deleting backup files

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fhapgood Author

Level 1

10 points

deleting backup files

About two years ago I bought a Windows 7 with a 120GB SSD. At the time I was

using about 40 GB, leaving about 80 GB vacant. Recently about 70 GB vanished

from storage, leaving me with only 10 GB to work with. My theory as to why this

happened is that I got a 64 GB iPad. iPads come with two backup procedures: one

involving iCloud and one using iTunes. I experimented with both. My theory is

that iTunes backed up the iPad's entire disk locally, to my SSD. I doubt the

iCloud system is responsible because surely it backs up to the cloud.

In any event, I need this space back. I do not need the iTunes backup. I have

switched the iPad backup off -- under "(iTunes) Edit -> Preferences -> Device ->

Device Backups" -- and rebooted, but my storage space has not been restored.

Apparently I need to find and delete the specific files. However I cannot find

them. When I look in "\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple

Computer\MobileSync\Backup\", which is where I read they ought to be, I am told

'this folder is empty'. (Besides, the entire "Users" folder only contains 15

GB.) I am at my wit's end. What else could be going on? What am I missing?

What should I do?

iPad, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Aug 3, 2015 10:55 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,150 points

Aug 3, 2015 11:11 AM in response to fhapgood

An iTunes backup doesn't contain any of your iTunes downloads (films, TV shows, music, apps etc), it contains your documents, photos, settings etc from the device - so generally backups are relatively small, unless you have a lot of photos, videos, content in apps (e.g. newspapers, magazines, large files). An iTunes restore would look to pick up your media (music, films etc) from your iTunes library.

Do you have a number of films and/or TV shows in your iTunes library ? An HD film can be over 5 gig in size. If you have you could copy them to a backup drive and then delete them from your iTunes library (there is no guarantee that any item will remain in the store for redownloading in the future, so take a backup copy of any item that you might want again before deleting them).

And since deleting your iTunes backups, you've emptied the recycle bin on your computer ?

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Answer 2

elcpu

Level 7

31,481 points

Aug 3, 2015 11:22 AM in response to fhapgood

I am also running Windows 7 and my iTunes back ups are at:

Users > (username) > AppData > Roaming > Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.

I show two folders with a total of about 1GB.

What do you see in there? You would have to have some very large media files to eat up that much space.

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Answer 3

fhapgood Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 4, 2015 8:23 AM in response to fhapgood

I want to thank all the respondents to my question. These answers were all helpful.

I have now gone through all the folders on my C: drive and none of them have 64 GB in them. (The "Users" folder, which is the relevant one, only has 15 GB in it.) That destroys the theory that the decrease in available space in my C: was due to iTunes' copying a disk image from my iPad. Besides, I have since learned that is not how iTunes backup works anyway.

The basic mystery is why storage use on my C: soared from about 40 or 50 GB to 108 GB. And what to do about the situation such I come out with a comfortable amount of space in my main drive. One answer is to reformat the current drive. This runs into the objection that what I am seeing is just normal -- over time, these days, storage is consumed at about this rate. 120 GB is just too small for current usage patterns. Reformatting my current disk just puts off dealing with the problem. The second option is buy a 240 GB drive and install it as my new C:, while moving my current C: to the D: slot. I guess I am leaning in that direction.

Thanks again.

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