What'll happen when I restore it? Will I lose anything?
Well, if you have been using it as a new iPad since you got it, yes, it would be wiped clean and then your restored backup would be put on. For a restore to be used, you need to set it up as a restored from backup iPad...and you do that basically when you first set it up. That way, assuming itunes has backed up all of your apps, it will put them all back, plus data. At least, that's the way it works for me. And I have itunes setup to automatically download all purchases that I make on my iPad to my PC.
Since you apparently didn't do that, you must not have had any data you were worried about losing, right? So you set your mini up as a new iPad, right?
I have to admit that since I have wifi my methods of using iPad & Itunes may be different than yours. For example, I never install an app from iTunes, I always download them via wifi. iTunes is set to download all of my purchases separately once I open it. This is supposedly so that I can restore one if there is a problem, but I have NEVER done that.
