Backup file location

Moving the iOS device backup location

Open a command prompt by hitting the start button and typing CMD<Enter> in the search box that opens up, or with Start > Run on older Windows.

To move the current backup folder from C: to D: (for example) 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 preferred drive has a different letter or you already have a folder called "Backup" then edit "D:\Backup" accordingly in both commands.

If you have Windows XP then you'll need a third-party tool such as Junction to link the two locations together instead of the MkLink command. The source folder is C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

tt2

No, sadly it cannot be done from within iTunes. If iTunes is closed and you have administrator rights it should work as I have shown...

tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

Hi,

I've been reading a lot of your forum posts about how to go about changing the location for the backup but I just can't seem to get it to work. I'm still using windows xp so following your posts, I moved my backup folder to my target location. But when I then try to link it using either the MkLink command or junction command it doesn't work. I've downloaded the junction programme you recommended but everytime I open it it just crashes. And now I don't know where to go from here. If you could help it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi,

What is the original location of the backup folder, the new location, and the Junction command you're trying to use? What error message do you get when you try?

tt2

Umm.

Original location was in C:\Documents and Settings\ACER\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

and the new location is in an external hard drive F:\Backup

The junction command would be along the same lines as the examples you have posted.

I get error message that junction is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Unzip the Junction download to C:\

Open your command prompt and enter CD C:\ to set that as the current directory

Try again

Essentially Junction.exe needs to be in the current folder (or in a folder listed in the Path environment variable) when you issue the command.

tt2

I think its working because my phone is now backing up.

Thanks a lot turingtest2. 🙂

P.S. just also wondering if I could pick your brain about another problem I have. Do you know of a way to import photos and videos from my phone to my pc? It keeps skipping over the larger files, but when I use the windows explorer way of copying the photos to my target folder it keeps coming up with error messages or looks like its copying them but when I go to open them there's nothing there and the files are all 0KB.

Whoops. Seems like I spoke too soon.

Itunes popped up with a message saying that the backup failed as it couldn't be saved on the computer.

Any other ideas?

.

Can you check to see if data has been added to the redirected folder? Is there enough room for the complete backup on that drive? Are there any issues with your system drive? Could any of the files on the iPhone be too large? Is the redirection from an NTFS to NTFS drive? Have you rebooted both the computer and iPhone then tried again?

tt2

It seems its partially backed up my phone back to the original location. I think thats why I keep getting the error messages. It doesn't seem like the redirection worked.

My C drive doesn't have enough room and so I was trying to redirect it to an external drive which has 70gbs of free space. I don't think there are any issues that I know of. I don't think any individual file is really big. The most that I am certain of is some video files that are range of few hundred mbs to a gb.

Umm, whats an NTFS drive? I have no knowledge at all about programming or associated things. I just thought I might be able to do it if I had done enough research. And yes to the reboot.

I suspect the drives must both be NTFS or the Junction command would have failed.

The current backup may be in an inconsistent state. You may need to go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and delete the backup for the device before attempting to backup again.

You can check that the redirection is in force by typing junction -s c:\ at the command prompt (in the folder where Junction is). Alternatively you can create a dummy text file in the F:\Backup folder and see that it shows up when views from the path on the C: drive.

tt2