PC to Mac Switching Questions, Specifically device Syncing

February 13, 2015 7:28 AM

I'm finally making the switch from PC to Mac, and I have some questions to make sure it all goes smoothly with my peripherals, which are currently synced to my PC. I have an iPhone 6 and an iPad 4th gen updated to the latest iOS. I'm specifically concerned with keeping my text messages and app data.

I currently sync and backup both devices to my itunes library on my PC. I would like to transfer my entire iTunes library to my new Mac and sync my devices with the Mac, but I have two main concerns:
How can I transfer my iTunes playlists?
How do I manage the transfer so I don't lose my text messages or app data on my iPhone and iPad?

My PC is having hardware issues so it shuts down randomly every 10 minutes or so (that's why I'm replacing it), so I can't do anything that involves a long transfer period. I do have a hard drive dock, so I can access all my files individually directly off the drive.

All my mail, calendar, and contacts data is cloud-synced, so that's not really a problem.

thanks!

posted by nickhb to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

You should try the mac forum, link enclosed. You'll have to join, it's free, but they have a great quantity of topics covered here, including the one you mention
Good luck, you'll love using a mac.
posted by billl at 9:06 AM on February 13, 2015

> How can I transfer my iTunes playlists?

This is a new Mac with an empty iTunes database, yes? On a Mac, ~/Music/iTunes/ holds a single xml file called iTunes Music Library.xml, which contains all the track listings, play counts, playlists, and other associated metadata. Copying over this file, along with everything else in the iTunes folder, would replicate the existing iTunes setup. Typically, doing this across Macs, the first time iTunes is started up, it parses the file, matches all the metadata, and rebuilds its index if it needs to - I've migrated across three Macs successfully.

(The xml file is small enough but the music folder can be very large, obviously. In my case, I have a 12 MB library file, 34 GB of music, 11 GB of apps, and 373 MB of album art on this laptop.)

I think the same process works for a Windows iTunes installation, although I have no personal experience. Here are instructions on how to do this from Apple Support.

> How do I manage the transfer so I don't lose my text messages or app data on my iPhone and iPad?

I think this is not a problem. The first time you plug into the new computer, the device will ask if you want to trust this computer. After you say yes, you can back up to the new computer, and proceed from there as usual. The device does not get wiped unless you want to restore it to factory settings and set it up as a new one. Don't do that, and you'll be fine, I think. (Also, sync after you've migrated your iTunes library, not before.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:25 PM on February 13, 2015