Q: iphone encrypted local backup

You have to restore to factory setting/new iPod.

The PW can't be recovered

How can I turn off iTunes backup encryption?

To turn off iTunes backup encryption, enter the password and uncheck the Encrypted backup box in iTunes. Your encryption password is always required to turn off backup encryption.

You can't use an encrypted backup if you don't have the password. If you forgot your password, the only way to turn off backup encryption on your device is to erase your device and set up as new. Erasing removes all data from your device. If you don't want to erase your device, restore from an iCloud backup instead.

From:

About encrypted backups in iTunes - Apple Support

Why would you not want to delete the old (encrypted) backup, whose password you don't know and therefore can never use anyway?

Boyd425 wrote:

 

Okay, I erased all settings and data on the phone. Did the iCloud re

store, and iTunes on my mac mini looks the same. iTunes see's my phone the same as it did, won't let me uncheck "encrypted" without entering the password I don't have. Is there a way to tell the mac mini this is a different phone (obviously -without- losing all my data permanently) or deleting the old backup set so a new encrypted backup can be made on the mac mini? Not asking to recover the old password, I do not need the stored local backup

The fact that the backup is encrypted is part of the iCloud backup, so you will not be able to create an unencrypted iTunes backup unless you set up the phone as new.

The good news is that you get unlimited guesses for the backup password. Uncheck "encrypt backup" to speed up the process. Unless you are in the habit of creating new passwords every time it is probably a password that you have used in the past. As a last resort, Elcomsoft makes an iPhone backup password cracker. It's made for law enforcement, and priced accordingly. However, the trial version will give you the first 2 characters of the passcode if it can crack it. Their FAQ says that they can't crack really good passwords, but then, nobody can (except NSA).

If you can, then, delete the old iTunes backup.

I'm not sure you can do this without knowing the password.  But if you can, it would be done through iTunes' menu:

iTunes (on a Mac, or File on Windows) > Preferences > Devices > [the backup] > Delete Backup

You easily delete an encrypted backup the same way as unencrypted backup.

But if you backup again it will be encrypted with the same unknown password.

Thanks!.  I did not know that.

Boyd425 wrote:

 

The goal is "I want to backup this 5c, locally." I don't care directly about deleting the old backup, I just thought that might enable me to use this login on my mac mini to backup the phone in iTunes.

If there was a way to do that then there would be a way for anyone to delete an old backup, and then create an unencrypted backup to get access to your data. Such as the FBI. Note that it didn't work for them.

The only way to do it is to erase the phone, restore it as a New phone and NOT restore the iCloud backup. You can then delete the old backup and create a new, unencrypted backup. But you will have to reinstall your content, apps and music, and anything in the phone's storage will be lost.

Any solution that lets you back up a phone that has previously had an encrypted backup is essentially a "back door" that effectively makes the phone's security non-existent.

I agree that forgetting passwords is a common problem. Which is why there are dozens of password vaults on the market to remember your passwords, some of the actually pretty good. There's even one built into the phone and into Apple computers, the Keychain app. It will remember your backup encryption password if you check the option to when you created the first encrypted backup. BTW, have you checked to see if it is saved in Keychain?