4 Steps To Sync an iPhone with multiple PCs or Macs

Normally it's only possible to sync an iPhone with one computer. But if you use a second computer you will hit across a warning."Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library"?

Well don't worry I have an easy tweak for it.You can do it by modifying the iTunes library on a Mac to work with any other already synced iPhone/PC. If your both the machines are of the same type, then the steps are identical for both.

1)Make a backup of your iTunes library

The very first thing you need to do is, make a back up on the computer your iPhone wants to sync with. You will find your iTunes folder in "My Music-->iTunes (folder)" for XP or "Music-->iTunes" for Vista or on a Mac it's in your Music directory. Backup "iTunes Music Library.xml" and "iTunes Music Library" to a safe location before modifying them.


2)Get your iTunes Library ID

On the machine your iPhone currently syncs with, open "iTunes Music Library.xml" with a text editor.Now, find the entry between the <string></string> tags, after "Library Persistent ID". Copy this entry on to a piece of paper very carefully.Close the above file.

3)Change your Library ID

iTunes stores your library information in two places. An XML file and a binary file. You now need to change the ID in both so they match your other library.Make sure iTunes is not running.

On the computer that you want to sync with open the "iTunes Music Library.xml" in a text editor. Find the entry between the <string></string> tags, after "Library Persistent ID" and save it somewhere. Now replace this ID with the one you copied in step 2. But before doing that do copy the new ID . Save the file and close it.

For the editing part you need Hex Editor Pro on PC and HexEdit on Mac. Any hex editor will do, and you only need to edit files on the second machine.

In the Hex Editor, open "iTunes Music Library" (Tunes Music Library.itl on PC).

Select "Find and Replace" from the Edit menu. Make sure "Hex" matching is selected (not ASCII).Then in "Find" enter the ID you copied in Step 3 and in "Replace" enter the ID you copied in Step 2.

Choose Replace All,Save this file and close it.

4) Well you are done!

Start iTunes on the machine you wish to sync with and plug in your iPhone. When you select "Manually manage music and videos" you will no longer be prompted to erase your data, nor will the files on your iPhone be grayed out.

You just want to sync different data in different places, there’s a simpler way. Turn off "Automatically sync.." on the summary page of both machines.

written by Avipar\\
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