Hi guys. I realize this is a newbie two-part question, but I've searched and haven't been able to find any helpful answers. So I thought I'd try these otherwise excellent forums.

First part: I jailbroke my iPad a few days ago and am loving it (Spirit worked for me, for some reason, despite having iTunes 9.2 installed). I backed up my iPad as per standard advice, but I'm afraid that iTunes backup will be overwritten. I know the date it was made, so I can identify it. Is there a way to preserve that backup somewhere on my Macbook? I'm (perhaps irrationally) afraid that it's going to be overwritten, so I'd like to copy it somewhere if possible. So how do I find it? How to I secure it? Etc.

Second part: I know that Spirit hasn't been updated for 3.2.1 firmware yet. But when it is... How do I go about backing up my iPad, including all the stuff I've dumped on it since I jailbroke it? Basically, I'd like to back it up, restore it to factory, apply my legit pre-jailbreak backup, update it, re-jailbreak it, then restore from the jailbroken backup so that I don't have to go about finding and setting up all the third-party apps etc that I've installed. Any way to do this?

Thanks in advance, and thanks for the great forums!

PART 1: all of your backups should be located at /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/


PART2: Download the Rock App.
This app is basically the same thing as cydia but it has a much better user interface. Once you install the rock app and run it go into the settings and sign up for a rock app user account. Once you have the rock app user account you can tell the rock app to remember all of the jailbroken apps that you have installed. You can then come back at any time and tell it to reinstall all the apps you had before.

Thanks for the speedy response, MikesTooLz! Just some brief followups for clarification:

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

PART 1: all of your backups should be located at /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

So the backup I want will be identified by name and date of creation? Or will it be one of those obscure Apple "long string of alphanumeric characters" filenames? And I can just copy it to some other directory, then copy it back when I want to reset and restore?

PART2: Download the Rock App.
This app is basically the same thing as cydia but it has a much better user interface. Once you install the rock app and run it go into the settings and sign up for a rock app user account. Once you have the rock app user account you can tell the rock app to remember all of the jailbroken apps that you have installed. You can then come back at any time and tell it to reinstall all the apps you had before.

What if I have apps installed via Cydia or other sources? Will the Rock backup capture those as well?

Sorry for going over what must be old ground for you guys. But I have to start somewhere!

It is safe to stay away from the 3.2.1 jailbreak at the moment as no new updates have been made.

Originally Posted by Adrenochrome

Thanks for the speedy response, MikesTooLz! Just some brief followups for clarification:

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

PART 1: all of your backups should be located at /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

So the backup I want will be identified by name and date of creation? Or will it be one of those obscure Apple "long string of alphanumeric characters" filenames? And I can just copy it to some other directory, then copy it back when I want to reset and restore?

PART2: Download the Rock App.
This app is basically the same thing as cydia but it has a much better user interface. Once you install the rock app and run it go into the settings and sign up for a rock app user account. Once you have the rock app user account you can tell the rock app to remember all of the jailbroken apps that you have installed. You can then come back at any time and tell it to reinstall all the apps you had before.

What if I have apps installed via Cydia or other sources? Will the Rock backup capture those as well?

Sorry for going over what must be old ground for you guys. But I have to start somewhere!

Backup the folder with the date that your backup is from and also the log folder.


Yes Rock App will read everything that was already installed via cydia.

ALSO remember that you cannot jailbreak iPad OS 3.2.1 yet.

Thanks again, Mike.

Can I use aptbackup from Cydia, or has that not been updated for the iPad yet?

Originally Posted by Adrenochrome

Thanks again, Mike.

Can I use aptbackup from Cydia, or has that not been updated for the iPad yet?

dont know, i have never used aptbackup.

Alright, then. My one hesitation is that I don't use Rock right now, just Cydia with appsync, and I don't know if I want to add Rock on top of that (like I said, I'm new to this so my hesitations might be silly). But I'll do the Rock method if it's the best or only way.

Anybody else have other techniques?

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

PART 1: all of your backups should be located at /Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/


PART2: Download the Rock App.
This app is basically the same thing as cydia but it has a much better user interface. Once you install the rock app and run it go into the settings and sign up for a rock app user account. Once you have the rock app user account you can tell the rock app to remember all of the jailbroken apps that you have installed. You can then come back at any time and tell it to reinstall all the apps you had before.

You sir are a God amongst men... Every time i almost have a question you answer it.... Like questions that i didnt even know i had....

/ego boost

Lol

What do you suggest as a good android emulator for the ipad. I've never owned an iphone, and my girl bought me the ipad but I'd like to make it look like an android interface. all the themes out there appear to be iphone themes and the resolution is kinda crappy.

Thanks for the help.
I'm a P.C, but my lady made me take a bite of the apple with Ipad....