Two iPad 2s

[idave23]

I'll try to be as concise as I can, but bear with me. We just bought a second one. The first hasn't been synched or backed up since the initial synching. And only music files from our library were added then, no pics or movies or anything else. Have downloaded a bunch of apps from the app store and a fews songs from iTunes. We've also transferred quite a few pics from SD cards.

So what I think I need to do first is get the first one backed up on the PC. But I don't want to synch or back up the pics that we've added because most of them are already on the PC and we have the SD cards. So that leaves the apps and a few songs that need to be added to the PC.

Now, when I get ready to set up the new one, I want to use the same iTunes account but not add all the songs or apps. We want to be able to pick and choose among them. We also would like to avoid updating either to 4.3.3 if possible, but at least the original one.

So, to recap what I'd like to do:
1. Synch and backup only the apps and songs we've added to the first iPad, no pics and no updating to 4.3.3.
2. For the new iPad, pick and choose among all the songs in our library, those we already had and those we've purchased on the original.
3. Pick and choose among the apps we just synched to the PC to put on the new one.

I'm just not sure how to accomplish all this. With all the instances of people losing apps or pics or whatnot when synching or restoring or backing up, I'm very leery of trying it without knowing for sure what I'm doing. I'm a little confused as to what boxes need to be checked where and in what order it all needs to be done.

I hope this all made sense. Any help with getting me through this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Kaykaykay]

When you plug in the new one for the first time, iTunes will ask whether you want to set it up as a new one or restore as the first iPad. Pick the first choice, then manually pick whichever apps, music, etc., that you want. You're just using the same iTunes account.

 

[idave23]

When you plug in the new one for the first time, iTunes will ask whether you want to set it up as a new one or restore as the first iPad. Pick the first choice, then manually pick whichever apps, music, etc., that you want. You're just using the same iTunes account.

Thank you. Are there any options I need to choose before plugging it in so it won't start automatically synching everything?

 

[Mickey330]

Couple of things:

1) Before you plug in either iPad, in iTunes, go to Edit>Preferences>Devices and towards the middle of the screen, make sure there is a check mark in the "Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from synching automatically" box.

2) Then, in that same pop-up, go to the General tab. There's a box on there, "Check for new software updates automatically." Make sure that one is UNchecked (since you don't want iOS 4.3.3 - this'll stop iTunes from looking for updates to it and for the iPad).

2a) With the new iTunes, you also may want to go to the Store tab in that same pop-up and uncheck any boxes about auto downloads.

3) Then, plug in the first iPad (the one with the "stuff" on it). It should take a bit and then you should see the iPad show up in the left column of iTunes. Once it's there, right click on that line and choose "Transfer Purchases." That'll move everything off the iPad into iTunes. It'll take a bit, depending on the number of apps you've put on the iPad...

NOTE: Under the Apps heading, in the right hand side of the iPad window, at the bottom of the apps list, there's a box to "automatically sync new apps." Make sure that one's unchecked also. With everything checked or unchecked, now YOU control when/how stuff gets back and forth...

4) Once it's finished transferring purchases, this is the time to run a back-up. BTW, you'll know it's finished when your homescreen no longer says "Sync in Progress." Right click again on the iPad line in the left column and select "Back Up." Now, this one's going to take a while since you said you haven't done it. So, go get a cup of coffee or tea and wait...
Once it's done, you can right click again and select "Eject."

5) Now, plug in the new one. This one's easy, because as KayKayKay said, just choose the option to set it up as new. Just select the stuff you want to sync by putting checkmarks in the respective boxes for music, movies, apps, etc. Once you've got everything checked that you want to put on the new iPad, at the lower right hand is an apply/sync button. Select it and watch the magic happen...

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Marilyn

 

[idave23]

Couple of things:

1) Before you plug in either iPad, in iTunes, go to Edit>Preferences>Devices and towards the middle of the screen, make sure there is a check mark in the "Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from synching automatically" box.

2) Then, in that same pop-up, go to the General tab. There's a box on there, "Check for new software updates automatically." Make sure that one is UNchecked (since you don't want iOS 4.3.3 - this'll stop iTunes from looking for updates to it and for the iPad).

2a) With the new iTunes, you also may want to go to the Store tab in that same pop-up and uncheck any boxes about auto downloads.

3) Then, plug in the first iPad (the one with the "stuff" on it). It should take a bit and then you should see the iPad show up in the left column of iTunes. Once it's there, right click on that line and choose "Transfer Purchases." That'll move everything off the iPad into iTunes. It'll take a bit, depending on the number of apps you've put on the iPad...

