Need to sync new iPhone with Time Machine back up

I just purchased a new iPhone 6 Plus. I'm figuring the best thing to do is restore it from my current phone's BU. One problem is that my main computer (the one my phone was associated with) has died. I'm now working on my laptop until I can purchase a new computer.

So, I need to restore from my Time Machine disk. Can I start my new phone from the BU file? Thing is, I can't locate the file. Two places I've tried:

Latest/Macintosh HD/Users/"Computer Name"/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup - (The folder is empty)

Latest/Macintosh HD/Users/Library/Application Support - (This folder ends the chain and is an Alias)

What do I do? Shouldn't there be a backup file? And if not, can I make a backup from my phone, even if I don't have the computer with the iTunes that it belongs to?

A secondary question would be - once I do get a new computer, can then transfer the phone's identity to the new computer so I can synch from there?

Thanks.

If your current phone is still working, back it up to iCloud and then restore from the iCloud backup to your new iPhone 6. You should have an iCloud account. Just make sure you sign in to your iCloud account with your Apple ID and password.

Well, I never did set up iCloud. I will set it up now and see how it goes. I'd need to pay for something big enough to store my whole phone. Or can you choose to only BU certain things, and say leave out Photos and Music? I might want to just BU all of that anyway, it's not very expensive.

I backed up my phone through wifi and then restored my new phone from the iCloud BU. I've noticed that there is no music (except some awful band named U2), and it only copied more recent photos. Is there a way to have all of it copied over?

Actually, photos were in PHOTOS, not ALBUMS. I'm guessing it only keeps them on the cloud and not locally on the phone?

Ok, so I have a secondary issue I'd like some advice on, if you can please.

As I mentioned, I'm on my laptop which is my second computer. My first is dead. I haven't purchased a new computer yet, not sure when I'll have it up and running.

Should I sync my new phone with my laptop and then transfer it to the new computer later (is that easy to do?)

Or is there a way to create an external library, etc that I can sync to, which I will be able to access and sync to with my new computer? How is the best way to do that? Can it be the whole phone identity or just the media files? Link?

And...however I choose to do this, can I start with my old iTunes identity, from my TM back up? How would I do that?

Thanks!

Should I sync my new phone with my laptop and then transfer it to the new computer later (is that easy to do?)

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Yes, it's actually easier than you might think. Assuming you buy a new Mac, when you turn it on the first time it's going to run the automatic Migration Assistant. The MA will ask if you wish to transfer data from another Mac. If you made a full Time Machine backup of your old Mac, and attach the Time Machine drive to your new Mac, everything will be transferred. All you need to do then is associate your iPhone with the new Mac and sync as usual.

And...however I choose to do this, can I start with my old iTunes identity, from my TM back up? How would I do that?

Click to expand...

You're going to keep and use your same Apple ID and password regardless of which device you're on. As long as you don't deviate, there shouldn't be any problems. I have done the same thing several times from one Mac to another and from an iPhone and iPad without running into problems.