How do I change the default locations for the iTunes music and iPhone back-up folders?

You can't selectively move individual folders withing the iTunes folder, but you can move the entire folder to, say, an external dive. To delink the iTunes application to the new library location:

• Open iTunes while holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows).
• In the resulting dialog, click the Choose Library button.
• Select the iTunes folder you moved to the external hard drive.
• Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows) and then choose the iTunes Library file inside .

Moving iOS Backup Data

You can redirect <Profile>\<AppData>\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup to a folder on another drive using NTFSLink (shell ext., might only work on XP) or Junction (cmd line tool).

In essence you move the existing folder to a new location, create an empty folder where the old one used to be, then get the operating system to link the two togther and silently redirect any file operation on the old location through to the new one.

Moving the iTunes Library

Provided the designated media folder is a direct subfolder of the main iTunes library folder then you can move the library folder to a new path, and hold down shift as you start iTunes to connect to the new location. If, however, you have previously split out the media folder via iTunes preferences then see this post on Making a split library portable.

NB Do not attempt to use folder redirection with any part of the iTunes library. For some reason the links are deleted as and when iTunes attempts to write any data to the path.

tt2

this fixed it for me, so easy when you know how, thank you so much

I am having the same issue. 😠 I think it's stupid that since my C: drive does not have enough memory(mine has under 500mb thanks to windows' zillion updates [I've already deleted programs and every file I can think of from the C: drive]), I cannot back up my iPhone at all. 😕

BngBngShootShoot wrote:

I think it's stupid that since my C: drive does not have enough memory(mine has under 500mb thanks to windows' zillion updates

Having that little free space on a drive is not good for the performance of the system.

If the drive is really that small that everything that can be moved has been, then it's time to seriously consider upgrading to a larger capacity hard drive.

It is becoming quite common to build systems with a small (by current HDD standards) solid state drive to house the core operating system. What is missing is the ability to ensure that all user data can be easily relocated on secondary drives, and can be easily reintegrated into a rebuilt operating system, or shared between multiple OSs on the same machine. It can usually be done but may sometimes require techniques that are outside of most peoples comfort zones.

tt2

Prefs/Advanced/library~media folder location...?

There is no option to change where iTunes stores the backups for iDevices. While it is possible via a registry edit, it's not supported or configurable via iTunes.