Backup your photos:
If you are like me you have multiple Apple devices and occasionally like to sell the older models to make room for the newer ones. Today I took on the frustrating task of trying to figure out the best way to get all of my (10.3 GB) of photos off of my iPad 2 and onto...any other device.
What I tried:
1. Transferring photos through my MacBook Air to an external hard drive. Result: Image Capture kept crashing and then my Western Digital 1 TB Hard Drive for Mac died.
2. Buying extra space on iCloud to wirelessly transfer the files from one device to another. Unless the photos were recently uploaded they have to be manually uploaded to photo stream and then they only stay there for 30 days. The Photo app on the iPad kept crashing and would not accept all of my photos (even though the total was below the daily limit of 10,000 photos). Then I made a call to Apple to find that I would have to wipe all of the data off of my new iPad mini in order to get the photos uploaded to the cloud from my old iPad (which is currently just being used as a photo storage device). Result: Epic frustration and waste of $0.99
3. Transferring photos through my MacBook Air to my Time Capsule. Result: Success!! To do this:
connect your Time Capsule to your Mac computer wirelessly
connect your iPad to your Mac computer via USB
Launch Image Capture
Once Image Capture recognizes your iPad and opens the pictures, select your time capsule as the location to import images to (via the drop down menu at the bottom of the app box)
then click Import All
4. Transferring photos through my MacBook Air from my Time Capsule to my Google Drive (1 TB is the same price as buying a new external hard drive annually -- but it is better b/c it doesn't crash -- worth it!!). Result: Photos now backed up to 2 different devices. Success!!
Back up your music:
I will be the first to tell you that iCloud isn't really worth more than the 5 free GB unless you are traveling a lot and unable to backup your iDevice data via more secure methods, but iTunes Match is worth it. You can backup all of your music here and access it from any of your devices at any time.
Back up your apps:
You don't need to. Any app that you ever purchase may be found under the "purchased" tab on any supporting iDevice and is available for download to a new device whenever.
Delete all of your data so the new buyer / user does not have access to any of it:
Do these steps in this order so you do not delete your information from the iCloud and all of your other devices (as we learned the hard way with two of my friend's iPads last week).
1. On the iPad open Settings > iCloud once you have backed up everything you want to backup, delete account. This will make it so that if you delete all of your (example:) notes from this iPad they will not be deleted from all of your devices and lost forever.
2. Next, DO NOT MOVE ONTO THIS STEP UNTIL EVERYTHING YOU WANT IS OFF OF YOUR iDEVICE, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset all data and settings. This will make the iPad into a brand new iPad, all information on it will be deleted from the device forever.
IF ANYTHING IN THIS POST SOUNDS CONFUSING TO YOU, DO NOT TRY IT ON YOUR OWN. SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP WITH COMPLETING THE DESIRED TASKS.