
It is inevitable that you will have to update the iPad to a new Operating System. When a new update comes out, it is important to decide if the update is worth the time and investment. If it is only a small update, it may be better to wait for a few updates to come out before updating all of the iPads.

With that said, iOS 5 recently came out, and everyone is anxious to update devices. After testing, we found the fastest way to update multiple devices at once is to use Xcode. Xcode for Lion is mainly a developer tool, but it also works well to update many devices at once, thus bypassing iTunes' one update at a time. After testing, we were able to restore 30 iPads in about 3 hours using Xcode. Xcode will take a while to download and install, so begin that process now.
The current directions will discuss how to use Xcode to update an iPad to iOS 5.0. In order to update to iOS 5.0, you must use a Mac that is running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. You cannot use Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard to update devices to iOS 5.0.
If you are only updating a few devices, it is probably not wise to use this method. The easiest method to update a small number of devices is to plug the iPad into the computer and update through iTunes. Using iTunes, you can only update one iPad at a time.
Before continuing, you need to make a decision about the iPad you will be updating. Do you want to preserve all of the data on the device, or is it ok to wipe it and start from scratch? Depending on your decision, click the link below.
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