[Headshot]

Yep, iPad Retina from 7 to 8, and my iPhone 5 is stuck on iOS7. There's not enough space on it to install 8. And Yosemite does not recognize my devices, neither of them, neither WiFi nor corded.

I can't back up my iPhone since iTunes, iPhoto, or even ImageCapture can see it. It was only a few weeks ago that I last dumped off some images into iPhoto so the pix aren't a huge deal, but I have tons of texts that will be trashed and some going back 4 years that are kind of sentimental along with a handful of voicemails I wanted to save.

So....other than the name of my MacPro being 'changed' somehow what in the world can I do to make my 2 devices recognize my Mac and V/V??

I don't ever use this one but this calls for it. I know I'm only 24 hours into Yosemite but...

[Boochie]

Could you install Mavericks onto an external drive, boot onto that, and use that strictly for the purpose of upgrading your iDevices? Then reboot back into Yosemite and go from there.