Transferring settings from Win7 to Mac OSX 10.5

**smack518** · 12-20-2010, 02:54 PM

Hi guys,

I'm trying to start syncing my iPhone4 with my fiancée's Mac running Leopard rather than my Win7 machine. I've got my library moved over, and all my playlists. Plus I've transfered all "purchases" off the phone to the Mac, so all my apps are now on the Mac as well. I'd managed to figure all that out, however I can't seem to find any instructions on the following:

How can I transfer my syncing preferences? For instance I currently have 10 pages of apps setup in folders such that they fit on only two pages. When I go to try to sync the phone with the Mac, it's clear that my folder structure will be lost, even if the apps themselves won't be. Also I've in the past synced all my playlists AS WELL as all songs by particular artists by checking their names off in the music tab of my iphone syncing page in iTunes.

Can anyone help me transfer THESE settings over? I'd hate to have to redo my folders and scan through my 11k songs to re-select the non-playlisted artists I want to take with me.

Thanks!

**Cleveland** · 12-20-2010, 03:29 PM

I'm not sure if you could could take the actual iphone back up and put it on a usb drive and use it on the mac or not... I don't think you could, I think you might have to redo everything.. but don't quote me on that...

**smack518** · 12-20-2010, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Cleveland

I'm not sure if you could could take the actual iphone back up and put it on a usb drive and use it on the mac or not... I don't think you could, I think you might have to redo everything.. but don't quote me on that...

I could not find a specific file for the backups... or at lease not something that was consistent between the PC and Mac.

Seems like Apple would want to make it easy for you to switch to their computer. Possible it's just not an easy thing to do...

**msm0511** · 12-21-2010, 12:08 AM

If you sync the phone it should back your settings up automatically at the beginning of the sync. That's the purpose of a back up. I can't promise you that it will all transfer perfectly, but mine usually backs up the changes I have made from my phone to my MacBook before the sync actually takes place. (ex. If I create a new folder on my phone that isn't on my MacBook, the back up process saves the new folder to my MacBook automatically).

Edit: I am not sure that that will work with your music, however. Just the apps.

**kellys** · 12-21-2010, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by msm0511

If you sync the phone it should back your settings up automatically at the beginning of the sync. That's the purpose of a back up. I can't promise you that it will all transfer perfectly, but mine usually backs up the changes I have made from my phone to my MacBook before the sync actually takes place. (ex. If I create a new folder on my phone that isn't on my MacBook, the back up process saves the new folder to my MacBook automatically).

Edit: I am not sure that that will work with your music, however. Just the apps.

Thanks for tell us.

**kellys** · 12-21-2010, 12:34 AM

If you sync the phone it should back your settings up automatically at the beginning of the sync. That's the purpose of a back up. I can't promise you that it will all transfer perfectly, but mine usually backs up the changes I have made from my phone to my MacBook before the sync actually takes place. (ex. If I create a new folder on my phone that isn't on my MacBook, the back up process saves the new folder to my MacBook automatically).

Edit: I am not sure that that will work with your music, however. Just the apps.

Thanx alot.

**Cleveland** · 12-21-2010, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by smack518

I could not find a specific file for the backups... or at lease not something that was consistent between the PC and Mac.

Seems like Apple would want to make it easy for you to switch to their computer. Possible it's just not an easy thing to do...

I'll have to do some research between Mac and PC... where they are located... on the Mac its

Macintosh HD --> correct user name --> Library --> Application Support --> MobileSync....

make sure you arrange the files by date created and you'll get the newest one...

As for PC i'll have to do research or google it... or maybe someone here knows.. i've been away from PC for almost 4 years lol

**smack518** · 12-21-2010, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by msm0511

If you sync the phone it should back your settings up automatically at the beginning of the sync. That's the purpose of a back up. I can't promise you that it will all transfer perfectly, but mine usually backs up the changes I have made from my phone to my MacBook before the sync actually takes place. (ex. If I create a new folder on my phone that isn't on my MacBook, the back up process saves the new folder to my MacBook automatically).

Edit: I am not sure that that will work with your music, however. Just the apps.

Everything you said is correct. If I create new folders on the phone then sync with the same PC it will retain the structure. However, it won't when switching to a Mac, and same with the my selected artists to sync.

Ultimately I just ended up re-creating my folders and re-selecting all the artists. PITA, as it was a couple hours of work with my song list, but it's done now.

**Alli** · 12-22-2010, 08:19 AM

I'm glad you went through this. I just bought my first Mac yesterday, and next week I'll be moving everything from my pc so that I can sync my iPhone to the Mac instead of the pc.

Fortunately, I don't have any playlists, so it's not a big deal there. But I'd like to not have to recreate my folders and layout on the iPhone after my first sync.