Proj X4: Acquiring an iPad image with iTunes (15 pts. extra credit)

What You Need

Purpose

Use iTunes to acquire data from an iPad. This is by far the easiest method.

Putting Evidence on the iPad

Start the iPad. If it's a CNIT iPad, the unlock code is CNIT (2648).

Open Settings and connect to a wireless network.

Web Browsing

Open Safari and browse to these Websites:

Email

If you are using a CNIT iPad, don't connect it to your real email account, since it's a shared device. On a computer, or the iPad, make a Gmail account to use for testing that you don't have any of your real, personal mail in. If you prefer to use some other service, like Yahoo or AOL, that's fine too.

On the iPad, open the Mail app. Click Google, or whatever email service you used. Follow the on-screen directions to connect to your email.

Send a test message to yourself.

Photo

Open the Camera and take a photo of yourself, or something else convenient.

Installing iTunes

On your computer, in a Web browser, go to

https://www.apple.com/itunes

Click "Download iTunes".

On the left side, uncheck the two boxes and click the blue "Download Now" button, as shown below.

Run the downloaded file.

In the "Welcome to iTunes" box, click Next.

In the "Installation Options" box, accept the default selections and click Install.

Wait while software installs. If boxes pop up asking for permission to install software, allow it to install.

In the "Congratulations" box, click Finish. iTunes will launch.

In the "iTunes Software License Agreement" box, click Agree.

iTunes opens as shown below.

Click "No Thanks".

It now shows a "Music" page. Just leave that page open.

Backing Up the iPad

With the iPad on, and showing your home screen, connect the iPad to your computer with the USB cable.

A box pops up on the iPad, saying "Trust this computer?". Click Trust.

Troubleshooting

If a box pops up on your computer saying "iTunes: an unknown error occurred (0xe8000084)" leave the iPad plugged in and restart the computer. Wait for iTunes to launch automatically.

When iTunes launches, click the little icon for your iPad or iPhone, as shown below.

This gets you to the "Welcome to Your New iPad" page.

A box pops up on your computer, asking 'Do you want to allow this computer to access information on "Cnit-iPad05"?', as shown below.

Click Continue.

On your computer, a page opens saying "Welcome to Your New iPad". Click Continue.

A page opens titled "Sync with iTunes". Click "Get Started".

If nothing seems to be happening, look at the top center of iTunes. It should show "Syncing", as shown below. Wait till the process finishes.

If you see the message below saying some files could not be backed up, just click OK to accept an incomplete backup, or press the Alt key to display the menu bar in iTunes and click Store, "Authorize this Computer...". to get a complete backup.

On the next page, in the "Backups" section, you should see a message saying "Latest Backup", showing that the iPad automatically backed up when you plugged it in. If that did not automatically happen, click "Back Up Now".

Capturing a Screen Image

Make sure the "Latest Backup" section shows that a backup was made, as shown above.

Press the PrntScrn key to capture the whole desktop. Open Paint and paste in the image.

Save the image as "Proj X4a from YOUR NAME".

YOU MUST SEND IN A WHOLE-DESKTOP IMAGE FOR FULL CREDIT

Shutting Down iTunes

Close iTunes.

Unplug the iPad from your computer. Close the iPad's lid.

Finding the Backup File

The instructions below are for Windows 7. If you are using some other OS, look here to find out where the backup files are:

Find and manage your iTunes backups

Click Start. In the Search bar, type:

%AppData%

Press Enter.

The "AppData > Roaming" folder should appear, as shown below.

Double-click these folders:

You will see a folder with a long hexadecimal name, as shown below.

Double-click that folder to open it. It contains a lot of files with hexadecimal names and no filename extensions, as shown below.

You need special tools to view those files, which we'll use in a future project.

Capturing a Screen Image

Make sure the list of hexadecimal filenames is visible, as shown above.

Press the PrntScrn key to capture the whole desktop. Open Paint and paste in the image.

Save the image as "Proj X4b from YOUR NAME".

YOU MUST SEND IN A WHOLE-DESKTOP IMAGE FOR FULL CREDIT

Turning in Your Project

Send the images to cnit.121@gmail.com with a subject of "Proj X4 from YOUR NAME".


Last revised: 5-6-15 10:57 am