Crossposting from iPad 3 forum:


if this has been covered else i apologize but i'm trying to picture how i deal with my new ipad coming next week. I'm a somewhat savvy Apple user and my ipad 1 is almost 2 years old (bought it first weekend it was available)...and i have an iphone 4 and an icloud account with backups for both devices.

ok. so i believe when i get the new ipad i can turn it on and WITHOUT connecting it physically to itunes, select my last icloud restore and the new ipad will essentially duplicate the setup of my original ipad. i think.

but i have a couple of nagging questions.

1. will i EVER have to connect it physically to itunes to do a synch? if not, is that because itunes (and icloud) see my new ipad as my OLD ipad? ie if my old ipad is "mitch's ipad" does itunes see the new one as that same device?

2. if so, what happens to my old ipad? is it frozen in time unless i wipe it and start over? if itunes/icloud sees the new ipad as the old one, how would the old one ever synch?

i guess i see two possible scenarios: itunes and icloud see the new device as a new device (albeit with the same config as the old) and thus the old device can be synched wirelessly and maintained as before. which leaves me thinking the new device will have to physically connect with itunes at some point in order to establish a "device tab" specific to the new ipad in iutnes.

OR itunes/icloud sees the new device as the OLD device, which leaves me wondering how the old device now interacts w/itunes and icloud. maybe i'm not a savvy Apple user! maybe i'm overthinking it. has anyone restored a new/different ipad from an old ipad icloud backup and kept the first ipad running?

1. You never need to sync to itunes. Even if you have 2 ipads with the same apple id. You can give them different names if you were ever to sync to itunes or can keep then the same name if you feel like it.

2. If you download new apps on ipd 3, then they can be installed for no charge on ipad 1 since they both use the same apple id. If you have the message app turned on both ipds, you will get the same messages posted to both of them. The cloud differentiates each device by the model/serial number. Add a contact to ipad 1, it will show up on ipad 3. I think apple has a limit to how many devices you can use with a single apple id (5?).

So backup ipad 1 to the cloud, then when you get the new ipad, sync and restore it with the old backup on the cloud with the same apple id. It will be a perfect copy in a sense on both devices. I would change its name to something else though just to differentiate them. Once all that is done, you can then customize them separately as in turn off the messages app on the old one, choose which apps to be on the new one, etc. You can still back them up individually and delete an app on one but keep it on the other.

Mitchgo-I am going to close the duplicate post of yours in ipad3 section. Please refrain from doing this, since it makes it difficult for members to follow and help you if they can. It's also against forum rules.

Thanks for your understanding.

Sorry skimonkey, my mistake. Should've deleted myself. My apologies!

No worries, it looks like Airtent gave you some good information. Hope that helped you.

Enjoy your upcoming iPad.

Best wishes!