[intense666]

I've purchased an iPhone 3G S quite recently and it's my first apple product. I don't know how to use iTunes that well but I downloaded iTunes (9. something)
since it's necessary for songs. For a secret reason, soon I MUST restore my iPhone and I don't want to lose my songs and my downloaded clips along with the clips I filmed with my iPhone. How can I save these files so that I can immediately transfer them back once my iPhone is restored?

Here's how far I got before getting lost:

I went to the summary of my device (iPhone) in iTunes and under the Options, I checked off, "Encrypt iPhone backup". After setting a password, I figured that all of the files on my iPhone would then be copied onto a file but I can't find the folder containing it.

The songs are especially what's important and that's because I put a lot of effort into customizing the artwork for a lot of the songs but they aren't customized in my iTunes library and my library doesn't have all of my songs on my iPhone. It doesn't have my video clips saved either. How can I back up my iPhone files? Thanks in Advance!

[iamfudge]

How did you "customize" the songs and artwork, if not through iTunes? Also, if you purchased the songs via the iPhone, when you sync, the purchased songs will transfer to your iTunes account.

[intense666]

Yes but I clicked on "get info" (with iTunes) and went to the "artwork" section and added my own pictures. So I did use iTunes. The songs in my library don't have the customized artwork that I set. So how would I transfer my files (including the video clips I took) into my iTunes library?

[Alli]

Backing up the iPhone is not like backing up a file on your computer (or a smartphone you may have had prior to the iPhone). It is more of a synchronization process. If it's on your computer and you put the checkmark to sync it to your iPhone, it's put on your iPhone during sync. Likewise, anything new that you've added to your iPhone since the last sync (calendar, contact, app) is transferred to your computer. Once you've done this, you could throw away your iPhone - get a brand new iPhone and sync it to your computer and walk away with the exact same thing as what you just threw away. (More like a drive image.)

[intense666]

So can I uncheck everything on my iTunes and then sync with my iPhone so that all of my files on my iPhone are transferred onto my iTunes? Will this also transfer photos/clips? Lastly, will this update the songs on my iTunes to have the same artwork as those on my iPhone?

[Alli]

What files on your iPhone? You're only dealing with music, photos, and apps. If you uncheck everything in iTunes, then you won't sync anything.

[intense666]

What I'm trying to do is get a one-way sync. Meaning that I want the songs that are on my iPhone (but not on my iTunes) and sync it on to my iTunes without gaining anything that I currently have in my iTunes library in the process. If I sync, will that also transfer my customized songs, photos, ringtones, and video clips onto my iTunes library?

[Alli]

You cannot do a one way sync. You cannot have songs that are on your iPhone but not in your iTunes. If you did a sync to another computer and thus have songs on your iPhone that are not in your iTunes, your only recourse is to purchase a 3rd party app for your computer to get the songs off your iPhone.

You can't sync to multiple computers. Baby steps.

[mysterio]

You can use Sharepod (or Senuti if you have a Mac) to copy all of the media on your iPhone to the computer. Then you can include them in your library and sync them back on to the iPhone.

[intense666]

Ok, thanks Alli, I'll be aware of that.

mysterion, you've yet again answered the questions in my topic just as I was about to end it, so thanks for your help. I'll try Sharepod tomorrow and I'll post again if I have any questions (which I probably will).

Thank you both again for your info, I don't feel so ridiculously ignorant anymore.
Sharepod's official site looks promising!

[mysterio]

Always a pleasure to help.

[intense666]

Ok, I backed up my files with sharepod.This made me store the files onto a folder in my PC and also onto the sharepod database. Now once the memory of my iPhone is erased, I can transfer that file folder onto iTunes and then onto my iPhone? It's that simple? Are there any steps to follow? If not, thanks again for your continued help!