[dannyleeuk]

Hi All,

Ok, so i've been asking around and i'm trying to get a definitive answer.

If I wipe my laptop, reinstall Windows/iTunes etc...will it wipe my iphone if I connect it to my laptop afterwards. Will I lose all my contacts? If I will, then I won't do it! If anyone knows how to avoid it, please tell me!

Thanks
Danny

[jamesus]

It will.

Your best bet is to sync with a trial run of Mobile Me to back up your contacts.

[Leanna Lofte]

All you have to do is create dummy contacts before re-connecting to iTunes. Then tell iTunes to merge data.

But Jamesus is right. You're better off signing up for a free trial of MobileMe to back up all your data. Brilliant solution

[Alli]

You can always sync your iPhone to Google and use that as a contacts backup. (It's a great free solution anyway.)

[jamesus]

You can always sync your iPhone to Google and use that as a contacts backup. (It's a great free solution anyway.)

Actually since Google uses ActiveSync, it will over write anything you have on the iPhone with the contact from Google.

[dannyleeuk]

Hi all, thanks a lot of your replies!

Ok, so as the title suggests, I took the plunge lastnight! This was also a good oportunity for me to trial out Windows 7 RC as well! Here's what I did:

1.) Went into iTunes and De-authorised my laptop. (One of the menu options in the nav at the top of iTunes).

2.) Reformatted my laptop, and installed Windows 7 RC along with all drivers etc

3.) Installed iTunes and Office 2007. Note: I didnt put a dummy contact into Outlook.

4.) Re-authorised my laptop via the same method as point 1

5.) Connected my iPhone to my laptop (trust me, I was dreading this bit).

6.) iTunes recognised the iPhone displayed it in iTunes. I left all sync options for Photos, Music and Video and Applications unticked initially. I selected the option for my Contacts to by synced to Outlook.

7.) When I clicked on Sync, it told me that my iPhone was already synced with another iTunes etc, and did I want to replace or merge data. I selected the MERGE option. iTunes then started syncing my iPhone and confirmed it had completed.

8.) By ensuring that i'd selected the merge option, iTunes synced ALL my contacts from my iPhone back to my laptop and into Outlook 2007. No contacts were deleted from my iPhone at all during this process.

Important Note: Unfortunately, although it synced all my contacts etc back to my iPhone, iTunes will erase all music and videos from the iPhone before it will allow you to add more music to it. It also deletes all Photo's from the phone that haven't been taken by the onboard camera (Camera Roll) so make sure any photo's are backed up prior to doing this.

Hopefully this will be helpful for someone else in the future. Let me know your thoughts

[Alli]

Good future reference thread.

And only slightly off topic - how do you like Win 7? I've had it on my netbook for a few months now, and love it.

[dannyleeuk]

Good future reference thread.

And only slightly off topic - how do you like Win 7? I've had it on my netbook for a few months now, and love it.

I'm actually really liking it! I tried the Beta but had a few problems with it but to be honest, since i've installed the Release Candidate i've not had any issues. The only problem I had was installing drivers for HP NC8230, which HP don't provide Vista drivers for. Still, managed to work around it and all up and running.

Deffo a vast improvement on Vista. How about you?

[iLoveiPhones]

I keep my contacts written down somewhere just in case if my computer crashes and I lose everything.

[Leanna Lofte]

I keep my contacts written down somewhere just in case if my computer crashes and I lose everything.

Are you serious? Oh God there's no way I could keep up with that. That's why MobileMe is great... It doesn't matter if my MacBook and iPhone get destroyed in the same day... everything is on the interwebs!

[jamesus]

Are you serious? Oh God there's no way I could keep up with that. That's why MobileMe is great... It doesn't matter if my MacBook and iPhone get destroyed in the same day... everything is on the interwebs!

My thoughts exactly!

[Stevie No-Wonder]

I keep my contacts written down somewhere just in case if my computer crashes and I lose everything.

I don't know what computer you're using, but if you have a Mac you can print your entire address book out (and customize the printout). I did it once and it worked great, but I don't do it anymore. I have MobileMe and more backups than I know what to do with now.

[dannyleeuk]

I honestly don't think I could be bothered writing all my contacts down, am sitting at around 400 at the moment, with multiple numbers etc! If lost them I'd be screwed! Ad since the reinstall of laptop, I can finally export all my contacts from outlook to a csv file, as I couldn't before cus outlook was playing awkward!

I would have used mobile me but it was canned after I found out it wipes the phone on first sync as the mobile me address book would have been empty! No sync from iPhone to mobile me!

[Leanna Lofte]

I would have used mobile me but it was canned after I found out it wipes the phone on first sync as the mobile me address book would have been empty! No sync from iPhone to mobile me!

You can merge the data between the two. Just have to have 1 contact created in MobileMe first. When you sync, the data can be merged.