how to move MobileSync backup folder?

For XP use a tool called NTFS Link. Move the folder <Profiles>\<AppData>\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup to another location, then create an empty folder called Backup in <Profiles>\<AppData>\Apple Computer\MobileSync and use NTFS Link to create the junction.

tt2

Thanks turingtest2 for the prompt response. Perhaps I did something wrong, as when I did the above and then tried to create the link, it came up as not allowed....is there something else I can do?

Hmm, try Junction instead.

tt2

Thanks again tt2. I downloaded Junction, but now it does not show up anywhere. On reviewing how to use it, it looks a tad beyond my capabilities so perhaps I will just not proceed with this shift at this time. Maybe I need more wine.....

Cheers and thanks again. Sorry to take up your time.

For anyone wondering, MKLink will work great win Win7/Win8; there are a few gotchas such as make sure the source directory does not exist for the junction link, etc. Anyway, use the built in Junction feature of Windows NTFS and this will behave without issue.

Cheers~

The best thing which worked for me is to uninstall itunes and reinstall it in the secondary drive I wanted to have backup. So next time I took backup it automatically was saved in my secondary drive....

I had to pause antivirus and also make a directory junction not only for Mobile Sync folder, but also for entire iTunes folder.

Ditto @sconstantine, I used the following link for reference when creating the MKLink

http://www.howtogeek.com/164275/how-to-change-the-backup-location-of-itunes-or-a ny-windows-app/

Alright - This is how I did it after trying numerous different methods, I didn't quite understand why it wasn't working properly, but this worked for me.

So this is what I did:

(Windows 7) - I recommend restarting your computer before beginning this and not OPENING iTunes - Also I didn't back up this folder because I noticed if I restarted iTunes with this folder deleted it would just recreate it. But remember your apple devices have backups located in the folders we're gonna use - So you should make a complete copy of this folder somewhere else - The folder you should backup is here C:\Users\mark\AppData\Roaming \mark\ will be whatever your usename, so if your's is john, it should be C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming the folder named Apple Computer is the one you wanna make a copy of.

1. Now head too this location in your C: drive. - C:\Users\mark\AppData\Roaming (The name of my username is "mark," so for example if your's is john it should be C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming - Just so you know this is a hidden folder, and if you don't see it, follow these steps)

• Windows orb,
• Control Panel
• folder options
• View Tab
• Look down through advance settings to the location "Hidden files and folders" make sure right below that you select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"

2. Now right click Apple Computer and make sure you select "cut" and not copy because we do not want this folder to be here once we get done moving it.

3. Now open up your external drive that you want to have these files located.

4. Click the Windows Orb, and then click Computer, now double click your external drive, now on blank space in the window right click, and select create new folder, in this example I named it iTunes.

Now open the iTunes folder you just created, and right click and hit paste, this may take a bit if you got a large "Apple Computer" folder - like mentioned it has a backup of your apple devices, mine was over 10GB.

5. Now If you get a pop up saying the file is in use and it wont transfer... you need to restart your computer. Then repeat the steps from 1 to 4. The files need to be completely transfered over. So if you open up C:\Users\mark\AppData\Roaming and see a folder called "Apple Computer" you didn't move it properly, restart from step one and make sure that folder is Completely Moved to your external location.

Minimize all the folders we've used so far.

6. Click Windows orb (bottom left)

7. In "Search Files or Programs" Type cmd, wait for it to give you a list of programs to open for cmd, then right click cmd.exe and make sure you select "Run as administrator" this just makes sure you don't have privlege issues.

8. Now the complicated part, this stuff will need to be replaced with the proper syntax for your computers setup, let's use mine as an example.

mklink /J "C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer" "D:\iTunes\Apple Computer"

Now you can copy and paste this into your Command Prompt. Your mklink will be different so check the example before you use this: mklink /J "C:\Users\Mark\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer" "D:\iTunes\Apple Computer" before you can begin.

Example: say if you're usename is john, you need to replace "mark" with "john," or if your external drive is labeled "Z" in my computers, and you want to backup to Z:\iTunes, you need to replace

"D:\iTunes\Apple Computer" with Z:\iTunes\Apple Computer. So it should looke like this with the examples inserted into the syntax:

mklink /J "C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer" "Z:\iTunes\Apple Computer"

Now if you're wondering about the "Apple Computer" in "C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer" what this is doing is creating a fake folder for iTunes called "Apple Computer" to see, then windows handles the process of linking the fake folder to the folder located on your external drive.

So if we go to "C:\Users\john\AppData\Roaming\" you should see an Apple Computer folder, with a different icon than a folder, you will see the folder with a little arrow icon.

At this point you should be finished, to be completely sure everything is working properly I opened up iTunes, if iTunes opens and it seems to be as it was before you did this process you should be fine. For my final test, I backed up my iPhone and made sure my C drive didn't take up more space after it was complete.

And all of these posts are necessarily because Apple won't allow iTunes to point to another backup directory.

