IPhone – transfering iphone data to another computer

data transferiphoneitunes

I have a laptop and want to give it to my sis after I bought a mac mini. Now how can I let my iphone sync with the mac mini for the following data: (I think this applies to any 2 computers)

  • music not bought on iTunes: copy the folders to the new computer and then sync the iphone with the folder on the new computer. (This seems the best solution, right?)

  • photos: the same as music.

  • Apps: I can re-download all the apps (free or bought) on the new computer and sync from the scratch, BUT:

  • Apps Data: I found no solution so far!!!!

Best Answer

Apple has an article called iPhone and iPod touch: About backups that has information about what and where iTunes stores things. These folders are portable and you can move them from mac to mac, PC to mac. I have had no issues when using different versions of iTunes - especially if the "receiving" computer is as new or newer than the "sending" computer. If you can update both before the transfer, that would probably be ideal.

iTunes places the backup files in the following places:

  • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

  • Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

  • Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

After the transfer completes, the backups should show up in iTunes and you can restore your phone form it. Do read the article iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer if you are not certain