Back up iPhone to an external hard drive.
How to back up iPhone to an external hard drive in macOS Ventura 13.3.1 (a)
Is there a way like in the past with iTunes that you can back up iPhone to an external hard drive.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.3
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Prerequisites:
1. Make sure your external hard drive is formatted correctly for macOS and has enough space.
2. Ensure your Mac is running a recent version of macOS.
Steps:
1. Connect iPhone to Mac: Use a USB or USB-C cable.
2. Connect External Hard Drive: Ensure it’s accessible from your Mac.
3. Open Finder: Your iPhone should appear in the Finder’s sidebar.
4. Select your iPhone: Click on it in the sidebar.
5. Back Up Your iPhone:
• Select “Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac.”
• Click “Back Up Now.”
6. Locate Backup Folder: The default backup location is in a folder called “Backup” within the user’s Library.
• ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
7. Copy Backup to External Drive: Drag the Backup folder to your external hard drive.
Redirect Future Backups to External Drive (Optional):
1. Rename Original Backup Folder: You can name it “Backup Old” or similar.
2. Create a Symlink:
• Open Terminal.
• Create a symlink from the original backup location to your external drive with a command like:
ln -s /Volumes/YourExternalDriveName/Backup ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/
3. Verify the Symlink: Check that the symlink redirects to your external hard drive.
Important Points:
• Always eject your external hard drive safely.
• Regularly verify that backups are completing successfully.
• This process is unofficial; Apple officially supports backups to iCloud or your Mac’s internal drive only.