How can I identify data in a backup directory?

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Level 1

15 points

How can I identify data in a backup directory?

I'm trying to recover space on my Windows 10 laptop. It looks like my current iPhone backup directory (<user>/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/MobileSync/Backup) has 90G of data, spread over 5 subdirectories. Four of the subdirectories have last-change dates from December; the fifth subdirectory was updated a couple of days ago. I *think* the older subdirectories are backups that I made of other phones in our household before we got new phones. Is there a way to find out what these subdirectories contain, or to make sure that none of this data is needed by any other processes? I'd hate to delete it and then later find that I can't restore my phone because "you deleted the hash directory" or something similarly unexpected.

iPhone 8

Posted on Apr 5, 2018 7:20 AM

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Answer 1

ProustGiulio

Level 10

209,796 points

Apr 5, 2018 8:34 AM in response to mboonieNY

Two are encrypted (with a password)

Only 3? Not 5? what about the dates?

I'll tell you what I have in mind.

Read carefully this support guide:

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Remembering the path where they are now (<user>/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/MobileSync/Backup), I would make a full backup of your iP8.

Then I would copy the entire Backup directory (and its subdirectories) to an external drive.

Delete the Backups on your laptop (using section "Delete or copy iOS backups on your Mac or PC" provided in the above guide), then make a new full backup (depending on how many data you have on your iphone, it could take a long time).

Then check its dimensions on your laptop.

(in case you've troubles, you can copy from the external drive the entire Backup back to the original position).

Regards

Giulio

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Answer 2

mboonieNY Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 5, 2018 10:12 AM in response to ProustGiulio

The support guide you referenced only showed how to delete backups using the Edit -> Preferences -> Devices dialog. After copying the backup directory and then deleting all backups, I still have about 30G of data in two subdirectories. Were you suggesting that I simply delete them before doing a full backup of my phone, or were you expecting the deletion of backups via the dialog window to empty the backup directory?

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