Moving Books from iPad to iPad Mini

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

1) When I try to copy the books from the iPad to iTunes, I'm unable to do so manually. Just the circle with the line through it. Apparently, I have to have iTunes set to manage the books. When I try to click that button (and the button to allow me to only manage selected books), iTunes tells me that it will erase whatever is on the iPad to replace it with what is in iTunes.

I've never actually used iTunes to manage my ebooks but from experience, all iBooks files gets copied to iTunes when I do Right-Click >> Transfer Purchases on the iOS device in iTunes. I really just do the transfer purchases so I don't have to re-download large apps, etc on iTunes but I've noticed doing so also transferred ebooks (including non-iBooks epub files) to iTunes.

Originally Posted by MSWallack

So here is where I am. I've been planning on transitioning to Marvin ... and this fiasco made the transition a higher priority. Long story short (and I can give details to anyone interested), I was able to use Calibre to determine which books were on my iPad and then bulk copy those books from Calibre to Marvin on the iPad mini.

This is likely your best option in the long run.

[MSWallack]

The problem with the "Transfer Purchaes" option is that it only works for books purchased in iTunes. With very limited exceptions, I haven't purchased books via iTunes; rather, I purchame elsewhere and then sideload them into iBooks.

[Cranfordrd]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Assuming you use iBooks, if you still have the iPad 3, you can transfer the ebooks from the iPad 3 to iTunes and then just sync with the Mini. Bookmarks, collections, etc should be retained.

The books were not purchased in the ibook store, they are DRM free books in ibooks. They do not appear when syncing in itunes. Any other ideas?

[MSWallack]

Do you have the books in Calibre or elsewhere on your hard drive?

[Cranfordrd]

"So here is where I am. I've been planning on transitioning to Marvin ... and this fiasco made the transition a higher priority. Long story short (and I can give details to anyone interested), I was able to use Calibre to determine which books were on my iPad and then bulk copy those books from Calibre to Marvin on the iPad mini.[/QUOTE]"

I'm in the same position. I'd lvoe the details!A few hundred books existing solely on ipad. Can you explain how you got them to new ipad? I dont have calibre or Marvin but would get them if there is a method that would help me keep all the books.

[MSWallack]

Hmm. My books all resided on my hard drive in Calibre so I was able to use that as my starting point. If your books are only on your iPad, then I'm not sure...

If you can download the books to your hard drive and into Calibre, that is probably your best shot. If not, I've seen suggestions that backing up the books to iCloud and then restoring from iCloud on the iPad mini might work.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

The problem with the "Transfer Purchaes" option is that it only works for books purchased in iTunes. With very limited exceptions, I haven't purchased books via iTunes; rather, I purchame elsewhere and then sideload them into iBooks.

I have one "purchased" (was free) book on iBooks. I also do the same thing as you and just sideload (mostly via Dropbox) and at least on previous versions, all my personal epub files on iBooks got copied to iTunes when I use Transfer Purchases. Granted, I pretty much only do the Transfer Purchases/Backup thing when I upgrade devices once a year so I don't know if Apple has changed this behavior.

[MSWallack]

Really? I didn't think to try a manual transfer purchases to see if that would copy my sideloaded books. Looks like I have something to try...

[JTravers]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

Really? I didn't think to try a manual transfer purchases to see if that would copy my sideloaded books. Looks like I have something to try...

I was surprised when you said that it wouldn't work for non-ibooks epubs. I thought I must be getting senile because that's the same thing I do to back up and sync my ebooks between devices. Maybe try before replying next time, haha

[MSWallack]

iTunes does an automatic transfer and that automatic transfer didn't copy books that had been sideloaded. I don't know if a manual transfer purchases will pick up those books. I never thought that a manual vs. automatic transfer would capture different information! (But I haven't had a chance to test it yet...)

[JTravers]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

iTunes does an automatic transfer and that automatic transfer didn't copy books that had been sideloaded. I don't know if a manual transfer purchases will pick up those books. I never thought that a manual vs. automatic transfer would capture different information! (But I haven't had a chance to test it yet...)

A good point. This really shouldn't be that complicated. One of the weaknesses of the iTunes sync model and a reason why the whole interface and model needs to be rethought.

[meeera]

It does depend on the type of transfer you choose. I recently got a new iPad. Chose a full manual backup within iTunes, then did a Restore with the new iPad, and I think all my sideloaded books/graphic novels (I haven't checked absolutely everything) were within the apps where they were supposed to be.

iCloud, of course, is a whole different story. It's not a way to transfer all your sideloaded data, only data created in a select few apps.

Here's some info on what backups contain:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

iCloud, of course, is a whole different story. It's not a way to transfer all your sideloaded data, only data created in a select few apps.

Most modern apps seem to support iCloud backup. Both the Kindle App and iBooks do. If you go to the iCloud configuration options in "Settings", you can select which apps do or don't backup their data to iCloud.