Where do iTunes backup files reside?

Question

Where do iTunes backup files reside?

I'm not worried about music, but I imagine everything is in the same place. My primary concern is iCal and Address Book. I back up my iPhone and iPad to iTunes. I want to make sure it backs up to Carbonite so in the unlikely event I would loose my Mac and both devices (fire, theft. etc) and if I would need data I would need to know where to look. I don't want to use iCloud, I've had too much trouble with all 3 devices syncing to each other.

Thanks

iMac 20 in., Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Feb 29, 2012 3:35 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Feb 29, 2012 6:11 AM in response to Stuart Goldberg

http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/11/iphone-backup-location/ - "in Mac OS X your iPhone files are backed up at the following location: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/"

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Answer 2

Feb 29, 2012 2:13 PM in response to Limnos

it just occurred to me, my wife's iPad and iPhone are backed to iTunes on our desktop Mac which hasCarbonite . My iphone is backed up to iTunes on my laptop Mac, but no Carbonite. Is there any reason i cann't copy my iTunes backup to a flash drive or copy it to the Mac so Carbonite will have a backup? I realize I wwould not put it in the same folder as hers, probably a new folder labeled 'my backups"

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Feb 29, 2012 2:30 PM in response to Stuart Goldberg

I have no experince with those backups but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

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Answer 4

Jun 28, 2012 8:53 PM in response to Stuart Goldberg

I´ve just backed up my iPod and tried to locate the backup file in the location you just said......and it doesn't exist. There's no "MobileSync" folder into "Library/Application Support". Where else can it be????

Thanks a lot!

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Answer 5

Jun 28, 2012 8:59 PM in response to seba.churches

It's in your user account library, not the system library.

If you are using Lion, the user account library is hidden. To access it, hold down the option key while using the Finder's Go menu.

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Answer 6

grizable

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 1:02 PM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

Worked for me man, respeck!

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Answer 7

Apr 28, 2013 5:50 PM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.8, and "mobilesync" is niether in my user account library nor my system library. The option key doesn't acess library for me at all. Is it possible on my version of the OS?

Thanks a bunch

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Answer 8

kaydib

Level 1

13 points

May 2, 2013 5:45 PM in response to Jim VanLeeuwen

I am using 10.8.3. I have the same problem as Xendor_LG. Is there another way? Thanks so much!

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Answer 9

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

May 2, 2013 7:55 PM in response to kaydib

kaydib wrote:

I am using 10.8.3. I have the same problem as Xendor_LG. Is there another way?

Click on the desktop.

Press and hold Option key.

In the Finder menu at top, select the Go menu.

Library is about halfway down.

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Answer 10

Aug 28, 2013 11:47 AM in response to Limnos

This is probably a quite silly question, but how do I get to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/?

I've gotten to Home, but there's no Library folder and there's nothing in the applications folder. 😟 I backedup using iTunes on my iPhone and I need to acess my notes app. What do I do?

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