i have the latest backup for my phone and my wife's phone in itunes, prefs, devices. i also see one each from when we got our new phones on jan 5. is it okay to delete the jan 5 backup files now that i have a newer backup? is there a good reason to keep them? also, in finder, itunes, i have previous itunes libraries from 2009 to 2011, do i need these? what will happen if i delete them? thanks.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iPhone 5 iOS 6.0.2
The manual iTunes backup process for my iPhone and iPad has stored multiple manual backups in my laptop's MobileSync backup folder. I thought iTunes only stored the most recent one backup. There are multiple files for each backup date and multiple backups going back for months. The iPhone backup folder has over 1.2GB of files in it. The iPad folder has .5GB of files in it. I have two questions:
1. Why is iTunes creating more than ONE backup for my iPhone?
2. Is it OK to delete the ALL of the older backup files (prior to the most recent backup date)?
They allow you to fallback to previous points along the life of the phone. Useful, for instance, if you come up with an incompatible configuration that disables the phone, etc.
If you're ok with the phone as it is and with what it contains, go ahead and zap all its previous lives.
iinami wrote:
what will happen if i delete them? thanks.
Nothing.
If you are sure you dont want to go restore to this backup. You can delete. Noting will happen. Just make sure you leave 1 backup (latest) there. So don't delete.
Everyting will be ok.
🙂
<Edited by Host>
iTunes only keeps one normal backup, per device. The previous backups you see are either backups from restore points...these are time/date stamped & not overwritten...or previous device backups. If you want to delete these backups, that's fine, it is unlikely you'll have have need for them & all they're doing is taking up space.
Regarding your iTunes libraries, while launching iTunes, hold down the option key...do you get different libraries to chose from?
Melle123 wrote:
Hope this solved? 🙂
If you keep angling for points enough to attract the Moderator, first he'll zap your posts, then he'll zap you and whatever few points you managed to wheedle.
wjosten wrote:
Regarding your iTunes libraries, while launching iTunes, hold down the option key...do you get different libraries to chose from?
i held down the option key, clicked on itunes and got a popup saying
'itunes needs a library to continue' and something about choosing an itunes library
That means you in fact have have more than one iTunes library. Post in the iTunes forum for instructions on how to consolidate.
That can save you quite a few MB on the Mac's drive, BTW. Now back to our regularly scheduled iPhones programing... 😝
iinami wrote:
i held down the option key, clicked on itunes and got a popup saying
'itunes needs a library to continue' and something about choosing an itunes library
It is simply telling you it needs you to select a library to use.
Select Choose library... and select /Music/iTunes/ folder.
It doesn't mean you have multiple libraries.
is it ok to delete old iphone backups
