Want to Archive iPhone Backups in iTunes

Unfortunately, the Archive option only works on iTunes for Mac. Your options are to copy the backup folder to another location, or just rename it in place and a new one will be created the next time you back up. You can also back up to iCloud, which saves the last 3 backups.

When you update, however, iTunes automatically archives the most recent backup of the previous version.

No. Change the name of the whole backup folder. For example, rename "backup" to "backup.sav". The backup itself is a SQLite database, and consists of several thousand files, so don't mess with that.

Hi,

So, I was having the same problem as goes_m; so, I changed the name of the backup folder's name to "backup.sav" like you said to do. Now, I am wondering where to go from here to get my iPhone backed up.

Instead of downgrading from iOS 8.4 to iOS 8.3, I am trying to downgrade from iOS 9.0 Beta to iOS 8.4. I did what this told me: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263

But, instead of this helping me, it only got me more confused. I got it into recovery mode, and it required me to update the iPhone before restoring it. About half way through updating, the phone went out of recovery mode and turned on. I am assuming this is why recovery mode did not work for me.

Now I am wondering how this can all tie together. I've tried putting the device in recovery mode, but that did not work for me. My specifications are below if it would be helpful:

Windows 8.1 64-bit

iPhone 6+

iTunes 12.2 64-bit

Why do we have to archive it, why can't we just restore from our backup,that has not been archived, in case something goes wrong? Just asking.

Harmeet24 wrote:

Why do we have to archive it, why can't we just restore from our backup,that has not been archived, in case something goes wrong? Just asking.

iTunes only keeps one backup, the most recent. If you don't archive backups you cannot restore an older backup than the one that was most recently made. There are a couple of exceptions: If you update iOS to a new version, iTunes will automatically archive the last backup made with the previous version. And if you backup to iCloud, it maintains the 3 most recent backups.

goes_m wrote:

I believe that the answer may depend on the operating system of the computer and how iTunes is configured. In my case (Windows 7, and a recent version of iTunes) iTunes runs a synch (which includes a backup as far as I can tell) whenever the iPhone is connected. So if the phone has a problem and you connect it to iTunes with the intent of restoring a backup, the first thing that happens is that iTunes makes a backup of the current status of the phone, which overwrites the older backup you were planning on using to restore the phone - unless you archive it prior to connecting the phone.

If you change the iOS on the phone, once the new iOS is in place, the first thing that iTunes does is to sync/backup which overwrites the last old iOS backup, making restoring the phone to the old iOS a problem unless you have archived the last backup.

Note that I have read that the behavior under Windows and Apple OS's is different. And I am looking into reconfiguring iTunes to see if a more user-friendly setup exists.

You can easily stop iTunes from automatically syncing and backing up when you connect the phone. In iTunes, go to iTunes Preferences, Devices tab, and check the box to not sync automatically:

Also, note that you cannot restore the last version of iOS itself under any circumstances; however, you CAN restore the last backup of data made with the previous version, as it is automatically archived when you update. Even on Windows.

For reference, it appears the default location of the backups in Windows is %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. The backup will be named with a 40-char hexadecimal string (I'm not sure if it's random or reflects device-identifying information).

Making a copy of the folder in the same location caused iTunes to see two copies, so that might work, but I went the more paranoid route and zipped up a copy of the backup. (It doesn't compress, but iTunes won't treat it as a backup or part of one). To restore from it at a later date I'll need to unzip it again, but that's better than iTunes deleting both folders in a cleanup operation.

On a side note, I wonder if the reason iTunes can't archive in Windows is related to the arbitrary 40-character filename limit it applies to song filenames -- if it won't go over 40 characters for a name, that would explain why it can't archive (assuming the archived name is something like <old-name>.archive).

# Chris

(EDIT: formatting)

So I renamed the backup folder to backup.sav. Am I safe to download the beta? Will I be able to restore back if something goes wrong?

You can download the beta safely IF you have registered with Apple, and follow ALL of Apple's instructions. If you are getting it from a source other than Apple, that would be a very foolish thing to do.

It would also be a bad idea if you plan to install the beta on your primary iPhone. Betas are for TESTING. Meaning that Apple expects things to not work; the purpose of a beta is to find what doesn't work. And this is an early beta, so it is bound to be full of bugs, some of which may make your phone unusable (as they have for some current beta users). As long as you are willing to take the risks, go ahead.

I have had the same problem. I was going to install iOS 9 Public Beta 1 on my iPad mini 2, but I couldn't archive so I didn't know what I should have done. So my question is to anyone out there who can answer this; If I have a backup from my iPad on iTunes, am I ok to install the beta and revert back? Would an iCloud backup work? Do I have to go and copy my backup folder?

IT is safest to archive your backup. If you have Windows the instructions are above. If you have a Mac go to iTunes, Preferences, Devices tab, right-click on the current backup, and select Archive.

YEs