Locating the "Data and Apps Screen" in order to perform a Restore to my iPad Pro

"If you already set up your device, you need to erase all of its content before you can use these steps to restore from your backup." What you are implying is that this is not a big deal in terms of losing data/apps. I would take the above path #3:

3. "Go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap “Erase all content and settings.”

I presume that this would then bring up a series of setup screens, one of which would be the "Apps & Data screen?"

I have a considerable number of Apps on my iPad for my grandson. Does this involve a lengthy download time? If one restores from the iCloud, do I manually have to go to the Apps Store to initiate every one of these downloads, or are they restored automatically, based on what I originally had in storage? When I followed the iTunes route, a large number of the icons for apps were grayed out on my startup screen with a "waiting..." notation, but by clicking on each they eventually loaded.

Lastly, when using the automatic backup feature to the iCloud, do I have to manage these backups from time to time so that they don't eat up storage, or does Apple go through a periodic purging of backup files?

Again, I am most appreciative of your assistance!

Sir Pilot --

Thanks for your super prompt response! I should have joined this forum days ago.

I started my hunt for an answer in Google. This is what I found:

Restore from an iCloud backup

1. On your iOS device, go to Settings > General > Software Update. ...
2. Make sure you have a recent backup to restore from. ...
3. Go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap “Erase all content and settings.”
4. From the apps Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup, then sign in to iCloud.

Seemed fairly routine. I was hesitant, however, in "erasing all content and settings." I also didn't know whether this would take me to the apps "Apps and Data Screen." Hence, I started a search for this latter screen, but without success. The idea originally was to transfer all of my backup data from my old iPad 2 to my iPad Pro. The discussion page from which I distilled the above also talked about backing up my iPad 2 to iTunes via a computer (Windows, in this case), and then attaching my iPad Pro to the computer and restoring. This worked, but now all of my backup files have names associated with the computer I used.

The backup to the iCloud is a piece of cake, as you outlined. I am sure that the restore option is, too (once I figure it out!).

Thanks again for your response.

Ginny B

That sounds simple enough!

The following question may not have an answer: when I used the iTunes route to do the transfer of data, my iPad 2 and the iPad Pro were renamed with the name of my husband's computer. When I just performed a backup on the iPad Pro, using iCloud, it must overlay the last backup for my iPad Pro device (unless the backups are individually shown only when a restore is done). Is it possible for me to rename my two iPad devices to place them in my name, and not that taken from the computer? (We'll call this cosmetics...)

Outstanding! I have just renamed my iPad Pro, and it is being backed up. I gather that I will only see the individual backups, if I do a restore. Under "Managing Backups," the Pro only shows each device and the total amount of storage pertaining to each device.

You wouldn't believe the number of posts/searches that I have conducted during the last three days attempting to learn how to rename, or eliminate a device, so that a new one with the correct name could be created -- nada a reply.

Again - many thanks. I can see myself becoming dangerous -- very dangerous.

One last question!

Are the individual backups available to view without doing a restore? My Manage Storage only shows the amount of storage pertaining to a single device, but not each individual backup made for that device. I would think that these backups would need to be purged over time in order to free up storage.

On my iPad Pro, Manage Storage shows me the devices that have backups (e.g., iPhone, iPad2, iPad Pro), the time of the last backup and the size of that backup - nothing else. This is why I thought that one had to go the Restore route in order to see a listing of the individual backups. I will check the iPad 2 in the morning after it has charged to see if I obtain a more detailed breakdown.

For each device there is an option in red near the bottom of the page that says, Delete Backup. But, I presume that this would leave me with no backups for that device. Does Apple only store a limited number of backups? If the iPad backs up once per day, I would think that storage would get eaten up fast.

Yes, when tapping on the iPad Pro device there does appear a listing of the apps. Therefore, unlike a Windows backup, which creates a separate file, Apple must be overwriting the existing backup file. Hence, the only way, I suppose, to manage file size is by deleting the number of apps to be backed up.

Having said this, the "Restore your iPhone..." piece, to which you referred earlier, says in step #4: "Choose a backup. Look at the date and size of each..." But, since system settings are involved, why would one want to restore an iPhone backup, for example, to an iPad Pro device....strange.... But, I restored a backup from my iPad 2 device to the Pro, so system settings must be universal to all of the devices?