Running Windows 10 - 64 bit. When I make backups of my iPhone or iPad it goes to the C drive. I have limited space on the C drive. I don't see a way to move the backups to another physical drive. I've tried symbolic links, and the backup seems to run but I can't find the backups.
Windows, Windows 6
Please accept my apologies. Part of the problem was that I forgot that the time stamp on a directory is the time of the creation of the directory not the latest time stamp of the files.
Here is the command that I used:
mklink /D "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" d:\apple
You have to be running as admin for this.
Thank you for your help.
Please accept my apologies. Part of the problem was that I forgot that the time stamp on a directory is the time of the creation of the directory not the latest time stamp of the files.
Here is the command that I used:
mklink /D "C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" d:\apple
You have to be running as admin for this.
Thank you for your help.
Raicya wrote:
See turingtest2 User Tip -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2682
That’s a great tip for backing up the iTunes library, but JGostl wants to force iTunes to back up an iPhone to an external drive instead of the Windows C:\ drive, which is not even close to the same thing as backing up the iTunes library. iPhone backups are not stored in the iTunes library.
While it sounds like you are doing everything right, there is something that is not correct. This process has a long history of working.
When you go to the default backup location (find it here→ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204215) do you see your symbolic link? When you click on it does it take you to the backup?
If you set up symbolic links correctly it works. The way you find the backups is to open iTunes Preferences, Devices pane, and you should see the backups. If you right click on a backup there will be a link to go to the backup on the disk.
There are quite a few sites that explain how to do this. Here is one chosen at random (and also because it doesn’t try to sell you unnecessary software)→https://www.intowindows.com/backup-iphone-to-external-hard-drive-using-itunes-in-windows-10/
Note that other than just confirming that the backup is safely on your drive, there isn’t much point in looking at it; there’s nothing you can do with it other than restore it to your iPhone. Although you can get a 3rd party iPhone backup extractor program (google for some) to view and extract data from the backup.
Understandable. It is logical to assume that a backup made with iTunes would be located in the iTunes library folder. The fact that it is in a completely different location that varies from version to version of Windows (and also Mac OS) is not intuitive.
Let me take it step by stop.
(1) I locate the default folder.
(2) I do a backup to make sure I'm in the right place.
(3) I create a new folder on a different drive.
(4) I copy the existing backups to the new folder.
(5) I delete the original backup folder.
(6) I create a symbolic link from the location of the old folder to the new one.
(7) I follow the chain to the "old" backup folder and confirm that it is infact pointing at the new folder.
(8) I make a backup. It seems to run to conclusion cleanly.
(9) The backup in step (8) is now where to be found.
Let me be precise.
After I move the backups, and set up the link, I do the following from the command prompt.
c:
cd "\Users\myname\Appdata\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup"
And I see the backups I copied to the new drive but not the new one.
Ah, well, what may be happening is that iTunes does not create “new” backups. It maintains one backup that is updated incrementally. So if you see the backup you copied that backup was updated, a new one was not created. When you look at the Summary screen in iTunes it should list the date and time of the most recent backup. Is that information correct?
If you actually open the backup folder you will see many thousands of files; if you use Windows Explorer to sort them by date you should see some file dates that match your most recent backup.
The first backup after an iOS update will be a new backup, but other than that there is only one backup for a device.
I'm usually pretty conscious of time stamps, but here is what I will try tonight. I will start with an empty backup folder on the new drive and make a backup.
P.S. I think you are wrong but I'll be happy to apologize later. :)
See turingtest2 User Tip -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Exactly!
I fell into that one myself. It took me a while to realize what was happening.
I'm pretty sure I set up the link correctly. I've done this with other programs like Outlook and it worked.
The backup seems to run but the backup itself is nowhere to be found.
Do you see the backup when you open iTunes Preferences and open the Devices page?
The one thing you didn’t answer: Do you see the backup when you open iTunes Preferences and open the Devices page?
Before I make any changes, I see new backups on the default page.
After I make the changes, and make a backup, I can't find the new backup.
backup iPhone change drives
