Strange happenings restoring onto an iPad Air from an iPad 3

[louwin]

Don't know where I should put this message, iPad 3 or iPad Air forums as it involves both

Anyway, I have a 3 and I want it restored on my new Air.

I backed up the 3 onto my local hard drive. It backed up like, 90 Apps.

Connected up the Air and tried to restore but it said the B/U was corrupt and wouldn't restore. It then started to sync....

It synced 57 photos (40Mb) instead of about 2Gb worth. How do I get the rest?

Then it restored 141 Apps. I played around with LOTS of Sudoku Apps before I settled on the 2 I liked. So it will restore 50 odd Apps I have already deleted. I suppose I could delete them again but that doesn't get my photos

I still have the 3 available and I would really like to restore THAT to the Air as it is. I can backup it up again (the 3) and try to restore again but is that likely to work this time?

The summary bar say 10Gb of Apps and 150 of them but 90 sounds right for my current Apps. The backup and sync take a LONG time as about 14Gb are involved

I didn't have any problem going from a 3GS to a 5S so I was hoping the 3 to Air would follow suit

Any suggestions? Any one else done this or similiar with more luck?

 

[Mickey330]

Unfortunately, it sounds as if you are going to have to start at the beginning. But - it should work out. The good news is that you still have the iPad 3 ... which is key. So, here's what I'd do:

On the iPad Air, go to the General tab in your Settings app, scroll all the way to the bottom of that tab and select "Reset." Then, select "Erase All Content and Settings." This will wipe everything off the iPad Air and have it be like you just opened it from the box.

Just make sure it's the iPad Air you do this with, NOT the iPad 3!

Then, in iTunes, with neither iPad connected - go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and locate any and all backups for that iPad 3. Highlight those backups and then press the "Delete Backup" button.

Once that is finished, connect the iPad 3 and do a (1) "transfer purchases" (via right clicking on the iPad line and selecting it) and then (2) make a backup. Allow iTunes to finish before doing anything with the iPad 3 (given my paranoia over the bad backup, I wouldn't even use the iPad 3 while it was backing up).

Then, disconnect the iPad 3 and connect the iPad Air. I'm a little unclear as to what iTunes will do with it at this point (I've never done the full reset on an iPad before). But, iTunes should recognize it as a new device and prompt you to do something.

What you want to do is "restore from backup." So, if iTunes doesn't prompt you to do that, right click on the iPad Air line and select that option from the pop-up.

Hopefully, everything will go smoothly this time and you will have an iPad Air that mirrors the iPad 3 (everything should be there).

If it does, yay! If not, holler back and we'll take another shot at it. Good luck.

Marilyn

 

[AQ_OC]

I haven't got my mini 2 yet, so I can't speak from experience with the new devices, but I have restored from old backups to new devices several times. But, if you got a report of a corrupted backup, then you really can't expect anything from that back up to work right. The first thing I would have done is to delete that corrupted backup and create a new one......things always can go wrong on computers, so you have to be sure you are working from a good backup....and I'm make an encrypted backup, so all your passwords and settings are saved...and you have to supply a password for the encrypted backup so pick one that you use a lot and are sure to remember, because you cannot restore from it unless you know that password. I always have a few passwords that I use over and over for low secuity stuff that I can always remember.

There are other ways to get your photos. Since you still have the 3rd gen, you can enable photostream and sharing, and get them over that way. Or you can plug the device into your PC, copy of photos on your iPad to your hard drive, then transfer them over to your Air the same way (I assume this will work but I have not tried it). Or you can get an app like Transfer, put in on both devices, and transfer them that way. Or you can transfer all photos to your GoFlex and retrieve them on your Air.

I don't think backups actually include apps, just their data. So on a restore the apps you had on should be re-downloaded and their data recovered from the backup (and passwords and what not in an encrypted backup). So the restore can take a long time depending on how much stuff is on your iPad and its capacity.

