IOS through iTunes or OTA

[Husq250]

Can someone explain the difference of what happens between these to? I suppose through iTunes is the better way to go, but why? Is their a way to get a clean IOS through OTA? Ive had my my mishaps with an iPhone 4 which was the mistake of IOS7. I really wanted and use all the features it has over IOS6 but it is a real set back in smoothness and slowness over 6. Since the 7.1 update it is much better but i thought i would start a clean OS through iTunes to see if i can get it better however, with my internet access it would be a huge undertaking and several days of locked up internet for the whole family. I ended up erasing all content and settings which so far is decent improvement but am wondering if the grass is greener on the other side.

 

[leelai]

Good question.....

I hope this answers it well enough for you and hope it's worth the effort if you do elect to do it this way.....would also like to hear the outcome.
http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-os/114491-ios-7-0-2-a.html

 

[Husq250]

I read through your link- thanks. It doesn't really give me the answer though. Those kinds of threads are what makes me ask this question. I'm asking on more of a technical side. I know through iTunes you download a full copy of IOS. Through OTA you get the "difference". I'm wanting to know what's the difference in the "END" result? And, is it "possible" to have as good of a OTA copy as iTunes?

Anyway, thanks for your help.

On a side note; after updating an iPhone 4 with IOS 7.1 (as opposed to any other crippling "7") and performing a "hard reset" and "reset all settings", it works much, much better.

 

[The OB]

I read through your link- thanks. It doesn't really give me the answer though. Those kinds of threads are what makes me ask this question. I'm asking on more of a technical side. I know through iTunes you download a full copy of IOS. Through OTA you get the "difference". I'm wanting to know what's the difference in the "END" result? And, is it "possible" to have as good of a OTA copy as iTunes?

Anyway, thanks for your help.

On a side note; after updating an iPhone 4 with IOS 7.1 (as opposed to any other crippling "7") and performing a "hard reset" and "reset all settings", it works much, much better.

Hi Husq, this will not answer your question, but just thinking about my own experience for a bit. I have the 3d gen. iPad and all my system updates have been OTA. Everyone of those updates had gone smoothly, but that is probably due to no hitches with the WiFi transmission.

What is the difference, the END result? Who knows. How long is a piece of string? All I can say is that I have never, ever, in all my on and off-forum activities, be they reading/replying, posting pictures and vids, copying/pasting, dealing with emails, downloading apps, googling, moderating etc, felt that I have been in ANY way disadvantaged vis a vis someone who may have updated via iTune's "full" download. Not the slightest hint. My iPad works exactly as the manuals for each of the iOS version describe.

Differences? Maybe in the coding that only Apple engineers know about. Or maybe there are members here who have used both methods, have a preference, but are yet to note any differences that they could describe. None has been recorded yet that I can see. So, speaking for myself, I'll just continue to use my iPad as it shows up on the screen without worrying too much about what stuff over the air, or by connected wire, has hit my machine. As I said, just thinking......
Regards, Andrew



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[Husq250]

Thanks for your view. I agree on all My OTA downloads seem to work just fine, with the exception of an iPhone 4 which until the 7.1 way miserable. Although even the 7.1 went the way of OTA and now works much better. I was just wondering more on the technical side. I did read somewhere that OTA downloads leave a bit of space used up as cache and iTunes download removes it. Who knows.

 

[KevinJS]

Just read something about this, courtesy of Willerz, one of our moderators on iPhoneForums. The big difference doing OTA which I'd never considered is that the file will cache itself on your iPad and you will not get that storage back. Using iTunes means the file is processed on your PC/Mac and doesn't waste valuable storage space as there is no local caching.

 

[KevinJS]

As an aside, I've always done major updates through iTunes, and minor ones OTA. In the light of this new knowledge, I'll be sticking to iTunes in future.

 

[The OB]

Just read something about this, courtesy of Willerz, one of our moderators on iPhoneForums. The big difference doing OTA which I'd never considered is that the file will cache itself on your iPad and you will not get that storage back. Using iTunes means the file is processed on your PC/Mac and doesn't waste valuable storage space as there is no local caching.

As an aside, I've always done major updates through iTunes, and minor ones OTA. In the light of this new knowledge, I'll be sticking to iTunes in future.

Hi Kevin, nice to see you around here again, trust you are well mate
That is a definite statement of difference between the two download methods with at least one end result that has been questioned; that apparent loss of cache memory.
This leaves me with a couple questions. So with each OTA download does the iPad continue to use more and more of that memory? Until no more storage left and the iPad dies? Surely not...so the old is replaced when the new file/s "caches itself"? And if, having always downloaded OTA, I then download via iTunes, will the "old" OTA cache still stay there for ever and a day? And if the old cached file is replaced by the new, not accumulating on the iPad, what is a hard reset all about? I always thought that reset "clears out cache memory". Yeah, more questions!!
Andrew

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[KevinJS]

I imagine it only uses one cache and overwrites any old ones. Willerz would probably be able to answer that one better. I was never aware of it until I read his post.

 

[col.bris]

Hey hey Kevin how is the trucking going. Miss you on our sites welcome back...

Now that I have welcome back one of our mods....
I have always downloaded updates to iOS over the air. I have several iOS devices and have had no issues with any however in saying that direct down load via iTunes should be completed if you are experiencing any issues. In general it will take much longer. For protection it is imperative that you back up the iPad regardless what method you use just in case something goes wrong.

Typical issues are slow internet which causes long down loads....... Apple servers overloaded... So pick a different time to do the update..
.....issues with windows virus protection... No real answer here.

Bottom line just do it...........