Sheesh...

I already thought that iTunes was BS, but now I know for sure.

Shame they made us depend on it.

I hope they realise there are people using SSD's.

It works!!!

Awesome!!!

😀

tt2

can i cut the mobile sync backup folder from libraries folder and paste in the external hard disk so that i can get some additional space , and if required in future can i restore back it in library later when required.

Please advice.

Prakash Rangnekar wrote:

can i cut the mobile sync backup folder from libraries folder and paste in the external hard disk so that i can get some additional space , and if required in future can i restore back it in library later when required.

It will be recreated when you sync your iPhone.

Forgive me, but I'm stuck in Jack-*** with this issue...BUT WAIT, MINE's DIFFERENT!! ;-) HAHAHA.

THANKS IN ADVANCE GOTTA GET MY LITTLE GIRLS TO SCHOOL NO TIME FOR MORE PROOFING AND MAKING ONE SIMPLE PARAGRAPH INSTEAD OF THIS DIATRIBE. SO TAKE MY APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE AS WELL, PLEASE.

Sorry if this comes dis-jointed but I've been up all night (fortunately not with this)...but this has had me on a wild goose chase for used space on my Mac for the past 6 months or so. Since I never saw an option to "unhide" a folder when I switched over from PCs in 2010, I figured there wasn't such a thing. I come to learn (after simply searching Help an hour ago) that I can find a different folder named "Library" if I hold down the alt/option key WHILE clicking on "Go" in the FINDER Menu bar.....So those 6 months of fruitless searches and weeding of itty bitty files is gone, and now I know about this folder. I see it is HUGE (at least it is for my 250GB factory HDD). Obviously, I go through the folders inside this hidden libarary and, alas, I find the GIANT! There is one called "MobileSync" (obviously how I ended up reading all of ya'lls posts here and why I'm posting what I think is a question) that has somehow taken up 72 Gigs of space on my computer unbeknownst to me......Well you could give me the benefit of the doubt, I did know something was going on behind the curtain. So, while it's fresh, here's a new Wrinkle:

/Users/*MYNAME*/Library/Application Support/MobileSync (I believe the folder you speak of) is 72.GB large. And I read every post on this thread (except the PC ones), and it seems y'all are telling me that the MobileSync folder is a backup of your phone created, accessed, ammended/used by itunes during the backup part of the synching process. Do I have all that right?

OK, so where's the chase and how do I cut to it::: I DO have a 64GB iPhone 5...but has at total usage right now of only 17.8GB. (Home Screen | Settings | General | Usage ) - - - and at the top of the "Usage" page the first thing is a heading of "STORAGE", then it has two numbers underneath that. On the left it reads 39.4 GB Available. On the right it says "17.8 GB Used". Under that each App I have on my phone is listed in order of size (descending), what that their respective size/usage is ON my phone (i.e. my top one is "Photos & Camera" 9.9 GB, and you can click on that for further detail if you want.)

Needless to say is even if my phone was jammed with 64 Gigs, why would MobileSync be another 8Gig bigger?

Now, given I sync nothing but photos, videos (that I shoot with the phone), notes, calendar, reminders, and email settings (ONLY 1-way too, pics/vids from phone to computer no vice-versa)...and been doing so for oh going on 7 years and now 3 iphones (no complaints), and given how much of the SSD on said iphone is currently used [or rather UNused], why would iTunes make a 72 Gig backup of a 17 GB iphone???????

Noteworthy is I don't put any music, at all, or videos, podcasts, books, etc. ONTO my iphone, like, ever. Heck, I don't have them on this MBP, either.

So I guess what I'm saying is would somebody be kind enough to decipher what I'm getting at here first, and then clue me in a little if ya can. I'd be much obliged, and forever greatful. And again my apologies on the non-congruence of this post. It was a very rough night here on the east coast.

Also of note: I don't want to move this folder; just make sure it's the right size. First for physical redundancy I want a copy of my iphone backup on my MacBook Pro AND my 1TB USB External (Seagate), I also have my phone. That way if there's a fire and my computer and my laptop go up, I still have ALL of my iPhotos/"pics" and videos that I posses at least 2 different locations on the map... Now, I've been working on 'puters for years and seen many a HDD go, so if my OEM 250GB laptop drive quits, I'll have at the least a backup on time machine. So until I ran out of space to import my stuff from my phone into iPhoto and iMovie, I haven't been able to do my usual routine (use iTunes and back-up the iPhone, then sync it, then open iPhoto and import any new pics, open iMovie and import any new videos, sync with iTunes again, and run Time Machine).

My point with all that is I do want to free this space up, but I don't want to MOVE anything to another drive. I like the physical redundancy. I want to know why there are 1000's of random emails and text files and other malarkey in this folder.....or even worse of if you guys just show me a link to another thread that answers all this and I wouldn't have wasted even more time. I think I"m supposed to write SMH??? or is is ROFL...been too long.

Best, Gregg