How do I change the backup location on a Windows 10 PC. By default iTunes backups go to my C:\ drive filling it up needlessly. I would like to backup to another internal harddrive.

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How do I change the backup location on a Windows 10 PC. By default iTunes backups go to my C:\ drive filling it up needlessly. I would like to backup to another internal harddrive.

Is there a way to change the defaul location for iTunes backup on a Windows 10 PC? iTunes is backing up to my C:\ drive and filling it up needlessly. I would like it to backup to an alternate internal harddrive insteat. Using the MkLink command to create a symbolic link to a different directory and file only results in the creation of a mirror of the backup file to the new location. Any other ideas that can accomplish this task?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Jul 18, 2022 6:42 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

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278,015 points

Jul 19, 2022 2:35 AM in response to spcline

See Relocate iOS device backups. If you've set up the symbolic link correctly the data will appear to be on the C: drive, where iTunes expects to find it, but only takes up space in the new location you've chosen.

Review the rest of the Make a split library portable user tip for advice on organizing the library on secondary storage.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

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278,015 points

Jul 20, 2022 3:06 AM in response to spcline

Note the free space on your various drives. Find a large file on your computer, select and copy it. Paste it into the backup folder on C: drive. Free space will go only down on the drive that hosts the data, not on the C: drive. iTunes writes to the original location (it doesn't know how to do otherwise) but the operating system stores the data on a different drive. Delete the file you copied after testing. Note that you still need to keep sufficient free space on the C: drive for a full backup as this is where iTunes checks to make sure there is room to complete a backup before it will stat.

tt2

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Answer 3

spcline Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 19, 2022 4:45 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you for the reply. I went ahead and followed the procedure referenced. The only difference between this procedure and the one that I was following was the portion than instructed to 'move' the backup folder from the default directory to the new location. I wasn't 'moving' the backup folder, I was copying it to the new directory location. The results, however are the same. After backing up my iPhone I ended up with two identical 35GB backup files. One in the default backup location and one in the new location. It sure looks to me like setting up the Junction (or symbolic) link does not stop the backup process from writing to the original default backup location. Any more thoughts?

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How do I change the backup location on a Windows 10 PC. By default iTunes backups go to my C:\ drive filling it up needlessly. I would like to backup to another internal harddrive.

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