Change backup location?

I'm pretty sure there is .plist file stored somewhere else in your progile that tells iTunes what backup sets are stored in the folder and which device they belong to. If one has a working copy of that file it may be possible to edit so that it "sees" the backup folder you want to work with. As I say I'm sure I've run into this before but I'm struggling to pin down a reference that reveals exactly which file needs to be located & tweaked.

tt2

Well I still can't track down the article I remember, though not for want of trying.

Why not try backing up the device as it is, close iTunes, then rename the newly generated backup folder by adding say (NEW) to the end of the folder name, copy the rest of the folder name and give it to one of the other backups that you have, then try restoring from the only backup that iTunes knows about. With luck you will be able to recover the state of your device as it was before things went wrong.

Good luck. 🙂

tt2

I've just used "junction" on my Windows XP computer to move the Backup to another local drive.

I had to do it a bit differently though:

1) Rename the MobileSync folder in C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Apple Computer to MobileSync_old

2) Create a MobileSync folder on another drive (eg J:\MobileSync)

3) Use Junction to create a MobileSync folder at the original location (C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Apple Computer) with J:\MobileSync as the target.

4) Move the files and folders from MobileSync_old to MobileSync in the original location.

5) Enjoy your GB of freed up space (10Gig in my case)

Easy!

Thanks to turingtest2 for his inspiration!

Goz

Hi 'Turingtest2',

While I tried your instructions to backup the folder, , CMD replies 'The system cannot find the path specified'. Is it becoz the AppData folder is hidden? Should I un-hide it?

Tks

Johnnie

Perhaps you haven't specified the <User> properly, or you omitted quote marks, or you didn't put the whole thing on one line...?

CMD line tools should normally work whether the object is hidden or not.

tt2

Surprisingly, it worked like 'a charm' after your reply.

I'm sure I did it right the first time. But the difference is, last time, I actually interupted a backup and then tried these steps coz I knew my C: drive was quite full and wont be able to backup properly. However, after your reply I managed some space and backed up my ipod properly and then MOVED the Backup folder to the desired drive by copy>paste method and linked them thru CMD and voila! It's done.

Thks a ton 🙂

Check whether the backup folder is stored at "C:\Users\Prashan\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" or "C:\Users\Prashan\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup". It seems the location may vary for reasons unknown.

Try using Winwdows Explorer to do the move phase, then use the command prompt to create the redirection. You may find it helps to show hidden files and folders.

tt2

Appreciate the instructions, however, upon executing everything correctly, and getting the desired output, i.e. backup location is changed to any other location/drive than its original (C:), but later when i sync my iPod or iPad, both the devices keep rebooting when sync is midway and dont complete the sync or backup.

After removing the symbolic link everything works like normal. Has anyone in this thread experienced such behaviour after using "mklink" to free up disk space on (C:) ? if yes, may i request you to provide me some leads/solutions.

I am trying this on Windows XP and am having issues. I'm trying to change the backup location to an external NAS drive. When making a junction I get:

C:\>junction "C:\Documents and Settings\Lidia\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "K:\Lidia\iphone\backup"

Junction v1.06 - Windows junction creator and reparse point viewer

Copyright (C) 2000-2010 Mark Russinovich

Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

Error setting junction for C:\Documents and Settings\Lidia\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup:

The data present in the reparse point buffer is invalid.

After searching a bit it seems that I cannot make a junction to a mounted, external drive. Is there a way to have iTunes backup to an external drive?

Thanks

Lidia

I tried using

Move "C:\Users\Robert\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\iTunes\MobileSync\Backup"

MkLink /J "C:\Users\Robert\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\iTunes\MobileSync\Backup"

But its saying "Access is Denied" on both. I don't have files hidden so I know both directories exist and I'm on Windows 7.

Do both directories need to be empty or something? I know Windows is showing that the original iTunes MobileSync\Backup folders have a mark in the read only box. Do I need to uncheck that first?

Move the folder by hand using Windows Explorer. When the target folder is in place and the source folder is empty the second command should work as intended. Don't worry about the read-only check box. Windows always shows directories as read-only.

tt2

I followed all the step and it all went fine, but when I start a manual back up of my iPhone. Both the original location and new location created the backup.???? which is not helping me to save space.. please help

The original location holds a pointer through to the new location so that iTunes can save the data there. If you, for example, you were to add a large movie file into the backup location as a test, you would only see the free space decrease on the one drive even though the file is visible from both paths.

tt2

Use Edit > Preferences > Devices to delete backup sets rather than manually editing the folders. In general you have one rolling backup set for each device unless you have restore a device in which case the backup you restore is archived and a new rolling backup is created.

tt2

That helps for getting rid of an old phone's back up but the other problem I am having is when I tried to back up my wife's phone to the computer for the first time the computer ran out of space during the sync and shows her phone as never being backed up. But the space the attempted back-up used is still gone. iTunes does not show her phone as a synced device to be deleted.

Getting rid of the old phone's back-up and my wife's attempted back-up should give me enough space to completely back up her phone.