How To safely Backup your iPod and iPhone

by Joshua Mitchell  |  August 6, 2009

When it comes to information, no matter its shape – audio, video or written, it's always important to Backup! The same golden rule applies to the iPod and iPhone; these two devices can hold up your “small history” in images, words and videos which someday you will might want back.

Backing up the iPod and iPhone can be done in several ways. One solution would be to back up the iTunes library on a CD or on a DVD. This is quite easy to do and once the information is on the optical disk storage it can rest there for the following 30 up to 100 years.

So, to backup the iTunes Library on a CD / DVD follow the steps:

     1. Open iTunes and select the “File” menu.

     2. Choose the option “Backup to Disk”.

     3. Once the “iTunes Backup” dialog box is open choose one of the three options: “Back up entire iTunes library and playlists” / “Back up only iTunes Store purchases” / “Only back up items added or changed since last backup”.

     4. Click on the “Back up” option.

     5. Insert the disk into the DVD / CD writer.

In case one CD / DVD won't be enough to backup your entire Library, then it will appear a message saying that you need to insert another disk.

Another possibility would be to backup the iPhone / iPod Touch in iTunes. A big minus would be that this procedure *does not back up the audio, video and photo content and the downloaded applications; what it does back up are the settings. For a list of the exact pieces of information backed up by iTunes you can go on: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766.

Backing up the information from your iPhone / iPod Touch can be done either by Syncing with iTunes or by Restoring in iTunes. Sync / Syncing comes from the word “synchronize” and represents the process by which the pieces of information from an iPod / iPhone are transferred to a PC. It's important to know that iTunes makes automatically a backup of the iPod / iPhone every time you sync (connect the device to the computer). It is also possible to manually transfer the files that you want from the gadget to the PC. To do this follow the steps:

     1. Connect the iPhone / iPod Touch to the computer.

     2. Open iTunes.

     3. Go into “Summary”.

     4. Select “Manually manage music and videos”.

     5. Drag and Drop the desired files.

The Restore option comes in handy when you forget the code lock to your iPhone or iPod Touch. To learn how to set a code lock to your iPhone just click the following link: http://tuvabox.com/iPhone/how-to-lock-and-unlock-the-iphone.aspx . It's highly important to know that the Restore option, if activated, will erase all pieces of data from your gadget and will return all the settings to the initial condition. It is recommended by Apple, prior to restoring the device in iTunes, to sync the device with iTunes.

To Restore the iPhone / iPod Touch use the following steps:

     1. Install the latest version of iTunes.

     2. Connect the iPhone to the PC or Mac.

     3. Go into iTunes sidebar.

     4. Select “iPhone”.

     5. Choose “Summary” tab.

     6. Select “Check for Update”.

     7. Select “Restore”.

It's also good to know that every time you update the software of your iPhone / iPod, iTunes will automatically do a backup.

Now that you know how to make a backup, it's highly important to also know where to find in your computer the backups. In general, the backups will be stored in the "iTunes Music" folder placed within the "iTunes" folder. But, this is hardly a rule. To make sure that your music will go under "iTunes Music" folder it's best to go into "Advanced Preferences" in iTunes and check the box "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to Library". Attention! This box is automatically checked if you use iTunes on a Mac, and is disabled in a Windows OS. If the box remains unchecked your Library will be left in the original location and can be placed wherever you choose. Great Attention! If the box is unchecked and you take music from various places it will be very hard to track it down and to back it up.

*Only in the case when you restore from an iTunes backup will the settings and extra contents – audio, video, photo re-sync to the device.

Related articles:

How To Play Music & Video on Your iPod
How To Import CDs to iTunes and iPod
How To Use the Screen Lock
How To Replace An iPod Battery
How To: Customize the iPod menu on iPhone
How To: Save storage space on iPhone using Smart Playlists
How To Fully Benefit from iTunes Preferences

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