How to back up your data and set up as a new device

You may want to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and set it up as new to troubleshoot an issue.
Take steps to preserve your data before restoring as new by following this article.
Products Affected: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iTunes
  
Transfer your purchased content

Transfer all content purchased or downloaded from iTunes, the App Store, and the iBookstore from the device to your computer before you restore. If you have movie rentals on the device, see iTunes Store movie rental usage rights in the United States before restoring.
Purchased content is transferred while syncing, but you can also choose to transfer purchases by following the steps below or going to iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer.

• Launch iTunes.
• Connect the device with an Apple 30-pin Dock Connector Cable.
• Right-click the device from the source list.
• Choose Transfer Purchases.

You may be prompted to authorize the purchases if the computer to which your device is connected is not currently authorized for those purchases. Learn more about authorizing a computer.
If you do not authorize, the purchased content will not transfer.




Transfer other content Pictures and videos

Import your pictures and videos from the Camera Roll. On iOS devices without a camera, saved pictures and videos are in Saved Photos.
Mac: Select the photos you want and click the Import or Download button in iPhoto or other supported photo application on your computer.
PC: Follow the instructions that came with your camera or photo application.
You can find screenshots and specific steps in Copying personal photos and videos from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

POP email
Back up messages you want to keep by:

• Sending them to another device. Sending them to an IMAP account, such as MobileMe, Gmail or Yahoo mail.SMS
• Copy and paste important SMS messages to the Notes app and Sync to your computer using iTunes (this method has limitations for some versions of windows). 
• Paste the SMS messages into an email and then email them to yourself.MMS
• Save pictures and movies to the Camera Roll and then transfer them to computer.

File Sharing
Setting up as New (see below) will delete all the documents on the device that are being shared using File Sharing. .
Apps that support File Sharing are shown in the File Sharing Apps list in iTunes on your computer.
For each app, the Files list displays the documents that are on the device. (See the app's documentation for how it shares files; not all apps support this feature.)
Follow the steps below to save them:

• Select the device in the iTunes source list.
• Click the Applications tab. Scroll down to File Sharing.
• Choose the App from the File Sharing list. Select the documents to save to your computer.
• Click the "Save to…" button. A dialog appears. Choose the folder to which you want to save the file and click the Choose button.

Back up your device and preserve the backup

The restore process creates a backup of the device you are restoring. When you select Set Up As New, a sync occurs that writes over your previous backup. To prevent unwanted data loss, you should take steps to preserve the backup created by iTunes.

• In iTunes, check Preferences > Devices to check the date and time of your latest backup.
• If you do not have a recent backup, create one by right-clicking the device in the source list and choosing Back Up. 

 

Now preserve the latest backup of your data:

• Move or copy your current backup from the backup directory into a directory where it will not be overwritten by iTunes (your desktop or home folder, for example).
• Ensure that your backup software backs up the backup directory. If you use Mac OS 10.5.5. or later and Time Machine, you may use Time Machine to find a previous backup.
• Copy the latest backup to an external disk drive or burn a copy of your backup to a disc.
• You must take steps to preserve your backup, or you could lose your personal data when setting up your device as new.
• This backup is where your SMS and MMS messages and other important personal data are stored.

 iTunes gives your backup a unique name for each device. To find the backup you just created, sort the window view by date and time created or last modified. 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\

To learn more about what is contained in the backup iTunes creates, see:iPhone and iPod touch: About backups
iPad: About backups

Sync with a Personal Information Manager

The Info tab in iTunes allows you to sync contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and notes (iPhone/iPod touch only) from your iOS device to a Personal Information Manager application on your computer.
For a complete list of supported applications to which you can sync the data in the Info tab, see iPhone and iPod touch: How to transfer or sync content to your computer.
Syncing options displayed in the Info tab will vary depending on your computer's OS.

Notes:
Syncing calendars and notes with a Windows PC requires Outlook 2003 or 2007 and a Unicode PST. Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007 may not display contacts and calendars after syncing with MobileMe, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

The best way to protect the data in the Info tab is to sync it to a new (or different) user account on your computer. This method takes more disk space than the second method discussed below, but provides additional protection for your information.

Syncing to a new or different user account Create a new user account, if necessary. Log in to the new user account. Open and set up your contact, calendar, browser, and note applications, ensuring the content is empty. Open and set up iTunes in the new user account. In the Info tab, enable the information important to you to sync. Apply the changes. When asked whether you want to Merge Info or Replace, select Merge. Wait for the backup and sync.

Disconnect your iOS device. Open the contact, calendar, browser, and note applications, verifying that the content synced successfully.
Log out, then log in again using the original user account.Syncing to your current user account Open and set up your contact, calendar, browser, and note applications, verifying that the content is as expected.
Follow the help for those applications to back up your content (if you aren't automatically backing this content up as part of your regular backup schedule).

In iTunes > Preferences, disable automatic syncing on the Devices tab by selecting "Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically". In the Info tab, verify that the information important to you is selected to sync. Apply the changes, if any. If asked whether you want to Merge Info or Replace, select Merge. Wait for the backup and sync. Disconnect your iOS device. Open the contact, calendar, browser, and note applications, verifying that the content synced successfully.Restore your device

Restoring your device will delete all the data from your device, including songs, videos, contacts, photos, calendar information, and any other data. All device settings are restored to their factory condition. iTunes may need to connect to the Internet to verify or download a restore image for your device. For specific steps to take to restore your device and to learn more about the restore process, see iTunes: Backing up, updating, and restoring your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch software.

Set up your device as new
After your device is restored or erased and—in the case of the iPhone—in the process of activating, you should be able to see the following in iTunes:

 To set up as a new device in its factory configuration, choose "Set up as new" Be sure you have backed up the appropriate directory or backup files before choosing to set up as new.


To learn more about setting up your device as new, see How to set up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a new device.

Note:
After setting up as new, you will need to reenter the Visual Voicemail password for iPhone (on carriers that support Visual Voicemail). If you've forgotten the password, contact your carrier to help you reset it.

Additional Information

Now that the device is in a factory configuration, test to determine if restoring and setting up as a new resolves the issue. It may be that content on the device caused unexpected behavior. If the issue is now resolved, sync one type of content at a time back to the device. After each sync, test to see if the issue has returned.

Remember:

• Syncing the device creates a new backup in iTunes that replaces the backup created by the restore process, previous syncs, and from choosing Back Up when right-clicking the device in the iTunes source list.
• To restore your device using a previous backup, instead of restoring it as new (factory settings), quit iTunes and move the backup you set aside (or otherwise preserved) back into the Backup directory (for locations, see above). 
• You may be warned that there is a file or folder with this name already in the Backup directory. 
• This is because iTunes names backups after the unique ID of that device, and subsequent syncs since setting up as new have created another backup without your previous data in it.
• Replace the current backup in the Backup directory with your preserved backup, then launch iTunes and choose "Restore from Backup…" by right-clicking the device in source list and choose the desired backup from the list provided.

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