Excessive backups

Question

Level 3

933 points

Excessive backups

My iPad used to backup once per day/24 hour period (I don't remember which). Now however, it is backing up every time I sync. I'm not sure if this is an iPad problem or an iTunes 9.2 problem, though it does seem to have just started in the last 3 weeks. I do know that with iTunes 9.2 the backup time went from a few seconds to about 3 minutes, while my iPhone (updated to iOS for iPhone 4.0) stayed at a few seconds.

Does anyone know of a fix for this or is it possible that when iOS for iPad 4.0 is released sometime between the end of September and the end of December will fix it?

Active: iMac (G5, G4), PB G4, iPad, iPhone, iPod, MP2100 Retired: iMac G3, A2c, Mac OS X (10.5.8), Mac OS 10.4.11, Mac OS 9.2.2, iOS 4.0/3.2, Newton OS 2.1

Posted on Jul 14, 2010 10:43 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 14, 2010 3:33 PM in response to romad

romad wrote:
My iPad used to backup once per day/24 hour period (I don't remember which). Now however, it is backing up every time I sync. I'm not sure if this is an iPad problem or an iTunes 9.2 problem, though it does seem to have just started in the last 3 weeks. I do know that with iTunes 9.2 the backup time went from a few seconds to about 3 minutes, while my iPhone (updated to iOS for iPhone 4.0) stayed at a few seconds.

Does anyone know of a fix for this or is it possible that when iOS for iPad 4.0 is released sometime between the end of September and the end of December will fix it?

I'm not sure what you're talking about. The iPad and iPhone always back up for every sync. If you make incremental changes, it should take a few seconds. If you make a lot of changes, it does take more.

I have run into massive backups, of course, after you restore a new iPhone or iPad. And sometimes it takes a few syncs before it settles down. My iPhone 4 took about 5 syncs before it did the instantaneous backup, like you're used to.

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Answer 2

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 14, 2010 7:06 PM in response to OrangeMarlin

As I said, previously, that is before iTunes 9.2, when I synced my iPhone 3GS (iOS for iPhone 3.1.3) and my iPad (iOS for iPad 3.2) the FIRST sync of the day started with a backup which just took a few seconds. Then I would not see another backup operation until the next day (I don't know if it was a calendar" day or a "24 HR" day).

Now there is a backup operation EVERY sync as you've noticed. This isn't a problem with the iPhone 3GS that is now running iOS for iPhone 4.0, since after the initial 15 minute backup as part of the update, the backup & sync operation has stayed at a few seconds. The iPhone has about 11 GB on it with 18 GB free.

But with the iPad, there is still the several minute back up BEFORE the sync starts. The iPad has about 12 GB on it with 47 GB free.

I suspect that iTunes 9.2 is optimized for iOS for iPhone 4.0, so there is a slight mis-connect when I sync the iPad and it's iOS for iPad 3.2. So what I'm doing as a work-around, is canceling the backups until nighttime when I connect it to iTunes, start the sync operation and then go to bed. That way it'll be done by morning.

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Answer 3

StevePug2

Level 2

376 points

Jul 17, 2010 2:14 PM in response to romad

You can easily cancel the backup by simply hitting that X to the right of the "Backing up your iPad" message. The process will then simply proceed to the sync part and skip the backup.

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Answer 4

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 17, 2010 7:28 PM in response to StevePug2

BTDTGT

I'm asking about a permanent fix, not a temporary work-around.

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Answer 5

Lil Bob

Level 1

0 points

Jul 18, 2010 3:48 PM in response to StevePug2

Thanks Steve. That's good info for us newbies. I assumed doing that would shut down the whole process. Nice to know I can cut right to the sync and just backup periodically.

Bob

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Answer 6

StevePug2

Level 2

376 points

Jul 18, 2010 6:12 PM in response to romad

I'm afraid there is no permanent "fix" as it's designed that way. You may want to drop Apple a note about your idea in their feedback forum.

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Answer 7

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 18, 2010 9:05 PM in response to StevePug2

Actually, Steve, I've already done that: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11858296#11858296

However, I was hoping that someone else might have discovered a "permanent" fix until Apple fixed it in iTunes.

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Answer 8

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 19, 2010 9:58 PM in response to Lil Bob

Lil Bob wrote:
I assumed doing that would shut down the whole process. Nice to know I can cut right to the sync and just backup periodically.

Bob, it will do that if you click on the "x" while the "candy stripe" pattern is in the progress bar. Wait until the solid stripe starts to fill the bar before clicking on the "x". At that point the back up will stop, and you'll get the "candy stripe" again as a prelude to the actual sync.

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Answer 9

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 20, 2010 7:02 AM in response to romad

Well, iTunes 9.2.1 has fixed the long backup time for my iPad. Yesterday under iTunes 9.2.0, it took between 5 and 10 minutes to back up my iPad. This morning, iTunes 9.2.1 took less than a minute. So, I can live with it being backed up every time I sync.

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Answer 10

Lil Bob

Level 1

0 points

Jul 21, 2010 4:34 PM in response to romad

How much data did you backup on the new version of iTunes that only took a minute?

Bob

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Answer 11

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 21, 2010 9:22 PM in response to Lil Bob

Not sure. According to iTunes I have about 12 GB on my 64 GB iPad. However, I don't know if iTunes is backing up all 12 GB or just what has changed since the last backup.

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Answer 12

Mr.C UK

Level 2

410 points

Jul 22, 2010 3:50 AM in response to romad

There is no permanent fix for it as it is a design implementation and not a bug. The only way to stop it permanently is if Apple provided a way to configure the frequency of back ups. Back ups will take a long time if you have apps with a lot of small sized files. Apparently the magazine apps like Wired and Zinio seem to be examples of that.

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Answer 13

romad Author

Level 3

933 points

Jul 22, 2010 7:58 AM in response to Mr.C UK

Actually, Apple seems to have fixed it with the iTunes 9.2.1 update.

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