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Q: Change backup location?

My C-drive is full(has 3gb free) and itunes fails to backup my ipad (32gb) when trying to install the new iOS. OTA updates keeps on failing aswell.

 

How do you change the default backup location of your ipad?

iPad, iOS 5.1.1, Trying to get to iOS 6

Posted on Apr 17, 2013 10:09 AM

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Q: Change backup location?

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  • by kalirob2k13,

    kalirob2k13 kalirob2k13 Nov 10, 2014 6:34 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 10, 2014 6:34 PM in response to turingtest2

    I see, that worked perfect now! Thanks a ton for the patience I was hesitant to goof around on my own lol

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Nov 10, 2014 6:37 PM in response to kalirob2k13
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 10, 2014 6:37 PM in response to kalirob2k13

    You're welcome.

     

    tt2

  • by Mii-mitch,

    Mii-mitch Mii-mitch Nov 29, 2014 9:52 AM in response to RegiMeister
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 29, 2014 9:52 AM in response to RegiMeister

    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

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Nov 29, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Mii-mitch
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 29, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Mii-mitch

    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

  • by Chris C J,

    Chris C J Chris C J Nov 29, 2014 10:51 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 29, 2014 10:51 AM in response to turingtest2

    Can I delete individual back-up folders without causing any issues other than losing that back up?

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Nov 29, 2014 11:00 AM in response to Chris C J
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 29, 2014 11:00 AM in response to Chris C J

    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

  • by Chris C J,

    Chris C J Chris C J Nov 29, 2014 11:19 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 29, 2014 11:19 AM in response to turingtest2

    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.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Nov 29, 2014 11:55 AM in response to Chris C J
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Nov 29, 2014 11:55 AM in response to Chris C J

    If you can identify which backup folder is which, or you have no devices that you need to restore right now, then you can delete the existing backup folders manually and then backup each device in turn.

     

    tt2

  • by StMaEvSa,

    StMaEvSa StMaEvSa Jan 4, 2015 7:25 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 4, 2015 7:25 PM in response to turingtest2

    Thanks turingtest2 for the tip -- this saved me (the local drive on my Surface Pro was constantly running out of space and I had backups from four devices on that disk, totaling about 40 Gb out of about 109 total on that disk).

     

    Two things I would add, though:

     

    • It can be useful to test by looking for the Backup directory after you move it, to see that it isn't there, then after you run the Mklink command, to return to that location and see that you see something that looks like a directory in that spot. If you see this, you're probably on the right track.
    • For anyone interested in looking at what the Mklink command does, it's documented here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753194.aspx
  • by LaoziSailor,

    LaoziSailor LaoziSailor Jan 26, 2015 4:54 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 26, 2015 4:54 PM in response to turingtest2

    I am running Windows 8.

     

    On the "Move" I got:

    C:\>Move "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

    Access is denied.

     

    Windows File Explorer "right click" drag and "move" worked

     

    C:\>help MkLink

    Creates a symbolic link.

     

    MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

     

            /D      Creates a directory symbolic link.  Default is a file

                    symbolic link.

            /H      Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.

            /J      Creates a Directory Junction.

            Link    specifies the new symbolic link name.

            Target  specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link

                    refers to.

     

    C:\>MkLink /J "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

    Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

     

    Doesn't work either -> Junction v1.06

     

    F:\Downloads\Junction>junction "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

     

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

    Copyright (C) 2000-2010 Mark Russinovich

    Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

     

    Error creating C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup:

    Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

     

    F:\>MkLink /H "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

    The system cannot move the file to a different disk drive.

     

    F:\>MkLink /D "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

    Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

     

    Please help.

     

    Thanks.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jan 26, 2015 10:34 PM in response to LaoziSailor
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 26, 2015 10:34 PM in response to LaoziSailor

    Using the Move command to move the folder appears to be unreliable, probably due to permissions. I now suggest using Windows Explorer for that task. Unless you are running Windows XP you don't need a third party tool to create the link.

     


     

    Relocate iOS device backups

    Assuming you're running Windows Vista or later you can use the following steps:

     

    1. Using Windows Explorer move the current Mobile Sync Backup folder from C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup to your chosen location, e.g. as  X:\Backup where <User> is your Windows user name and X: is your preferred drive.

    2. To make iTunes look for the data in the new location open a command prompt by hitting the start button and typing CMD<Enter> in the search box that opens up, then type in this command and press <Enter>

      MkLink /J "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "X:\Backup"

     

    If your external drive has a different letter or you already have a folder called "Backup" then edit "X:\Backup" accordingly.

     


     

    In your case I'm assuming that you have copied the Backup folder to F:\ and renamed it as F:\iTunesBackup. The command should be:

     

    MkLink /J "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"


    However before executing it make sure that there is no file or folder called Backup in the folder MobileSync or the command will fail with the error shown. Typically this will happen if you have copied the original Backup folder instead of moving it.



    tt2

  • by LaoziSailor,

    LaoziSailor LaoziSailor Jan 27, 2015 8:47 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 27, 2015 8:47 PM in response to turingtest2

    Thank you very much tt2

    IT WORKED...!!

     

    I did in fact use the Windows Explorer to "move" instead of "copy" and the C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup directory was empty.

    I deleted the directory and ran:

    C:\Windows\system32>MkLink /J "C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "F:\iTunesBackup"

    Junction created for C:\Users\Han\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup <<===>> F:\iTunesBackup

     

    It created a link to the directory on F: drive and resulted in a 16GB space recovery on the C: drive.

     

    EXCELLENT.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jan 28, 2015 4:08 AM in response to LaoziSailor
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 28, 2015 4:08 AM in response to LaoziSailor

     

     

    tt2

  • by Traumanut,

    Traumanut Traumanut Jan 31, 2015 7:18 PM in response to RegiMeister
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 31, 2015 7:18 PM in response to RegiMeister

    I tried using the above solutions, but it will not work for me.  I'm using Windows 7.  I tried the move and it tells me "Access is Denied".  I tried to run the cmd line as administrator without any success.  As for doing the MkLink, it tells me over and over "cannon create a file when that file already exists." 

     

    Please help!

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Feb 1, 2015 1:11 AM in response to Traumanut
    Level 10 (86,076 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 1, 2015 1:11 AM in response to Traumanut

    The MkLink command will fail if there is still a Backup folder inside MobileSync. Windows may fail to move the folder when you try if there are files in use at the time. Make sure iTunes is shut down, cut the Backup folder from the original location, paste it into the new one, then use the MkLink command.

     

    tt2

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