Can an iPad be cloned to an external USB Flash Drive and then restore from the drive?

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Level 1

39 points

Can an iPad be cloned to an external USB Flash Drive and then restore from the drive?

A good friend of mine is going to a remote place with his family. I introduced them to iPads and everyone in the family has at least one now, some have 2. He’s going to the remote place for 6-8 months, no internet avail. He’s wondering if there’s a way to clone an iPad to an external thumbdrive and then restore from the drive. His plan is to take 2 spare ipads and if someone in the family has an ipad that gets damaged or dies, restore it to one of the spares. He’s very worried about family entertainment w/o internet and the loss of an an iPad could be rough. He’s NOT an expert or even proficient w. iPads technically, so the simpler the better. Since I’m the ipadpusher (lol) I’ll help him before he leaves. Thanks in advance.

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

iPad Pro, iPadOS 16

Posted on Nov 17, 2024 5:00 PM

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Answer 1

Phil0124

Level 10

208,783 points

Nov 17, 2024 5:23 PM in response to unxrules

You cannot backup an iPad directly to a thumb drive.

You can backup to a computer, Mac or PC, and then copy the backup to a thumb drive, but you would then need a computer to restore that backup onto the new iPad.

With that said, without internet, the iPads will be limited to whatever is downloaded onto them prior to losing internet access and would be pretty hard to download 6 to 8 months of content on them.

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Answer 2

Dec 11, 2024 4:58 AM in response to unxrules

unxrules wrote:

If he has the device backed up to a computer does it require internet to restore? He said he’s taking a couple laptops. I dont know if he has an apple laptop, but does it matter? Thanks for the response!

Unlike an iCloud backup (that requires an internet connection with which to access the backup to be restored), a local backup to the computer using Finder/iTunes (Mac) or Apple Devices/iTunes (Windows PC) does not require an internet connection.

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Restore all content to iPad from a backup - Apple Support

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Answer 3

unxrules Author

Level 1

39 points

Dec 10, 2024 5:29 PM in response to Phil0124

If he has the device backed up to a computer does it require internet to restore? He said he’s taking a couple laptops. I dont know if he has an apple laptop, but does it matter? Thanks for the response!

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Answer 4

Phil0124

Level 10

208,783 points

Dec 11, 2024 6:12 AM in response to unxrules

unxrules wrote:

If he has the device backed up to a computer does it require internet to restore? He said he’s taking a couple laptops. I dont know if he has an apple laptop, but does it matter? Thanks for the response!

No. Restoring a backup from a computer does not require a internet connection.

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