iPhone Sync vs Backup

I purchased 3 iPhone 3GS last month.

One for me, one for the wife & one for the kid.

After downloading iTunes & creating one account I registered all three
iPhones under the same account.

It appears there were backups for each iPhone under one account.
Husband's backup
Wife's backup
Kid's backup

But later on in the week, when I chose to sync each iPhone I found that the
contacts from each iPhone got merged with each other.

I called Apple support. They said the only way to solve the problem was to
create 3 logins on my Win/XP computer, for example: husband's account,
wife's account and kid's account. When we wanted to backup our particular
iPhone each one of us login to our own account, start iTunes and sync our
iPhone. He also told me to right click on the name of the iPhone and select
backup. I asked him what was the difference between sync & backup. He did
not know.

Does anyone know?

Is there a work around for this or was Apple brain dead when they created
the sync backup process?

wrote:

> was Apple brain dead when they created the sync backup process?

Yes.

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:05:26 -0500, Robert Haar <> wrote:

>On 11/7/09 4:39 PM, "" <> wrote:
>
>> I purchased 3 iPhone 3GS last month.
>...
>> It appears there were backups for each iPhone under one account.
>> Husband's backup
>> Wife's backup
>> Kid's backup
>>
>> But later on in the week, when I chose to sync each iPhone I found that the
>> contacts from each iPhone got merged with each other.
>
>How did you expect this to work? Syncing means two-way replication between
>the iPhone and the desktop. If you have only one address book on the
>desktop, the contacts from all three iPhones will go there and then
>replicated to all three iPhones the next time they sync. If you want to
>keep them separate, then you need different address books. The way to do
>this is to create separate accounts for each user.

I didn't understand the sync process. Said another way, I did not know what
it meant to sync. I do now thanks to this forum.

>BTW - two copies of your message showed up under different names. Why is
>that?

When I posted the message under this nym, it showed up deleted and/or not
available. So I posted using anothe nym. Blame it on Easynews I guess.

Thanks for your help.

On Mon, 9 Nov 2009 06:39:32 -0800 (PST), jc <> wrote:

>
>You *might* (I say might) get around this by telling iTunes
>not to sync with your local Outlook, since
>that's where the problem is coming from.
>Of course, then you'll only be able to modify
>contacts/calendar on the iPhone itself, which
>is rather cumbersome.
>
>If you do sync with Outlook, then I'm not sure how you
>expected this to work, since Outlook is really
>designed around a one-user-per account
>model in the first place.
>
>The software is (reasonably) assuming that
>these are three devices belonging to the
>same person.
>
>-jc
>
>
>On Nov 7, 3:39*pm, c...@tic.org wrote:
>> I purchased 3 iPhone 3GS last month.
>>
>> One for me, one for the wife & one for the kid.
>>
>> After downloading iTunes & creating one account I registered all three
>> iPhones under the same account.
>>
>> It appears there were backups for each iPhone under one account.
>> Husband's backup
>> Wife's backup
>> Kid's backup
>>
>> But later on in the week, when I chose to sync each iPhone I found that the
>> contacts from each iPhone got merged with each other.
>>
>> I called Apple support. *They said the only way to solve the problem was to
>> create 3 logins on my Win/XP computer, *for example: husband's account,
>> wife's account and kid's account. *When we wanted to backup our particular
>> iPhone each one of us login to our own account, start iTunes and sync our
>> iPhone. *He also told me to right click on the name of the iPhone and select
>> backup. *I asked him what was the difference between sync & backup. *He did
>> not know.
>>
>> Does anyone know?
>>
>> Is there a work around for this or was Apple brain dead when they created
>> the sync backup process?

Top posting. Sure makes things messy doesn't it?

Anyway, I use Eudora Pro for my email client. I hate Outlook. Have not set
up Outlook at all. iTunes complains that Outlook is not set up as my
default email client. Too bad!

iTunes is now configured to NOT automatically sync when a iPhone is
connected to the computer. I will try to just 'BACKUP' each device by right
clicking on the iPhone's name and selecting backup from the menu. Will let
you all know what happens. If it messes up, then I'll have to go in and
modify my contacts all over again. UGH.

I am only interested in backing up each iPhones configuration memory, not
syncing anything.

On Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:13:20 -0800, wrote:

>On Mon, 9 Nov 2009 06:39:32 -0800 (PST), jc <> wrote:
>
>>
>>You *might* (I say might) get around this by telling iTunes
>>not to sync with your local Outlook, since
>>that's where the problem is coming from.
>>Of course, then you'll only be able to modify
>>contacts/calendar on the iPhone itself, which
>>is rather cumbersome.
>>
>>If you do sync with Outlook, then I'm not sure how you
>>expected this to work, since Outlook is really
>>designed around a one-user-per account
>>model in the first place.
>>
>>The software is (reasonably) assuming that
>>these are three devices belonging to the
>>same person.
>>
>>-jc
>>
>>
>>On Nov 7, 3:39*pm, c...@tic.org wrote:
>>> I purchased 3 iPhone 3GS last month.
>>>
>>> One for me, one for the wife & one for the kid.
>>>
>>> After downloading iTunes & creating one account I registered all three
>>> iPhones under the same account.
>>>
>>> It appears there were backups for each iPhone under one account.
>>> Husband's backup
>>> Wife's backup
>>> Kid's backup
>>>
>>> But later on in the week, when I chose to sync each iPhone I found that the
>>> contacts from each iPhone got merged with each other.
>>>
>>> I called Apple support. *They said the only way to solve the problem was to
>>> create 3 logins on my Win/XP computer, *for example: husband's account,
>>> wife's account and kid's account. *When we wanted to backup our particular
>>> iPhone each one of us login to our own account, start iTunes and sync our
>>> iPhone. *He also told me to right click on the name of the iPhone and select
>>> backup. *I asked him what was the difference between sync & backup. *He did
>>> not know.
>>>
>>> Does anyone know?
>>>
>>> Is there a work around for this or was Apple brain dead when they created
>>> the sync backup process?
>
>Top posting. Sure makes things messy doesn't it?
>
>Anyway, I use Eudora Pro for my email client. I hate Outlook. Have not set
>up Outlook at all. iTunes complains that Outlook is not set up as my
>default email client. Too bad!
>
>iTunes is now configured to NOT automatically sync when a iPhone is
>connected to the computer. I will try to just 'BACKUP' each device by right
>clicking on the iPhone's name and selecting backup from the menu. Will let
>you all know what happens. If it messes up, then I'll have to go in and
>modify my contacts all over again. UGH.
>
>I am only interested in backing up each iPhones configuration memory, not
>syncing anything.

It worked a treat. I was able to log in to one account, turn off sync and
proceed to backup each of my 3 iPhones without disturbing any of the
contacts on the other iPhone.

! Edit ! Preferences ! Devices ! lists all three iPhones and the time & date
of backup.

Yippie!