Win and OS X - How to backup/restore/manage multiple iTunes...

ps3ud0

ps3ud0

ps3ud0

Caporegime
Joined
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Hi Guys,

Just got myself a new MBP and getting the iPhone 4 tomorrow so will be in the middle of moving things over and need some guidance.

Basically I want to reinstall iTunes on my Vista machine as Im moving to Win7

So that means I need to backup my iTunes content before I wipe it - reinstall iTunes 9.2 and then add the content back (everything iTunes holds basically).

Now perhaps a more tricker question - how can I manage my iTunes so I can iPhone sync to either of my Win or OS X machines without any problems and not losing any data (including emails/contacts/calender)?

Can MobileME help me in all this (soz not too sure what that does)

TIA

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Last edited:
Yes, mobile me would help. Google can do the same job but free. Everytime you plug in between your pc/mac it will want to wipe you music. It will also backup apps, but then delete them all and put them pack on again.
 
I find it far too much hassle trying to switch between multiple iTunes. I just stick with iTunes on my MBP now. Much easier.

I did hit upon one idea a while ago, and that was to use iTunes via a VM install of Windows. That way I would never have to worry about reinstalling Windows/OSX on the host computer! Haven't gotten around to trying yet though.
 
OK SiriusB, if I had to keep to one iTunes Id happily have it on my Mac - that still makes me ask the question about how to move my iTunes stuff over (especially things like bought films and the like).

Ultimately Im actually considering a media server to hold it all and then point any iTunes to that - as it would be the core storage it should be easier to maintain and also means whichever iTunes install I sync with it should sync the same music...

I do now have MobileMe so got everything sync with my Mac with ease - need to sort out Outlook still though...
 
Moving iTunes media should be easy enough to do. Copy the files to the new computer/installation, point the new iTunes at it and make sure the new computer is Authorized.
 
Cheers - for some reason I thought it was going to be a right pain, especially with all the DRM stuff...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
I too have multiple machines with iTunes and it's a royal pain in the ass to use more than 1 machine to sync. What I did was buy a NAS, use that for all my storage and then use my MacBook Pro as the sync machine. I swapped my MacBook for a Pro last week so simply set that up as my sync machine and though I had to reset the iPhone it was a work of moments to rebuild as all the files were in the same place. Simply authorised the new MacBook Pro, plugged the phone in and did a reset and rebuild. Not ideal but not too much of a problem.
 
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