 

[Diane B]

I had the ipad 3 and bought the Air, transferring the 3 to my husband (who had an Ipad 1). I made sure the ipad 3 was backed up on Iclloud and Dropbox.---while on wifi and connected to power. I turned on the Air and proceeded to set it up and when it came to point of being asked 'as new' or 'from backup' I chose backup from the Ipad 3 and was presented with the Icloud backup I had done just hours before. When the backup was done to my satisfaction (it takes awhile if you have as many apps and photos as I have--moved from 64 Gb to 128 GB) I moved to set up the Ipad 3.

I reset the 3 completely so it would also be set up as new and repeated the process, but choosing the Icloud backup for the Ipad one, also done just previous to setup.

All went well and both Ipads are having no issues. The important thing is to be sure you are backed up well. Be sure and check in settings and icloud management what data you want backed up. I use Dropbox for important data and choose apps to work with that sync with Dropbox also

ghen

 

[louwin]

All good replies, thanks

I will try them on Saturday so I have the whole weekend to do it.

In the mean time, out of curiousity, I cleaned up my synced Apps and worked out how to get the photos back (off the desktop PC) but I cannot work out how to sync my contacts and the contents of iBooks?

Every device I buy I download the User Manual/Guide to my iPad (so I don't have to keep the printed copy) so I want to transfer THEM (as an exercise)....

I'm sorry but I have never liked iTunes Why can't we just get a special cable (old plug to lightning) and plug the 3 straight to the Air and just "clone" it????

Like I said, my 3GS to 5S went perfectly

Thanks for your marvellous replies :thumbs:

 

[AQ_OC]

Regarding iBooks....any PDF you move into it from another app (i.e., not via iTunes) will NOT get backed up and the only way I know of to save them is to email them out of iBooks! Now, books you buy are not problem as you can re-download them. I have lost lots of PDFs because I moved them into iBooks without ensuring that I kept a copy in a place so I can get back to it (when I say lost, I mean they were not restored, I could get all of them back by going back to where I got them). For this reason, I no longer move any of my PDFs into iBooks. I put them in GoodReader. When you do a back up, everything in GoodReader is treated as data for that app, so it all gets included in a backup and it all comes back upon a restore. Plus, GoodReader as a USB option for backups (I have never used it) which it let you move stuff in/out to a folder.

I think you can store your contacts in iCloud so they will flow to all your devices. You might have to go into setting to effect that. I use Google as my contact store, but I think that option is no longer available.

 

[Diane B]

Just to expound on this a bit. In my last restore from 3 to Air I added ibooks for data (yes, you really need to go into "Icloud/manage storage/this Ipad/show all apps" and set which apps you want data backed up on. I did have DATA turned on for ibooks and since I have two PDF manuals that I like to read on ibooks it did back them up (the rest of my pdfs of which i have a lot are in Goodreader and Noteability which sync with Dropbox also). I turn a lot of apps OFF because I have data stored in Dropbox and it saves on my Icloud storage. I would recommend you review, using the info I wrote, the apps with data you want backed up. Icloud is SO much easier than Itunes for backup and restore. There are a few things you might need Itunes for but backup isn't one of them anymore.

Regarding iBooks....any PDF you move into it from another app (i.e., not via iTunes) will NOT get backed up and the only way I know of to save them is to email them out of iBooks! Now, books you buy are not problem as you can re-download them. I have lost lots of PDFs because I moved them into iBooks without ensuring that I kept a copy in a place so I can get back to it (when I say lost, I mean they were not restored, I could get all of them back by going back to where I got them). For this reason, I no longer move any of my PDFs into iBooks. I put them in GoodReader. When you do a back up, everything in GoodReader is treated as data for that app, so it all gets included in a backup and it all comes back upon a restore. Plus, GoodReader as a USB option for backups (I have never used it) which it let you move stuff in/out to a folder.

