how to change backup location

Question

bobby8 Author

Level 1

0 points

how to change backup location

Hi There,

Is there a way to change the default location for iTunes backup?

I am using XP operating system.

iTunes places the backup files under:

\Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

I want to change this location to some other drive..

Please advise..

Thanks

Cheers

Bobby :-)

iPhone 4, iOS 4.1

Posted on Jun 22, 2012 11:47 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 8, 2012 9:59 PM in response to bobby8

First, make sure iTunes isn't running
Now, move the C:\Users\(yourname)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ folder to your preferred location. My was F:\iTunesMobileSync. This is up to you.
Finally, start a command prompt as an administrator. You can do this from the Start Menu, type cmd.exe, then right click and select Run As Administrator. From the command prompt, create an junction point as I do below, just change f:\yournewfolder with your new location.
One thing to to make sure of, don't end up with a folder like f:\yournewbackupfolder\Backup\Backup, so be sure to check how your folders ended up when you moved them.

mklink /J "C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "f:\yournewfolder\Backup"

You should see something like this in Windows 7. Note the little "shortcut" overlay icon? That's saying this is a link.

You can also confirm it with dir from the command line. Note the <junction>:

C:\Users\Scott\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync>dir
Directory of C:\Users\Scott\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync
11/25/2011 10:10 PM <DIR> .
11/25/2011 10:10 PM <DIR> ..
11/25/2011 10:10 PM <JUNCTION> Backup [f:\iTunesMobileSync\Backup]
0 File(s) 0 bytes
3 Dir(s) 97,594,851,328 bytes free

If you are still on XP and not Vista or Windows 7, you don't have mklink, but you can use the junction utility in the same way for XP.

Havent tried with XP, it works with Windows 7, and its same utility for xp so definately it should work.

Reply