Sync iPhone with new computer

I just wiped out my laptop and started over again from scratch - foolishly thinking that my iPhone would simply re-sync up and get all it’s purchased applications from iTunes on the new system…

In plugging my iPhone into the re-formatted computer and going into the applications tab and clicking the sync checkbox for applications, it warns me that:
— — —
Are you sure you want to sync applications? all existingapplications and their data on the iPhone “My iPhone” will be replaced with applications from this iTunes Library
— — —

I had thought my applications purchased list was maintained via my iTunes store logon - but apparently this is not the case?

What do I do? I don’t have a backup of my iTunes library….?

If you are trying to recover items from your iPhone that you have previously purchased and are no longer on your hard drive, you will need to use a program like Senuti or DiskAid to do a reverse transfer. I have used Senuti to restore music files, but I’ve never tried it for apps. If it doesn’t work, DiskAid may be the best option.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23390

http://www.digidna.net/diskaid/

Your application purchases are definetly stored on your iTunes account. You can go ahead and jsut redownload them and after entering your password you will b told that you have already purchase this and it will download again for free.

Unfortunately if you don’t have a backup on iTunes then you will have to download them all indivdually from the store, you want be able to restore from a backup as these were stored locally on the computer. The same is true for your songs…