I think you can store your contacts in iCloud so they will flow to all your devices. You might have to go into setting to effect that. I use Google as my contact store, but I think that option is no longer available.

 

[mesue]

Icloud is SO much easier than Itunes for backup and restore. There are a few things you might need Itunes for but backup isn't one of them anymore.

Unless you have really poor Internet speed. Then, iTunes is the better way to go.

Apple needs to up the cloud storage to 5 GB per device. Once you start backing up two or more devices, 5 GB just is not enough.

 

[louwin]

Thanks to all responders

I now have a restored Air (from my 3). 150 Apps were restored but I can live with that.

My Photos and Contacts AND ALL my PDF's in iBooks have also been restored

Must be something in iOS7 I didn't notice before but I now seem to have "Collections" (in Photos)????

I will try to understand that as I go along.

Just as an "aside" - how do I change the "Name" of the Air? The 3 was Louis' iPad but I want to call this one "Louis' iPad Air" to make it separate.

I did it when I was playing around but can't seem to "jag" it again.

Now I'm going to give the 3 to my daughter who will then transfer her 1 to it I hope she has a clear run

I'll give it a few days then I will delete the backups for the 3 to reclaim some of my iCloud quota.

 

[J. A.]

You can change the name of your device in Settings - General - About - Name.

 

[Mickey330]

Thanks to all responders

I now have a restored Air (from my 3). 150 Apps were restored but I can live with that.

My Photos and Contacts AND ALL my PDF's in iBooks have also been restored

Must be something in iOS7 I didn't notice before but I now seem to have "Collections" (in Photos)????

I will try to understand that as I go along.

Just as an "aside" - how do I change the "Name" of the Air? The 3 was Louis' iPad but I want to call this one "Louis' iPad Air" to make it separate.

I did it when I was playing around but can't seem to "jag" it again.

Now I'm going to give the 3 to my daughter who will then transfer her 1 to it I hope she has a clear run

I'll give it a few days then I will delete the backups for the 3 to reclaim some of my iCloud quota.

Hurray! Glad it worked for you!

Yes, Collections is now one of the folders/features in Photos (it's where the photos are categorized by date).

You can rename the Air using iTunes (just double click the name line and it'll allow you to change the name). You can also change it on the iPad itself by going to the General tab in your Settings app and pressing the "Amount" line. The very top line of the next name will be the name of the iPad. Press that and you will then be able to edit the name. Oh, and if you change it on the iPad, it will automatically show in iTunes the next time you connect it.

Congrats again on getting it all sorted. Have fun with that iPad Air!

Marilyn

 

[Diane B]

Unless you have really poor Internet speed. Then, iTunes is the better way to go.

Apple needs to up the cloud storage to 5 GB per device. Once you start backing up two or more devices, 5 GB just is not enough.

Yes, sorry, i forgot that there are some that have poor internet speed. I found it worthwhile for firmware updates to buy extra icloud storage mainly because I have a great number of photos--I process big RAW files to jpeg but they still take a good bit of storage. I have every raw file on my PC/external HDs since 1999 and could duplicate and reload but that would be tedious beyond measure LOL.

I do try and buy apps that will sync with Dropbox since it makes storage from any device so easy and transferring from one device to another so simple and opening from app to app a cinch. If you used Dropbox and were careful about storage management (accessible in settings under icloud) and didn't duplicate data on the two devices that may help you.

 

[louwin]

Thanks for that J.A. I can't remember how I did it in iTunes but that is a good way.

Marilyn, I assume you meant the "About" not the "Amount"

 

[J. A.]

Thanks for that J.A. I can't remember how I did it in iTunes but that is a good way.

You're welcome.
It's easy this way.

 

[Mickey330]

Thanks for that J.A. I can't remember how I did it in iTunes but that is a good way.

Marilyn, I assume you meant the "About" not the "Amount"

Yeah, I did. Stoooopid autocorrect...!

Marilyn