Couple of questions about update/backing up/sync

[Peter Franks]

That old sync or back up question again....? I think I get it but this grab is confusing, because I clicked back-up before the update, and it shows 'sync'. Is there a double meaning to sync, because if it was syncing, it would match what's on my MBP, and not back up my phone to the MBP? Backing up is just that, but syncing is matching whats on laptop, yes?

Also... you know before you back up it now says do you want to back up apps in a pop up? Say yes, and it goes through a mountain of them that you've already backed up, Is that the updates to the apps it's backing up, because surely they're already on there?

Oh yesssss, Been meaning to ask this for AGES!! Why for the last few updates, does one of my photo folders say 139 photos, and there's about 30 in there? Also main one sites about 2500 and there isn't that many in there either. Why are the totals completely wrong

 

[Cmd-Z]

Is there a double meaning to sync, because if it was syncing, it would match what's on my MBP ...

Not necessarily. If you have your iPhone set to "Manually manage music and video" it may not match your iTunes (music and video) contents. If you manually manage, there is still a "Sync" button but that initiates other changes you may make, like which apps to sync, which photo folders to sync, etc. If you're not manually managing things, you could auto-sync to only a portion of your library, depending on the settings you've chosen. So the "Sync" button doesn't necessarily mean your iPhone will match your MBP.

... and not back up my phone to the MBP?

When you initiate a sync, the sync process normally includes doing a device backup, unless by default your device is set to backup to iCloud.

Also... you know before you back up it now says do you want to back up apps in a pop up? Say yes, and it goes through a mountain of them that you've already backed up, Is that the updates to the apps it's backing up, because surely they're already on there?

Yes, those are probably app updates which are not yet in your iTunes library. Occasionally I'll get a message like "There are purchased items on iPhone that are not in your library ..." and I take that to mean app updates, since I don't have any other purchases that are not already in my library. Could also be an iTunes bug

Why for the last few updates, does one of my photo folders say 139 photos, and there's about 30 in there?

I'm not sure where you're looking, but maybe the new iOS 8 "Recently Deleted" category is throwing things off?

Also main one sites about 2500 and there isn't that many in there either.

What do you mean by "main one"?

 

[Peter Franks]

Thank you. Not set up to backup iCloud no. Only MBP. If I lose stuff and you say it'll back up before a sync, does that not endanger the restore/sync to take the new lost data status from phone.

Sorry. Not overly clear. The camera roll shows 2500 photos. And the other folder shows 139 when there's barely 30. They're the readings at bottom of folder when open. My camera roll has nowhere near that amount anymore and the one it's showing at 139 is also way off

 

[Cmd-Z]

If you want to learn more about what is in your backup you can read this article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

Your backup is really meant to save your device's settings, account info, data which some apps may contain, and "where to find the things that your iPhone syncs with" (i.e. not the actual "things", just the location where to find them).

So if you lose data of some sort, the way to recover it is to restore your iPhone to the most recent backup. The problem is, since backups are overwritten each time, if you don't know that you lost data until later you're screwed. But if you know you lost something, you can usually recover it from your backup if you realize that you lost it and prevented a subsequent backup after the loss.

Not sure about your photo issue ... will noodle on that.

 

[Peter Franks]

Thanks for your help. Also good to know that backups are overwritten each time so you can't go back.

The photo thing is weird. Because I thought after the previous few updates it would be rectified. But exactly the same. Only good thing was that we did get 'Camera Roll' back but it didn't sort this problem.