will be replaced with apps from this iTunes library." That's when the apps then become unorganized.

Thanks so much for your continued help!

Rob

Skyler Richard wrote:

Yea you do not want to sync any of those... Want to go right ahead and start doing a backup and then restore from backup...

There is no way of avoiding it erasing all content, It will still be erased and replaced with the content in your iTunes Library, but doing the restore will just change how it's organized after it does the erase and sync.

When you restore from backup you will not see the Erase and Sync buttons because once it's completed you will then be synced with your new computer.

Does that make sense??

Yes, it does; however, I believe I have tried this once and it didn't work (it literally appeared as if nothing actually happened). I'll try it again later tonight and let you know what I find. Thanks so much!

OK, I wanted to close the loop on this. What I did was use Skyler's suggestion (backup/transfer purchaes/restore) but that alone didn't fully get my iPhone sync'ed with this new library. What I had to do was check-off the Sync Apps checkbox and click Sync. I then got a dialog window saying "The iPhone is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?" The options were "Cancel" and "Erase and Sync." I chose "Cancel" (because I wanted to Google this more) but it appeared as though iTunes was still trying to sync! I quickly tried to cancel the sync by clicking the X in the status window but that didn't seem to have an immediate effect so I pulled the USB cable from my MacBook. At this point I was concerned that I really hosed up my iPhone/iTunes library but when I went back into the Apps tab and, lo and behold, the Sync Apps checkbox was checked and everything looked great! So I did another sync and it processed without any issues!

Everything seems fine now even with that slight hicup which is probably some sort of bug.

Many thanks to Skyler and everyone else who helped!