iPad 1 Backup - Apps Included

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CharlieSmith

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We are a 'Windows' family and need some Apple advice please.

My daughter has won an iPad at a lucky draw after a technical seminar.

This is an iPad 1 with IOS 4.3 installed, as well as some apps installed by the American company that sponsored the seminar.

We are ready to upgrade to IOS 5, via iTunes 10.5 running on a Windows 7 laptop. The 700MB IOS 5 installation file (.ipsw format) has been downloaded: Everything is ready.

Question: How do we backup (and then restore) all the data and especially the apps installed on the iPad?

Total size of ALL types of data is about 1.8GB. We can access Dropbox via the WiFi connection.

Backup with iTunes exclude the apps - This is the real problem.

I have read that when you sync the apps on the iPad with iTunes, the apps on the iPad, but not purchased from iTunes Store and not in the local iTunes Library on the PC, like in our case, will be copied to the Library on the PC, to be restored to the iPad after IOS 5 upgrade, but I am not convinced that it will work.

Any comments?

Thanks.
 
To be honest I just plugged in it did its sync/backup, I installed ios5 and it restored everything back to normal! My apps where installed some via the computer and others via the iPad... It just worked!
 
Yep... Sync, install and restore should do it. If you still have concerns, open iTunes, click "File", scroll down to "Transfer Purchases" and let iTunes move the apps to the library on your laptop.
You're on a Window machine, check your Music folder, I'm pretty sure you'll find an iTunes folder there. In the iTunes folder you'll find an iTunes Media folder and in that folder you'll find the Mobile Applications folder... All the apps will be stored there.
 
You just have to authorise your PC (or Mac) in iTunes, then right click on the iPad in iTunes, and click "transfer purchases" - will back up all the apps.
 
Are they custom apps? Make sure that the apps are available in the app store before you upgrade.

I helped a friend of mine upgrade his iPad and he lost the work specific app that was on there. :( I have no idea how it was put on and no one has any idea how to get it back now. The iPad was NOT jailbroken before the upgrade.

Edit: Tho it occurs to me now that they may just have been web links placed on the home screen. Check to see if these are not just web links to the company's website.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied to my original questions.

We do understand the iTunes/Apple/iPad setup a bit better now, including the whole Apple ecosystem of the AppleID, authorized PC, synced and backup data/applications.

In the meantime, we have decided not to upgrade to IOS 5 now, but rather wait for the update to IOS 5.1 with the battery bug fixed.

There seems to be no specific advantages to IOS 5 at this stage for our use of the iPad 1. Also, Bluetooth will not work as a general serial connection, since Apple have apparently limited it to pairing only with stereo headsets and wireless keyboards.

During all the activities and going through the Apple learning curve, we have lost one app that was on the iPad, the Numbers app which is not a free app. Apparently, there was a problem with the 'Authorized PC' when we did the 'Transfer Purchases' from the iPad 1 to the iTunes Library. Now it is not on the iPad or in the iTunes Library.

Is there any way to get the Numbers app back now ?
 
CharlieSmith said:
Thanks to everyone who replied to my original questions.

We do understand the iTunes/Apple/iPad setup a bit better now, including the whole Apple ecosystem of the AppleID, authorized PC, synced and backup data/applications.

In the meantime, we have decided not to upgrade to IOS 5 now, but rather wait for the update to IOS 5.1 with the battery bug fixed.

There seems to be no specific advantages to IOS 5 at this stage for our use of the iPad 1. Also, Bluetooth will not work as a general serial connection, since Apple have apparently limited it to pairing only with stereo headsets and wireless keyboards.

During all the activities and going through the Apple learning curve, we have lost one app that was on the iPad, the Numbers app which is not a free app. Apparently, there was a problem with the 'Authorized PC' when we did the 'Transfer Purchases' from the iPad 1 to the iTunes Library. Now it is not on the iPad or in the iTunes Library.

Is there any way to get the Numbers app back now ?
Click to expand...

Messaging? Split Keyboard? Notifications? Those are just a few of the many advantages to having IOS5 on the iPad one.

Getting numbers back might be a problem, because it was bought for you in the incorrect manner. To give someone an app you need to gift it. What probably happened here is that they bought the app on a single account and then synced it to all the devices. Technically its not your app so you cannot get it back without paying for it.
 
I fully agree with both the last two messages that IOS 5 is better with lots more features than IOS 4: The new Wi-Fi synching and the iCloud possibilities are also significant improvements.

However, I started off the original post by stating that we are a Windows family. I have taken a specific decision not to get involved in the Apple environment also, after learning Windows and Android and Ubuntu.

Therefore, I put a qualification on my earlier IOS 5 statement: "at this stage for our use of the iPad 1."

We shall use the iPad occasionally for email and browsing and playing games, maybe watch a movie. But nobody in the family currently has any great plans for the iPad 1.

With regards to the lost Numbers app, we shall just live without it for now and purchase it from the App Store in case we really need it in future.

Thanks again for all the responses that have helped me to understand the Apple eco-system.
 
clasqm said:
Come back to us in a year and tell us how that worked out ;) This Apple stuff is seductive ...
Click to expand...

Very interesting challenge - I certain do accept it !

I have never closed my mind to the Apple stuff or said that I cannot learn anything from Apple or that it is not as good as the Windows environment. At this stage, it is mostly a case of time available to learn a new environment.

It certainly is different, which does make it very interesting sometimes - or frustrating during the learning process.

Speak to you again soon with an answer .....
 
Rishalin said:
Second that..

Soon you will ditch all your Windows Pc's and repost with "We are an Apple Family.." :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the invite to join the Apple club, but I have decided not to accept: I am quite happy with my Windows 7 laptop and my Android Galaxy SII. The iPad is neither a PC nor a mobile phone, it is somewhere in the middle and I do not have any use for it.

Also, I am an electronics engineer and I like to how things are going with the system, the CPU, the file system, etc. Apple has decided to hide most of that and make it difficult or impossible to access.

However, the worst of all is all the crap around iTunes and 'backups', 'synching' and also 'transfer your purchased apps to iTunes'. We have done all that ourselves since the days of DOS ! Without the need for a second computer. This weekend I could plug in my 6 year old Nokia and copy/movie/organize everything I want the way I wanted, without all these restrictions and rules and complexities that are part of the Apple ecosystem.

So long, I shall see you again in Android land .....
 
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