How long should an iPhone 3G back up take?

Question

Level 2

176 points

How long should an iPhone 3G back up take?

Most of the time I just cancel the backup because it takes so dang long. We're talking over an hour here.

I have a 16Gb 3G which contains the following:

7.6Gb Audio
3.22Gb Video
991Mb Photos
668Mb Other
2.1Gb Free Space

Should a backup take that long? Should iTunes backup every sync?

Also, updates to applications take forever to apply. Is this normal?

Thanks

iMac Core 2 Duo, G5 2Ghz iMac, G4/533 upgraded to 1.33GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iPhone 3G, 1st Gen iPhone

Posted on Jul 27, 2008 9:35 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Allan Sampson

Level 10

123,677 points

Jul 27, 2008 10:17 AM in response to Jailer Joe

Your "Other" is high.

The backup stores all data not included with the sync process such as iPhone settings, SMS messages, notes, recent calls, call favorites, photos captured by your iPhone, 3rd party applications, and any data created and stored by 3rd party applications.

It should not take over an hour, not even close.

I suggest trying a Restore with iTunes.

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Answer 2

Jailer Joe Author

Level 2

176 points

Jul 27, 2008 10:16 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Thanks Allan. I was afraid that I might get that answer. I do have a ton of apps loaded, could that account for the "other"?

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Answer 3

Jul 27, 2008 10:18 AM in response to Jailer Joe

The only content that is backed up is Other, which contains SMS messages, settings, email, internal and 3rd party application data, etc. Everything else is duplicated in other apps (iTunes, photo app, address book, calendar, etc). If you don't have a USB 2 port (only 1.1) that could explain why it is taking that long.

As suggested, try a Restore.

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Answer 4

Jul 27, 2008 10:19 AM in response to Jailer Joe

You're welcome.

Even with a ton of apps installed, I believe your Other category is high.

Do a sync to update your iPhone's backup, and then try a Restore from your iPhone's backup. If this does not help, you may need to bite the bullet and Restore your iPhone as a new iPhone or not from your iPhone's backup.

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Answer 5

Andrew T.

Level 4

3,219 points

Jul 27, 2008 3:37 PM in response to Jailer Joe

I know with me mine typically took 5 to 10 min tops.

But this could very well be different from iPhone to iPhone based on the content you have and weather or not is local to the machine as well.

Also depending on your USB Port speed this can also affect the backing up process.

Also if you are doing other things on the machine that use other resources it can take those resources away from iTunes and slow backup process down.

But typical time 5 to 10 min average on most phones.

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Answer 6

[RM]

Level 1

124 points

Jul 27, 2008 4:10 PM in response to Jailer Joe

I can help you, SEARCH! I gave a solution several times already and this is going to be last time I;m repeating myself!

1. In iTunes go to File menu on top and click on "Transfer purchases from ..."
2. Go to Edit - Preferences - Sync, click on "Clear sync history", then delete all your backups from the list on top (bu selecting and clicking remove).
3. Sync your phone and patiently wait for it to backup, will take a while, you might think it didn't work, but after this new backup, you should notice the difference.

Just to be clear, some say it didn't work for them, but it helped me to get 30 seconds backups every time for 2 weeks now. All I do now is if I install new apps I transfer purchases again (and iTunes asks me to do so automatically).

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Answer 7

Jailer Joe Author

Level 2

176 points

Jul 27, 2008 4:19 PM in response to [RM]

If you're getting tired of answering this question then don't. No one is forcing you to read and/or post to these questions. Thanks anyway for the reply.

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Answer 8

[RM]

Level 1

124 points

Jul 27, 2008 5:57 PM in response to Jailer Joe

Your welcome, I hope this works for you. And as I said, that was a last time.

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Answer 9

Jailer Joe Author

Level 2

176 points

Jul 28, 2008 3:05 AM in response to Jailer Joe

Well I finally had to restore to pristine condition and then rebuild my iPhone from scratch. The most recent backup failed because it was corrupt. That was nice as I had a ton of info in Notes. So I went back event further and backed up from a really old backup and was able to get most of my notes back anyway. I then emailed each to myself and restored the 3G back to factory settings. At that point my "other" category was at about 200Mb's. I added all the apps I wanted performed a sync and now my Other is 648Mb's. If you all thought this was big before, now its even bigger and doesn't include any notes, SMS messages, app data, etc., because it's a brand new factory restore.

I've got my iPhone cord plugged directly into one of the USB ports on the back of my mid 2007 Aluminum iMac so I'm assuming it's USB 2.

I'm backing up now and if it continues at this pace it'll take about an hour.

Joe

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Answer 10

SLRdude

Level 1

8 points

Jul 28, 2008 9:35 AM in response to Jailer Joe

I also have the same problem.
It got to the point to where I simply won't connect my phone to iTunes anymore!
Every time I connect it the phone wants to back up and it takes anywhere between 1 hour and 1.5 hours. Obviously, it will not sync unless you wait for the back up to complete!

I restored twice and it did not fix the problem.

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Answer 11

VFIVE

Level 1

10 points

Jul 28, 2008 6:11 PM in response to Jailer Joe

Solution - turn backup off. Just means you will not have a backup to restore from but if you dont have a few hours to wait every time you need to restore the backup and up to an hour to wait every time you sync then you wont care.

Mac:
http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/07/27/mac-users-disable-iphone-backup-for-faster-sy nc/

Windows:
http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/07/27/windows-users-disable-itunes-backup-for-faste r-sync/

Also this has been reported to help:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/iphone-freak/~3/348464156/quick-tip-speed-up-your -itunes-sync-without-disabling-the-backup.html

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Answer 12

Jailer Joe Author

Level 2

176 points

Aug 7, 2008 10:31 PM in response to Jailer Joe

The first couple backups after 2.0.1 were relatively short: 30 minutes or less. Now we're back to at least an hour maybe a couple.

This ***** bad.

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Answer 13

jdTrader

Level 1

21 points

Aug 7, 2008 10:45 PM in response to Jailer Joe

Look at my post:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1654164&tstart=0

It should answer all your questions including why all of us have backups that vary so much in time.

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Answer 14

nikey33

Level 1

149 points

Aug 8, 2008 9:48 AM in response to Andrew T.

yes i agree mine takes 5 mins my old iphone with 2.0 did the same and now i have iphone 3g and it still only takes 5 mins

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Answer 15

Jailer Joe Author

Level 2

176 points

Aug 10, 2008 2:44 PM in response to jdTrader

That's a good explanation but is there a solution to fixing this? Today I plugged my iPhone into my Mac to do a sync backup. I knew it would take forever so I plugged it in at about 2:00 figuring it would be done by the time I had to go to work. It's now 4:40 and it was only half way backed up so I, as usual, just x'd out of the backup in iTunes.

This is getting ridiculous.

I looked at the MobleSync folder and it's now 1.57Gb's and hasn't been modified since last Wednesday. What the **** is it doing during backups if it's not modifying any files?

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