FFS Apple is annoying.
I still use iTunes for Windows for legacy backup/restore because it's fast and generally works. It's my preferred way to set up a new iPad, and keep all the existing data from the old one.
Although iOS restoration is very time-tested, it does have some stupid quirks. Maybe I should have tried the modern version, of which there are two variants. I could have gone through iCloud backup, which would be slow.
There is also "Quick Start," which just copies the old device data over to the new one over WiFi.
I have two gripes with my iTunes restore, which seems to have done what it always does (preserve apps and settings):
1. Books library is not synced, and there is no way to do this efficiently on a PC*. The Books app data is restored, but I'll have to manually download each EPUB if I want my library back to how it was. Note I won't need to restore all the books from before, but the EPUB has to be on the device for the "Mark as Finished" feature to work properly. This is not super important, but it's nice to be able to see the books I've read over the past 5 years.
2. Try as I may, Safari tabs were not restored. This is a bummer.
I think issue #1 was always like this (last time I restored my iPad was two years ago), but I was hoping Safari tabs would transfer over. I'm almost tempted to reset the iPad to see if Quick Start does a better job. I also had a very tough time with different USB cables, but that might just be a stupid Windows thing. (blah blah the USB device has malfunctioned)
* There is a Books Mac app which supposedly does syncing.
Edit:
Quick Start did the job. It preserved all Safari tabs, and the entire Books library. Compared to iCloud backup, it was very fast too.
I still use iTunes for Windows for legacy backup/restore because it's fast and generally works. It's my preferred way to set up a new iPad, and keep all the existing data from the old one.
Although iOS restoration is very time-tested, it does have some stupid quirks. Maybe I should have tried the modern version, of which there are two variants. I could have gone through iCloud backup, which would be slow.
There is also "Quick Start," which just copies the old device data over to the new one over WiFi.
I have two gripes with my iTunes restore, which seems to have done what it always does (preserve apps and settings):
1. Books library is not synced, and there is no way to do this efficiently on a PC*. The Books app data is restored, but I'll have to manually download each EPUB if I want my library back to how it was. Note I won't need to restore all the books from before, but the EPUB has to be on the device for the "Mark as Finished" feature to work properly. This is not super important, but it's nice to be able to see the books I've read over the past 5 years.
2. Try as I may, Safari tabs were not restored. This is a bummer.
I think issue #1 was always like this (last time I restored my iPad was two years ago), but I was hoping Safari tabs would transfer over. I'm almost tempted to reset the iPad to see if Quick Start does a better job. I also had a very tough time with different USB cables, but that might just be a stupid Windows thing. (blah blah the USB device has malfunctioned)
* There is a Books Mac app which supposedly does syncing.
Edit:
Quick Start did the job. It preserved all Safari tabs, and the entire Books library. Compared to iCloud backup, it was very fast too.
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