iTunes could not back up the iPhone because not enough free space is available on this computer

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Thom_C Author

Level 1

0 points

iTunes could not back up the iPhone because not enough free space is available on this computer

iTunes 11.0.1 (22)

Mac OS X 10.6.8

218.83 GB available

iOS 6.0.2

iPhone5

I get this error occasionally since getting the iPhone5 in October. My last successful back up to thei Mac was yesterday. Tonight, no backup.

One time when this occurred I had trashed files, and after I emptied the Trash the sympton went away. Tonight I had files in the Trash and emptie the Trash before connecting my iPhone and now no backup allowed.

I have quit and relaunched iTunes, and unconnected and connected the iPhone tonight with no change in the symptom.

My next counter measure will be to reboot.

Any suggestions?

iPhone 5, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 13, 2013 7:56 PM

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Answer 1

mavjop

Level 1

8 points

Dec 4, 2013 10:10 PM in response to Thom_C

On my computer (Spring 2006 iMac, Snow Leopard, iTunes 11.1.3):

- I have 1.36 _terabytes_ of free space on my system disk.

- I have 2.1 _terabytes_ of free space on my Drobo[*] which contains my iTunes library.

My iPhone is an iPhone 5S 64Gb.

A backup should require, one would assume, less than 64Gb. In other words, a drop in the ocean of free space available to iTunes.

... and yet EVERY time I attempt a backup to my computer since getting my 5S it says:

'iTunes could not back up the iPhone "[name]'s iPhone" because not enough free space is available on this computer. Removing files and emptying the Trash will free up additional space.'

It's very clear that there's a bug given how much space I have available, and it's been present for 2+ months. :/ I had been able to back up my iPhone 4S.

- Stephen

[*] As far as the OS is concerned, the volume has 3.22Tb free, but it is backed by 2.10Tb of actual available space. In any case, "a whole heck of a lot".

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Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Dec 4, 2013 11:20 PM in response to mavjop

mavjop wrote:

On my computer (Spring 2006 iMac, Snow Leopard, iTunes 11.1.3):

- I have 1.36 _terabytes_ of free space on my system disk.

So you are booting off an external disk?

Or you replaced the original 250GB drive with a 2TB drive?

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Answer 3

mavjop

Level 1

8 points

Dec 5, 2013 12:30 AM in response to Chris CA

Replaced internal drive (it died a year or so back) with a 1.5Tb drive. Boot from internal drive as normal.

iTunes library is on an external volume (on a Drobo).

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Answer 4

mavjop

Level 1

8 points

Dec 8, 2013 10:59 PM in response to Thom_C

Well, this is bizarre. I noticed this evening that the "Backup" button was available while my iPhone was NOT plugged in via USB. So I performed a back-up over WiFi, and it ... worked! Hasn't worked even once over USB, but just worked over WiFi. No change in iOS or Mac OS or iTunes version.

After the back-up was complete, I noticed that there were 2 back-ups in iTunes prefs -> Devices -> Device backups.

- One from today, "[name]'s iPhone".
- The second labeled "[name]'s iPhone - Dec 6, 2013 1:17 AM" which says "9/26/2013 5:08 PM" in the date/time column. I have no idea how the name got set so misleadingly. iTunes works in mysterious ways!

... but the up-shot of all this is that I *finally* have a back-up of my 5S on my computer. I wonder if back-ups will work over USB from now on...

[EDIT: It *did* work via USB now! Finally! Apparently backing up over WiFi cleared/fixed whatever state was causing it to fail.]

Message was edited by: mavjop

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