Can I change iPad & iPhone backup file location on iTunes and Windows 7?

I have the same question, I'm on Windows xp, & I have been looking for a solution, for 2 days, the only thing I could find, was a rather long walk around using symbolic links, which is even more difficult on windows xp because its not built into the system.

I just can not believe that there is no way from the iTunes settings for preferences to change the directories including the back up directory, every big windows program I had to deal with in the last 13 years has this capacity.

I will be really grateful to anyone can point to solution to this.

You can redirect <Profile>\<AppData>\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup to a folder on another drive using NTFSLink (shell ext., might only work on XP), Junction (cmd line tool) or the built-in MkLink command in recent versions of Windows.

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.

To use MkLink for the task open a command prompt by hitting the start button and typing CMD<Enter> in the search box that opens up.

To move the current backup folder from C: to D: type in this command and press <Enter>

Move "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"

Where <User> is your Windows user name.

To make iTunes look for the data in the new location type in this command and press <Enter>

MkLink /J "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"

If your external drive has a different letter or you already have a folder called "Backup" then edit "D:\Backup" accordingly in both commands.

tt2

Thank you for replying,

I'm on XP as I said, so I don't have the luxury of MkLink, I tried junction application, but it does not seem to work with an external hard drive, it works perfectly between two folders on the drive C:\ (the only drive I have on the hard disk), but it could not link a folder from C:\ to an external hard drive...

is there any way around this? or is it a must to have both directories on the internal hard drive.

Thank you again

Not sure why it isn't working for you. I've tested both NTFSLink & Junction with an external drive and made them work.

tt2

If I search the hidden files in my computer, I can see my backup folder in the following path instead

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Do I simply follow your first suggested command but with the above file path?

Also in the second suggested command, is there a space between "MkLink" and "/J"?

thank you!

Yes and yes. See Relocate iOS device backups for a more recent version of the advice.

tt2

The directory should be: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync

I have use this multiple times and thanks for putting it up turingtest2 🙂

Yes, a mistake in my earlier post that I cannot correct. User tips score because they can be edited indefinitely and updated when there are changes in the software being described. Glad you've found it helpful. 🙂

tt2