Delete iPad data, yeah?

January 8, 2012 9:48 PM

My folks are mailing their iPad to Joe's Cheap Screen Repair, and I'm urging them to delete all their data before sending it off. They're afraid deleting/factory reset means all their emails and games are lost and gone forever. Am I insane, can't they just sync to iTunes when it returns in the mail and get everything back as they left it? Apologies for this Sunday night brain fart.
posted by Hermanos to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

I have no idea if you are insane, but you are correct that they could resync it and add the email address(es) and start afresh without losing that data and those games.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:56 PM on January 8, 2012

Best answer: 1. Sync
2. Wipe ("restore factory settings")
3. Mail to Joe's House of Screens
4. Receive newly screened device
5. Plug into iTunes
6. HEALED BY THE MAGIC OF THE CLOUD

It'll be fine. Just make sure that their iTunes is set up to slurp all data.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:09 PM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Provided they Sync a Backup prior to the reset, yes they should be able to get it all back.
posted by mule at 10:30 PM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

You can always replace the screen yourself
posted by delmoi at 12:26 AM on January 9, 2012

For your own mental health, properly configured, the process works seamlessly.

I had a modified iPhone 3 for eighteen months and it required monthly (!) resetting. In each case, when the fresh iPhone was plugged into iTunes, the phone was restored to exactly the state of the last backup, with all SMSs and even the recent call list intact.

Here's MacWorld's quick guide to iPhone backups (from previous version of IOS, most is still valid)
posted by nickrussell at 12:29 AM on January 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

There's a difference between "Sync" and "Backup" (which I and some friends have learned the hard way...)
Make sure you do both.
posted by aielen at 1:59 AM on January 9, 2012 [2 favorites]

Just FYI, I personally know someone who was subjected to serious identity theft (and in fact blackmail, as in "you want your data back, it will cost you") through a route not dissimilar to this. Your fears are well founded.
posted by spitbull at 5:32 AM on January 9, 2012

Make sure they backup, not just sync. Right click on the device on iTunes and click "Backup" - syncing will restore apps but not for example achievements or unlocked content in games - backup will
posted by motdiem2 at 6:05 AM on January 9, 2012

yup, you want backup. Restoring will then put it all back exactly the same, works like a charm.
posted by defcom1 at 7:01 AM on January 9, 2012

In addition to the advice above, I would suggest backing up both to the computer and the cloud before sending it off for a little extra redundancy. Depending on the amount of data on the iPad and the speed of their internet connection, resotring from a local backup may be faster than restoring from the cloud.
posted by TedW at 7:17 AM on January 9, 2012

They may have changed this, but make sure the apps are backed up as well, since as far as I can tell the standard backup doesn't do this. Once I did an erase/restore (switching to a new iPhone) and everything restored properly except the actual apps, and I had to redownload them all. You can copy them by control-clicking (or right-clicking) the phone in iTunes and selecting "Transfer Purchases".
posted by neckro23 at 10:37 AM on January 9, 2012

Response by poster: Thank you all. Joe's Cheap Screen Repair returned my folks' iPad in just a few days and we were able to restore all their info. Thanks for the sanity check!
posted by Hermanos at 10:37 AM on January 24, 2012