Cosmic Ritual Mac OS

As stated on the Move Your iPhone: Getting Started page, you can only sync your iPhone with one Mac at a time.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to backup and restore your iTunes library so that you won't have to erase your iPhone to begin syncing with your new or updated Mac.

First Things First: Understanding Terms

Whether you're upgrading to a new Mac or need to re-install the Mac OS on an existing machine, without backing-up and restoring your iTunes library files, your iPhone will see a new computer and refuse to sync without wiping its memory and beginning a new sync partnership. In the procedure described below Old Mac can mean your old Mac OS installation or old computer, while New Mac can mean your new re-installation of the Mac OS or a new computer.

Step 1: Old Mac Backup

Before you do anything else on your Old Mac, you should update iTunes to the latest version. Silence (itch) (erkberg) mac os. This will ensure that your iTunes library files are up-to-date before you move them to the New Mac.

Once iTunes has been updated and its library refreshed, you'll need to backup your iTunes folder in order to move it to your New Mac.

All of your iTunes settings (and music, videos, etc. if you use the 'Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized' option in the Preferences > Advanced window) are stored in a folder on your Mac's hard disk or SSD. By default, this folder — which is called 'iTunes' — is located in the Users > USERNAME > Music folder; for example, on my MacBook, the iTunes folder is located in Users > matthew > Music:

You need to backup the entire iTunes folder by moving it to an external hard drive, burning it to a DVD, etc. In this tutorial, I'll simply back it up to an external hard drive.

Attach an external hard drive to your Mac and drag-and-drop the iTunes folder onto the drive:

Allow the copying process to complete.

Once your iTunes folder has been copied to the external hard drive, don't forget to deauthorize your iTunes and/or Audible account on your Old Mac before moving to the New Mac.

Step 2: New Mac Restore

Now that you have your New Mac ready to go, it's time to move your backed-up iTunes folder from the external drive to your New Mac's internal hard drive or SSD.

Access the external drive in Finder and copy the iTunes folder back to your user sub-folder Music (Users > USERNAME > Music). Once the iTunes folder has been copied, open iTunes. If you use iTunes' self-organizing feature, you'll notice that all of your music and videos are just as they were on your old system.

You will also be able to sync your iPhone with the new system as you did before, no wipe and restore required.