iPhone question

i n c u b u s

Ok before I go through with this I thought I'd run it by you guys first. I have a friend at work who has the original iPhone and isn't lets say all that tech savvy. A few months ago (possibly longer) she apparently broke her computer or something and has since then not been able to install any of the updates or anything since then. I have an iPod touch and thought it wouldn't be an issue to just plug in her iPhone into my mac and just sync the updates and unclick the videos and music. Is there a way to make this happen without her losing her contacts/music/etc and without me losing any of my files in my itunes program?

Lewisham

It won't allow you to transfer anything unless you tie it to your machine, which will then wipe her iPhone and putall your stuff on it.

She needs to fix her computer.

Szechuanosaurus

Lewisham wrote: »

It won't allow you to transfer anything unless you tie it to your machine, which will then wipe her iPhone and putall your stuff on it.

She needs to fix her computer.

I'm pretty certain that's not correct.

iTunes must be able to manage multiple devices without just cloning them all.

I mean, for starters, my wife updates her iPod through her windows login on our PC while I update mine through my own login ont he same PC, so if push comes to shove, he could just create a new login account on his mac. But I'm sure iTunes isn't so retarded it can't just manage multiple devices through the same MacOS login account. At most, he might need to log out of his iTunes account and log in to hers, then authorise his computer for her account so iTunes lets her manage any apps or music she's bought through iTunes. You can authorise up to four devices for one account I believe.

Honk

I don't know if you can go about doing that without wiping her files, but she could always activate the iPhone on another computer if she has one.

i n c u b u s

Szechuanosaurus wrote: »

Lewisham wrote: »

It won't allow you to transfer anything unless you tie it to your machine, which will then wipe her iPhone and putall your stuff on it.

She needs to fix her computer.

I'm pretty certain that's not correct.

iTunes must be able to manage multiple devices without just cloning them all.

I mean, for starters, my wife updates her iPod through her windows login on our PC while I update mine through my own login ont he same PC, so if push comes to shove, he could just create a new login account on his mac. But I'm sure iTunes isn't so retarded it can't just manage multiple devices through the same MacOS login account. At most, he might need to log out of his iTunes account and log in to hers, then authorise his computer for her account so iTunes lets her manage any apps or music she's bought through iTunes. You can authorise up to four devices for one account I believe.

Thats exactly what went through my mind when I suggested to help.

saint2e

I have an iPhone that syncs some components (audio, video, etc.) with my home computer and my calendar at my work computer.

Basically you pick which components you want to sync with the computer you're connecting to. So you could connect the iPhone to your PC, choose to NOT sync anything data-related, and apply any updates she needs to the firmware.

meeker

Make sure she is logged into her iTunes account on that computer and it will ask you what you want to sync. I use my work and home computer to sync my iPhone as well.

rockmonkey

Also in iTunes under preferences, in the Devices tab there is a checkbox to "Disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods" which you'll want to check... I believe.

RUNN1NGMAN

There shouldn't be any problem. When she plugs the iPhone into your computer, it will ask if she wants to sync. Click NO or it will completely wipe out her iPhone and replace it with what's on your computer that she's authorized for (which would be nothing).

Then through iTunes change all the sync preferences so that the iPhone is not syncing anything on that computer (basically just uncheck all the boxes in the sync settings).

She should then be able to update the iPhone's software without loosing any of the stuff that she has on the phone.

Also, it's not too big a deal if something goes wrong and it wipes all her music/photos/whatever. They'll all sync up again the next time she plugs her phone into her own computer.

saint2e

rockmonkey wrote: »

Also in iTunes under preferences, in the Devices tab there is a checkbox to "Disable automatic syncing for iPhones and iPods" which you'll want to check... I believe.

This is key... I was looking for this option when I made my post, but couldn't find it for some reason.

You should be fine once this is on. I forgot to mention that she'll need to be signed in to her iTunes account on your PC as well, which I think the above poster mentioned.

Between the 3 posts I've mentioned, I think we've got you sorted.

i n c u b u s

Sounds good guys, I just wanted to get all my facts straight before I actually do it. She told me that she really isn't all that worried about her music and stuff thats in the phone but the contacts are something she wants to prevent from losing. I'm just gonna tell her to just write down the most important ones just in case something does go wrong.

rfalias

i n c u b u s wrote: »

Sounds good guys, I just wanted to get all my facts straight before I actually do it. She told me that she really isn't all that worried about her music and stuff thats in the phone but the contacts are something she wants to prevent from losing. I'm just gonna tell her to just write down the most important ones just in case something does go wrong.

As far as I know, even if you allow iTunes to totally "wipe" it, you just lose music and stuff. It never loses numbers. Not in my experience doing it at least. Which is 3-4 times so far.

proXimity

You can actually sync the different "parts" of an iPhone to different computers. I have mine sync to my PC for music and movies, and to my Mac for contacts/calender/pics

Project Mayhem

The key factor here, if it isn't too late to tell you, is that since she had it formatted for a pc, if you want to update it on a mac it reformats it for mac. This does wipe it, including contacts.

Szechuanosaurus

Project Mayhem wrote: »

The key factor here, if it isn't too late to tell you, is that since she had it formatted for a pc, if you want to update it on a mac it reformats it for mac. This does wipe it, including contacts.

It does that now?

diiiicks.

Never used to, as macs can read PC formatted discs just fine. But last time I used an iPod between a PC and a Mac was a 1st Gen Ye Olde iPode.

i n c u b u s

I haven't done it yet so I guess the concensus is to not do it because I'm using a mac?