What EXACTLY does it mean to sync?

Question

the last time i sync'd my mp3 player to my computer it deleted my music from my player. i now have about 1800 songs, i want to copy them from my player to a usb flash drive as a backup, but i'm afraid if i do i'll lose my songs again. can anyone advise? thanks, liz

Answer 1

sync means that you change the music from your mp3 player to what you have on your computer....but all you have to do is go into that and say that you don't want to delete it. I sync mine all the time and I never get anything deleted.  

Answer 2

It might have formatted your Hard Drive or Memory Card in the Player. If that option popped up and you clicked "yes", then that's why it got wiped off.

To "Sync" any Device to your Computer just means that the computer can see and thereby show you what's contained in it, and that you can control what's contained in it (for instance, adding new songs, deleting old ones, backing up or restoring your playlist, etc) from the computer. Sync is short for Synchronize, which means essentially that the motions or movements of both are functioning as one. Thereby, if you delete a song in the Device Manager on your computer, it deletes the song in your Device/MP3 Player.

You shouldn't have to worry about it again, but if you're one that likes to be cautious and not take risks, try the following...

First, if your Device uses a Removable Memory Card like an SD or Micro SD Card, you could just buy an adapter that fits that card and, after removing the Card GENTLY from your Device, plug it into the adapter and the adapter into the Computer, and just copy it all through My Computer, where you'll be able to access both your Flash Drive and your SD or other Memory Card. That way, you don't have to worry about Syncing because since the Device isn't plugged in, the computer doesn't recognize anything but the Memory Card. I'd reccomend that first because it's usually less dangerous in my experience. However, if your Device uses a Hard Drive, it's a little trickier. If so, you might try this next idea, but I'd reccomend checking with someone that knows about your specific Hardware/Software better than I do. I don't know what kind of MP3 Player you're using, so I don't know if it's a good idea.

Read the following, but DO NOT try to do perform this unless someone with more experience with the stuff you're working with tells you it's a safe thing to do.

First, plug it in to your USB Port, and your USB Flash Drive to the other one (most computers have at least two). Then, when/if the option comes up to Synchronize, click "No". After that, go into "My Computer", and look for both of them under "Devices With Removable Storage" if you're using a PC, and whatever the equivalent of that is on any other computer if you're using something else (I don't know the first thing about Macs, so you might have to ask someone else if you use one of them). Open up the the folders that correspond with your Flash Drive and your MP3 Player (they should be clearly labeled to the point where you'd know them if you saw them, for instance, with their Model #'s showing below a USB Symbol of some kind). Get to the point in the MP3 Player's Memory Storage where you can access any Sub-Folder in it by clicking on a larger Folder. Hilight all of them, then click and drag them into the symbol the computer uses to show your USB Flash Drive. Either that, or hilight them all, right click and hit "Send to", then select your USB Flash Drive as the Destination.

Once again, DO NOT DO THAT unless someone who knows your Player's Technology well tells you it sounds like a good plan. If you don't take my advice in asking an expert first, don't blame me if you end up needing to buy a whole new MP3 Player and/or Computer. Consider yourself duly warned.

Also, you could contact Customer Service for whatever company made it. There should be a Phone Number for that in it's Instruction Booklet. They would be a good place to look for further advice about either of the methods I just mentioned before trying them out. Just ask them something like, "Is it safe to copy files from my MP3 Player through 'My Computer', or will that do more harm than good?"

Oh, and a little side advice, you might want to mention in your Question or Sub-Details the exact Make and Model of your MP3 Player and the type of Computer (Mac, PC, etc.) if you want the best advice in a place like this. Otherwise, we can only give you basic, general information that might actually be horribly damaging to your stuff.

Good luck either way,

*Blessings of Darkness and Light*

-Valkyri

Answer 3

sync means to 'Synchrornise' your ipods contents to those selected in itunes.

the ipod is the slave player to the itunes on your computer and can  only be paired and synced to one computer at a time, however itunes can have MANY ipods to it.

if you remove the music from itunes then on next sync it will remove the music from your player! ITUNES is the Master!! keep the music on itunes and  only select certain playlists to sync if you dont have enough room.

to back up  the music you back up the computer not the ipod as the ipod has tracks in hidden folders with hidden index files created by itunes.

Back up the contents of your itunes folder to a USB flash driver or Hard disk regularly to protect your purchases.

thats why you lost you tracks you deleted them form itunes thinking it was the ipod that controlled it all but its itunes that does that!

a very common mistake!

Answer 4

To sync is to synchronize. To get 2 things in a state of equality. Like in the movies when they synchronize their watches, they make them all the exact time.

When you synchronize an MP3 player, it should make the data on that the same as what is on the computer.

You may have done one of the following:

1. "Cut" the songs from your MP3, rather than "Copied" them.

2. Changed a setting so that it did not sync the 2, just left some data where it was without changing it. (My Blackberry does this when it sees that a contact in my phone is not the same as what is on my PC. It asks me if I want to merge (sync) the two or leave them as individual items.

I would find another way to remove the music from your MP3 and save them in a file maybe called "Music (Master Copies)" so you know never to delete them unless you are sure the transfer worked.

Good luck.

Answer 5

sync means to upload, idk why it would have deleted your songs

tech support?