Why is iPhone backing up everytime I sync now?

Thanks Oliver, that makes sense; makes you wonder what kind of testing Apple did? It should be more like time-machine; incremental backups only.

For me it is the music. It backs up all of my music even if I haven't changed anything, every single time. Takes about 30 minutes.

OK, Here's WHY, right from the (new) manual:

Creating Backups
Backups can be created in the following ways:
ÂÂ Once iPhone has been configured to sync with a particular computer, iTunes
automatically makes a backup of iPhone on that computer when you sync. iTunes
won’t automatically back up an iPhone that is not configured to sync with that
computer. *If you have configured iPhone to automatically sync with iTunes on a*
*specific computer, iTunes will back up iPhone every time you connect it to that*
computer. Automatic syncing is turned on by default. iTunes only makes one backup
each time you connect, even if you sync multiple times before disconnecting.
ÂÂ *If you choose to update the software on iPhone, iTunes will back up iPhone*
*automatically, even if it is not configured to sync with iTunes on that computer.*
ÂÂ If you choose to restore the software on iPhone, iTunes asks if you want to back up
iPhone before restoring.

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Now WHY IT TAKES SO LONG when it never did prior to 2.0 is another question. I've resorted to letting it backup on occasion, but most of the time I just sync.

Gerald Edgar,

Just to the right of the backup progress bar in the iTunes status window.

Hope this helps,

Nathan C.

People, as mentioned numerous times it is the Apps that is causing the long backups. If you have a lot of Apps, it's going to take a lot longer. I assume the reason it backs up the Apps every time you connect is to save your settings on the App. For example, on game apps I assume it is backing up what level you are currently on and your scores. For other Apps, I would imagine it is backing up your preferences, etc...

I have noticed this taking an extreme amount of time. I used to always back up with 1.1.4 and it never took this long. It's like the system is actually "moving" data instead of just looking for changed data and modifying the backup file to reflect only those changes. Either way, this is a very resource intensive process. Any answer from the Apple gods?

then the system should allow you to select which Apps to back up instead of doing them all at once.