Synchronizing for firs time after C: drive wiped clean

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Level 1

9 points

Synchronizing for firs time after C: drive wiped clean

Recently, my computer was infected by a virus, which required me to wipe the hard drive clean and "start over." This means that all my iTunes content was gone on the computer, BUT it is all on my iPhone 5, the OS for which is current.

I get "OS time out" errors when trying to back up my phone to my computer. So, I thought I would try synchronizing the phone without backing it up first. When I do so, it tells me that the content on my iPhone has been synchronized with my "old" hard drive, before this same computer was wiped clean.

It gives me the option to erase the iPhone and synchronize or "Cancel." Since my iPhone is the only source for all my content, I choose "Cancel."

I need to back up and synchronize my iPhone to my computer and iTunes, but I cannot afford to erase the iPhone content. Help!

iPhone 4, iOS 5

Posted on Feb 14, 2014 3:54 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 14, 2014 4:02 PM in response to berndogga

All your iTunes content along with all other important data - documents, photos, everything?

iTunes includes an option to transfer iTunes content that was purchased/downloaded from the iTunes Store from an iPod or iOS device, but this is for iTunes content that was purchased/downloaded from the iTunes Store only.

First you need to re-authorize your computer with your iTunes account or Apple ID with iTunes if you haven't already done so. With your iPhone connected to iTunes and without syncing, at the iTunes menu bar go to File and select Transfer Purchases From - the name of your iPhone.

Photos that were on your computer transferred to your iPhone via the iTunes sync process will be erased from your iPhone when selecting to transfer any new photos from your computer. There are some 3rd party utilities that provide for transferring these photos in the opposite direction along with any music on your iPhone that was not purchased from the iTunes Store. Since photos transferred from your computer are optimized for viewing on your iPhone as part of the iTunes sync/transfer process - the original resolution of these photos is reduced on the iPhone, the original resolution of these photos will be permanently lost.

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Answer 2

berndogga Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 15, 2014 4:36 AM in response to Allan Sampson

I am OK with the photos. I can work around that. However, I would say 70% of my music on my iPhone was converted from CDs I had purchased and imported into iTunes.

I have already authorized my computer. What is frustrating is that the BACKUP process keeps getting interrupted by technical messages, like "iPhone disconnected" or "write to OS taking too long"

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