NOTE: Under the Apps heading, in the right hand side of the iPad window, at the bottom of the apps list, there's a box to "automatically sync new apps." Make sure that one's unchecked also. With everything checked or unchecked, now YOU control when/how stuff gets back and forth...

4) Once it's finished transferring purchases, this is the time to run a back-up. BTW, you'll know it's finished when your homescreen no longer says "Sync in Progress." Right click again on the iPad line in the left column and select "Back Up." Now, this one's going to take a while since you said you haven't done it. So, go get a cup of coffee or tea and wait...
Once it's done, you can right click again and select "Eject."

5) Now, plug in the new one. This one's easy, because as KayKayKay said, just choose the option to set it up as new. Just select the stuff you want to sync by putting checkmarks in the respective boxes for music, movies, apps, etc. Once you've got everything checked that you want to put on the new iPad, at the lower right hand is an apply/sync button. Select it and watch the magic happen...

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Marilyn

Thank you so much Marilyn. You are truly a life saver. This is EXACTLY the kind of specific info I was looking for. These procedures can be pretty daunting when you're not sure what you're doing and you read the horror stories of folks losing their material. Thanks to you and KayKayKay, I have MUCH more confidence I can pull this off than I did a few minutes ago. Thank you again.

 

[idave23]

Ok, I started the process. I unchecked all the boxes as suggested. Then after I hit "OK", the window at the top showed "Downloading 17 items". The items started downloading and I recognized that they were apps I'd recently downloaded via the iPad. After they finished I clicked on "Apps" under "Library" and there were 22 of them there even though I hadn't synched the iPad since the day I got it. How did they get there? I checked and they were all bought on June 24th and 25th. I'm wondering if these maybe have to do somehow with the iCloud?

Moving on...I have a couple questions about the songs. With over 5,800 of 'em it's gonna be quite a task to go thru and uncheck all the ones we don't want one by one. Is there a way to do an "uncheck all" and then go back and check the ones we do want which is a much smaller list? And what about all the playlists we created? Can I select them ala carte too? Will I need to go thru and uncheck all the songs in all the playlists that we don't want? Or are the playlists separate from the regular song list that gets synched?

 

[idave23]

Ok, a little Googling resolved the "uncheck all" question. Edit>select all>right click>Uncheck Selection. I wouldn't recommend doing them all at once if you have thousands though. I stupidly tried all at once and it froze my computer. Doing 500 at once took 45 seconds. YMMV depending on your computer obviously.

I can do the same with the playlists I suppose but I'm still curious as to whether it's necessary.

 

[idave23]

I just realized that the playlists transferred over during the initial synching along with all the other songs so I guess I'll have to uncheck them as well.

Edit: Check that. I just finished unchecking all the songs and when I went to the playlists the songs were already unchecked there as well. Yeehaw!

 

[jncbankston]

Dave, hold the control key while 'unchecking' a song in ur music tab...Voila! This will uncheck ALL the songs. Then go back and check each individual song (this could be tedious).

Sent from Scooter, my White Verizon 32GB iPad2, using iPF

 

[DefBref]

Instead of unchecking all the songs, I would have just created a new playlist and just synced that playlist to the iPad.

 

[idave23]

Dave, hold the control key while 'unchecking' a song in ur music tab...Voila! This will uncheck ALL the songs. Then go back and check each individual song (this could be tedious).

Sent from Scooter, my White Verizon 32GB iPad2, using iPF

Thank you. That's much easier.

 

[idave23]

Instead of unchecking all the songs, I would have just created a new playlist and just synced that playlist to the iPad.

But would it not have synched all the checked songs when I connected the new iPad?

 

[Mickey330]

I don't remember (my new iPad actions were a while ago), but I think that with a new iPad you have to tell it to sync the songs (and contacts, and movies, and etc.).

With your iPad connected and higlighted (on the left) go to the right side and select Music. Does it have a check mark in the very top - "Sync Music"? If you want it to sync your selected songs, you'll have to ensure that's checked. Then, you can check playlists, artists, songs, genres, etc. Once you've got everything checked so that it'll have the stuff you want on the iPad, click on the "Apply" button (lower right) and it'll copy all those checked songs/playlists/etc to the new iPad.

Hope that helps.

Marilyn

 

[DefBref]

Instead of unchecking all the songs, I would have just created a new playlist and just synced that playlist to the iPad.

But would it not have synched all the checked songs when I connected the new iPad?

No, it would, as marilyn explained, ask you to set your sync settings for the new device.

 

[idave23]

Thank you both very much. I'm sitting down at the PC right now to start the process with the first iPad. I'll report back.