How to Update iPhone3GS to iOS5

Updating iPhone 3GS to iOS5 was not an easy thing to do:

• Removed 6GB+ stuff from the device: apps, videos, books, music
• Cleared 20GB free disk space at MacBook Pro
• Installed all Mac OS updates released AFTER iTunes update
• Reboot
• Try to update for umpteenth time

That took about 3 hours on late Wednesday night and 2 hours on early Thursday morning with 5 hours sleep in between.

Pro tip: make sure you don't have any wake up alarms setup to tricker during update! It's e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y annoying to listen to the alarm, while not being able to shut it down. I had to skip Apple ID phase just to SHUT-THE-FC*K-UP clock alarm. Don't really care what did I screw up.

It was either that or introducing iPhone to my fine-tune hammer. Very close call (after all those hours wasted to fail with update).