Will updating iPod touch erase songs/apps?

Question

I have an iPod touch (not mine) connected to my PC (authorized and linked to the same account of the iPod's owner). The thing is configured for manual sync, current music and apps are on a different PC. Will updating the OS erase music/apps? If so how can I backup them before? Right clicking on the iPod and selecting "Backup" runs too fast, I don't think it copied the whole 3Gb over.

Solution

As commenters above suggest iTunes will only backup configuration files and whatnot. All content is supposed to be available in the iTunes library with which the iPod syncs, so iTunes will happily erase it, leaving to you the "burden" to restore stuff after the update. In my case I solved the problem using Sharepod to get content off the iPod before updating.

Comments

[Olli]

I think (therefore, I am not posting this as an answer) that iTunes backup assumes files are available anyway, so it'll just backup filelists and settings.

[peelman]

Its been my experience (but its not scientific so i'm not posting as an answer) that doing maintenance ops on an iPod on a machine other than the one it was originally synced from will blow it away and all content will be lost.

[Seth Painter]

To stop people coming in trying to solve a question that seems to be "unanswered" you should post your resolution as an answer and accept it. This will also help other users find the answer easier should they need it.