iPad backup and restore confusion

So, originally I made one ipad work perfectly, backed it up using iTunes and then restored all the ipads using this backup. Over time, more backups have been made of numorous ipads and confusion has sunk in. I'm using this post to document which iPad backup I'm currently restoring from. So, for now, I will use:

iPad 11848 backed up on 7th Sept 2012.

iTunes Apps folder on OS X

So, I've been downloading a few new apps for the iPads and have just been notified that I'm using too much disk space. So, looking into where the apps are stored I found this folder:

~Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Mobile\ Applications

Thought I'd move this to the local drive and make a symlink:

ln -s /Volumes/Scratch\ Disk/Stephen/Mobile\ Applications /Network/Servers/appleton.chesterfield.ac.uk/home2\$/LeachS/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media

Yep, still works. So all is good.

Upgrading and imaging iPads (or any IOS device)

Thought I'd document the technique I use for managing the iPads in an Academic environment.

Using this technique you can backup an iPad and restore it to all your other iPads.


A point to note is that you cannot restore an IOS 5 "Backup" onto an IOS 4 iPad. You will need to manually update the iPad to IOS 5 first.

Right click (or CTRL click) on the IOS device on the list on the left

Create an image from a "Master" iPad (called "backup")

1. Get your iPad exactly how you want it
2. Plug it into iTunes
3. Right click on the IOS device in the list on the left
4. Click "Backup"

Restore an image onto IOS device

1. Plug IOS device in to iTunes 
2. Plug it into iTunes
3. Right click on the IOS device in the list on the left
4. Click "Restore from Backup"

If the IOS version is the same, it should list all the "Backups" or images that have been taken. Select the one you want.

Unable to download IOS 5 software update through iTunes

I'm in the process of updating the iPads to IOS 5, but I'm stuck at the first stumbling block. I need to download the iPad update file. Whenever I click the update button through iTunes it starts to download the file, but a few minutes later it says:

There was a problem downloading the software for the iPad. Then network connection timed out

I found the file location it was downloading it to is:

/Library/iTunes/iPad\ Software\ Updates/iPad1,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw

It downloads approx 100MB, but this varies and then comes up with the error message. After a bit of searching I found this website which gives you direct links to the ipsw update files, straight from what looks like the apple download server. I've also found this website as well

Download location is for the iPad 1st gen is:
iPad1,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw

Download location for the iPad 2 - Wifi is:
iPad2,1_5.0.1_9A405_Restore.ipsw

Interestingly, after attempting this with Safari it also failed. I'm guessing it has to do with the proxy server we're using. I shall try another.

Finally downloaded it through another computer connected to a different proxy. Worked fine. Final file was approx. 750MB.

Loaded up iTunes, "alt" clicked the "Update" button and selected the downloaded file. Worked fine.


Update:
We're now on 5.1.1. Heres the link to the IOS update:

iPad 1

iTunes iPad backup location

I've noticed my Library folder get immensely large. I looked into it with OmnDiskSweeper (now that WhatSize has decided to charge) and found nearly 800MB (not much nowadays but too much for this as far as ICT Services goes) was taken up with iPad backups:

/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup

I thought the easiest solution was to move it to the local scratch disk and symbolically link it. Heres the exact command I used to create the symbolic link:


ln -s /Volumes/Scratch\ Disk/Stephen/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup /Network/Servers/appleton.chesterfield.ac.uk/home2\$/LeachS/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync 

Seems to have done the trick.

I also noticed another folder taking up a lot of disk space whenever I tried to do a software update for the iPads:

/Volumes/Scratch\ Disk/Stephen/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates/

I decided to move the whole /Library/iTunes folder across. Here's the command I used to create a symbolic link:

ln -s /Volumes/Scratch\ Disk/Stephen/Library/iTunes /Network/Servers/appleton.chesterfield.ac.uk/home2\$/LeachS/Library

iTunes not recognising IOS device when plugged in

Just got an iPad back from a member of staff and plugged it in to get rid of photos etc. I loaded up iTunes and waited to find it didn't pop up in the list! So I tried my iPhone and the same thing happened. I loaded iPhone Configuration Utility as well to find the iPad did not pop up in that list as well!

One thing I did note was that I had just updated iTunes to version 10.5 about 10 minutes earlier. I did a lot of searching and found quite a few people with this problem. This forum in particular had a lot of posts which might have been of interest. It had a link to this help page which was quite informative.

Before undertaking any fixes I had seen it mentioned that a restart might just fix it so I restarted (with the iPad plugged in) and seems to work fine now. So after all this fiddling, just switching the computer off and back on again does it! Old Skool!

But none the less, I thought it prudent to note this down, and store the help page and forum here.

Transferring pictures on an iPad and any iOS device

Well, it is funny how user friendly the iPad is, and yet how puzzling it can be to do simple tasks. One such task is to transfer pictures onto an iPad. One would think it quite simple, perhaps drag and drop, bluetooth, through iPhoto; but alas these are not the way to do it.

Amazingly I had to look this up on the internet and found quite a few blogs, this one being helpful. Basically you need to sync either a folder or album to the iPad, which is controlled through iTunes.

1. Load up iTunes and plug in iPad (or iOS device)
2. Click on the device on the left hand side of iTunes
3. Click on the Pictures tab
4. Tick the sync box and select "folder" or whatever is relevant to you

Simple but not the way I would have done it.