How to Sync an iPod Touch Back to a Computer After Losing iTunes

You can recover purchased iTunes content from an iPod Touch.

If the hard drive on your primary computer is damaged or corrupted, you may experience a loss of data, including the media content from your iTunes library. In emergency situations like these, your iPod Touch devices can act as a backup source for iTunes. The next time you connect your iPod Touch to your computer after losing your iTunes data, you will be able to sync the device and transfer all purchased content back onto your local hard drive.

Things You'll Need

• iPod Touch
• Mac or PC computer
• iTunes 10 or later
• iPod USB cable

Instructions

1. Open the iTunes program on your Mac or PC.

2. Connect your iPod Touch to your computer with an iPod USB cable.

3. Highlight the name of your iPod Touch underneath the "Devices" heading on the left side of the main iTunes window.

4. Press the "Sync" button in the lower-right corner of the window to manually initiate a new sync operation.

5. Click on the "Transfer Purchases" button in the dialog box that appears. The iTunes program will now copy all of your purchased iTunes content from your iPod Touch back onto your computer's hard drive.

Tips & Warnings

• The iTunes application will only automatically transfer content that you purchased from the iTunes Store back to your computer. If you need to copy and sync files that you obtained from outside of iTunes, you will need to use a third-party application like Senuti for Mac OS X or Xilisoft iPod Rip for Windows (see Resources below).

References

• Apple Support: Backing Up Your Library
• Apple Support: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer

Resources

• Senuti
• Xilisoft iPod Rip