Synch iPad with 2 PC's

[Merk13]

So I am trying to get my Ipad2 to sync with both my home PC (my main computer) and my work laptop however I am getting the "erase or quit" error when trying the sync at the office, is there a workaround to this absolutely ridiculous Apple restriction ?

 

[autumnbaby]

I could be wrong but I think you have to set it up to manage files manually

 

[bastones]

I think it's quite difficult to try and sync iOS devices with new computers or multiple computers as it asks you whether you'd like to erase and sync the device. You can try and set 'Manually manage music/movies/apps' via the device settings and manually sync music, movies and apps, but I'm not sure whether it simply erases the iPad and replaces it with the contents of that iTunes library (in respect to music, movies and/or apps).

 

[Merk13]

yeah I tried the manual manage thing but it still wants to whipe it and/or all my photos so its not gonna work easily. What a stupid lockout !

 

[bastones]

yeah I tried the manual manage thing but it still wants to whipe it and/or all my photos so its not gonna work easily. What a stupid lockout !

You can use the 'File' menu to 'Transfer Purchases'. See if that works.

 

[twerppoet]

The iPad, all iOS devices, are designed to sync with one computer. All workarounds are awkward and partial. The likely hood of causing problems is not worth the minor convenience you might get from syncing with two computers (IMO).

What particular data do you want synced on both computers? There may be a better way of going about it than trying to use the iPad as some sort of go between.

 

[Guy1717]

So, i have an Ipad2 and a laptop today.

Tomorrow my laptop breaks down, burns or falls in the river = total loss.

When I buy a new laptop, this means i cant sync without losing data ?

Guy

 

[Gabriel1]

So, i have an Ipad2 and a laptop today.

Tomorrow my laptop breaks down, burns or falls in the river = total loss.

When I buy a new laptop, this means i cant sync without losing data ?

Guy

Backup your laptop HD, preferably with a bootable clone. You should do this regardless of having an iPad because as you point out, the worst can happen at any time.

The Archangel

 

[twerppoet]

So, i have an Ipad2 and a laptop today.

Tomorrow my laptop breaks down, burns or falls in the river = total loss.

When I buy a new laptop, this means i cant sync without losing data ?

Guy

No, you can move your iPad to a new computer. It's not a procedure you want to do everyday. It is slow, lots of data has to be copied. It requires preparation to make sure data is not lost. And like any other transfer of large amounts of data and syncing, there is always a chance that something will go wrong and you'll have to rely on the backups that you probably didn't do.

Keeping two devices in sync, especially when one is the main/master device is fairly straightforward. Keeping several devices in sync when any device can be changed at any time is a royal pain. In peer to peer syncing you have to track every change so that every device knows when that change was made and what change is current.

When studying Windows Servers I saw a bit of what went into keeping a domain server's data synced, and how it could go wrong. It takes a lot of overhead.

Everyone complains about how terrible iTunes syncing is now. Have you considered how much worse it would be if Apple decided to increase the complexity of the problem by an order of magnitude? iOS iTunes are simply are not a mature enough technology to tackle that, and it really isn't the kind of complexity you want in a mobile device anyway.

Oh sure, something simple could be done, if you are only talking about one or two databases. But the whole iPad, apps, media (with the headache of DRM and keeping copyright holders happy), etc.

Apple isn't moving to the cloud just for fun. By moving to the cloud they create one central place to sync to that is available to all devices. It eliminates the complexity of peer to peer syncing while giving people the everywhere syncing that they've been wanting.

So this, like so many other gripes is something slowly being addressed. I don't think iOS 5 is going to solve all the syncing issues, but it is certainly a step in a good direction.

Ok, I'll shut up now.

 

[Guy1717]

Thank you Twerppoet for that elaborate answer.

Guy

 

[767Steve]

I'm in the same boat, my laptop will need to be sent out to "reflow" a video gpu/chip while I'm out on a two week trip. I was hoping to set up my mini with itunes so that I could drag music off an external hard drive onto my ipad. Thought I could muddle my way through the process yesterday and did in fact erase my whole ipad, not believing that I couldn't copy the current ipad config to the 2nd Itunes app on the mini. (still learning the apple geek speak, which is another whole dif. language to a windows user~lol). Luckily my main laptop is still usable despite a horizontal split screen issue and I could easily restore the ipad to the last config.

I find it sort of amazing that you can ONLY have the laptop/computer configure the iPad and not have the Ipad override the laptops/itune app's data. This one direction deal seems implausible........ Is this really, truly the case?
Thanks in advance to a forum newbie!
Steve

ps: just came across this link....
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364
Having a mini 100gb external hard drive I'm thinking about the external hard drive option for all of Itunes............... thoughts anyone?

 

[oberkc]

So...the iPad is designed to use iTunes to transfer data to and from the PC. So I sync up the iPad with my desktop PC. Now I want to transfer some photos (or other documens) from my PC. Are some of you suggesting that I cannot do this because it only allows syncing with one computer?

 

[twerppoet]

So...the iPad is designed to use iTunes to transfer data to and from the PC. So I sync up the iPad with my desktop PC. Now I want to transfer some photos (or other documens) from my PC. Are some of you suggesting that I cannot do this because it only allows syncing with one computer?

If you are syncing your photos from iTunes to the Photos app on the iPad, then yes, you'll delete all the current albums on the iPad if you attempt to sync more photos from another PC and iTunes library. Photos is one of the least well supported sync options, probably because it wasn't designed to be a full on photo organizing, storage, and editing solution. It started out as nothing more than a way for people to show off their family pictures on the iPhone, and hasn't been updated much since.

If you just want to transfer photos from your other PC, and don't care about if they end up in a Photos app album, then there are several workarounds.

Apps like PhotoSync will transfer photos back and forth between many computers or devices, but photos transferred to the iPad can not be placed in custom albums.

There are third party photo organizing apps that have any number of ways to transferring photos into them, and organizing them. The down side is that those photos will not be available for other apps to use. But they can generally be saved to the Photos app as needed, and then used in other apps.

There are supposed to be some improvements to the Photos app in iOS 5. We'll see. The iCloud service will also make many of the current *****es about iTunes obsolete, again, we'll have to wait and see how it actually works out.

 

[oberkc]

The iCloud service will also make many of the current *****es about iTunes obsolete, again, we'll have to wait and see how it actually works out

I just don't see the "cloud" as being a viable option in the next few years. It presumes internet access. I have too many cases where I don't have internet access and want to share data for this to work for me.

Maybe some day there will be free, world-wide coverage. Until then, I want a solution independent on the web.

 

[767Steve]

When you get a new computer, iTunes can help move your music so you can play and sync

When you get a new computer, iTunes can help move your music so you can play and sync it from the new computer. Read below for help choosing the option that is right for you.

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

I don't know if this will apply to your books/pdf's etc (other media) on your
iPad of not. Nor do I know if the easiest option "Home sharing" will make the second computers library identical so that when you connect your iPad and it synch's and recopies you end up with the same result from the second computer. It seems like it's worth a try though.....
If I get a chance to try it I will post my results.