Change backup iphone location

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Find a list of your iOS or iPadOS backups on your Mac, PC, and iOS or iPadOS device. Learn how to delete backups, copy them, and more.

Find backups stored on Mac or PC

Delete or copy backups stored on Mac or PC

Find and manage backups stored in iCloud

Find backups stored on your Mac or PC

To avoid ruining any of your backup files, here’s what you should know:

• The Finder and iTunes save backups to a Backup folder. The location of the Backup folder varies by operating system. Though you can copy the Backup folder, you should never move it to a different folder, external drive, or network drive.
• Don’t edit, relocate, rename, or extract content from your backup files, because these actions might ruin the files. For example, to restore from a relocated backup file, you need to move it back or the file won’t work. Backups serve as a safe copy of your entire device. So while you might be able to view or access a backup file’s contents, the contents usually aren’t stored in a format that you can read.

Search for the backup folder on your Mac

To find a list of your backups:

1. Click the magnifier icon in the menu bar.
2. Type or copy and paste this:

/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Press Return.

To find a specific backup:

1. On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, open the Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, open iTunes. Click your device.
2. In the Finder, under the General tab, click Manage Backups to see a list of your backups. From here, you can right-click on the backup that you want, then choose Show in Finder, or you can select Delete or Archive. In iTunes, choose Preferences, then click Devices. From here, you can right-click on the backup that you want, then choose Show in Finder, or you can select Delete or Archive.
   
3. Click OK when you’re finished.

Search for the backup folder on Windows 7, 8, or 10

1. Find the Search bar:
   • In Windows 7, click Start.
   • In Windows 8, click the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner.
   • In Windows 10, click the Search bar next to the Start button.
2. In the Search bar, enter %appdata%. If you don’t see your backups, enter %USERPROFILE%.
3. Press Return.
4. Double-click these folders: «Apple» or «Apple Computer» > MobileSync > Backup.

Delete or copy backups on your Mac or PC

Don’t edit, relocate, rename, or extract content from your backup files, because these actions might ruin the files. Use the following sections to make copies of your backups or delete backups that you no longer need.

Copy backups to another location

If you need copies of your backups, you can find the Backup folder and copy the entire folder (not just part of it) to another place, like an external drive or network-storage location.

When you use Time Machine, it automatically copies your Backup folder when you back up the Home folder on your Mac.

Delete backups

1. On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, open the Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, open iTunes. Click your device.
2. In the Finder, under the General tab, click Manage Backups to see a list of your backups. From here, you can right-click on the backup that you want, then select Delete or Archive. In iTunes, choose Preferences, then click Devices. From here, you can right-click on the backup that you want, then choose Delete or Archive. Click OK when you’re finished.
3. Click Delete Backup, then confirm.
   

Locate and manage backups stored in iCloud

If you use iCloud Backup, you won’t find a list of your backups on iCloud.com. Here’s how to find your iCloud backups on your iOS or iPadOS device, Mac, or PC.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

• Using iOS 11 or later and iPadOS, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.
• Using iOS 10.3, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Tap the graph that shows your iCloud usage, then tap Manage Storage.

Tap a backup to see more details about it, choose which information to back up, or delete the backup.

You can choose which content to back up only from the Settings menu of the device that stores that content. For example, while you can view your iPad backup from your iPhone, you can choose which iPad content to back up only from the Settings menu of your iPad.

On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later:

1. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences.
2. Click Apple ID.
3. Click iCloud.
4. Click Manage.
5. Select Backups.

On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier:

1. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences.
2. Click iCloud.
3. Click Manage.
4. Select Backups.

1. Open iCloud for Windows
2. Click Storage.
3. Select Backup.

Источник

Question: Q: Change iTunes backup location

iTunes consistently attempts to store device backups on C: regardless of where it is installed. I need to change this location in order to backup devices to my PC.

Processor: Intel Core i7-6700 @ 3.40 GHz 64-Bit with 24.0 GB RAM

OS: Windows 10 Home v1607

OS Build: 14393.1358

iTunes Version: 12.6.1.25

Devices: iPhone SE and iPad Mini 2

iOS: Both running iOS 10.3.2

My computer has two hard disk drives, C: and D: C: is a solid state drive that is only 120GB and is used only for operating system files and critical programs. My D: is a regular HDD with 2.0 TB of capacity.

I purposefully installed iTunes to D: and have (manually) moved my iTunes library to D:, but I cannot get iTunes to natively recognize D: as a storage location. Upon installation, iTunes creates its standard folders hierarchy and installs files in the C:\Users\ \AppData\ directory regardless. It also defaults to saving device backups to the following directory: «C:\Users\ \AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup»

There is no option to change this directory. Therefore, even though I know in advance that there is not enough storage available on C: (and over 1 TB available on D:), I cannot tell iTunes to use the location with the available space.

The most popular «helpful» support article I’ve found so far using Google search has been the following post, from 2013: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4977359?answerId=27069714022#27069714022
Unfortunately, these command prompts do not work in a Windows 10 environment.

If such a setting is possible, how can I change iTunes so that it will install ALL files and folders, and save backups to, the directory location of choice?

If such a setting is NOT possible, PLEASE ADD IT ASAP!

Looking forward to replies and assistance. Thank you in advance!

Источник

How to change the iTunes backup location

The default iTunes backup location is set to the PC or Mac’s primary disk, and in macOS 10.15, iOS backups as created by Finder are stored in the same place. Many users have large backups or backups from a number of iOS devices, and as a consequence they find themselves running low on disk space.

It is possible to configure a computer such that iTunes backs up to a secondary hard-disk, or to an external HDD or NAS.

Simply put, this is done by replacing the iTunes backup folder with a symbolic link to the desired location. This is an easily reversible change, so it is possible to restore the default backup location to its original directory.

Please note that if the iTunes backup location is changed to a volume that is not available at all times, the iTunes backup process will fail when the new location is unavailable.

What you’ll need

In order to change your computer’s default iTunes backup location, the following is necessary:

• Medium competency with a PC or Mac
• 10 minutes
• An understanding of the desired new backup location path
• A Mac running macOS 10.7 or newer, or a PC running Windows Vista or newer
• The Reincubate support team are on hand to help, and can advise customers on how to do this.

Changing the iTunes iOS backup folder automatically

The free version of iPhone Backup Extractor will automatically show you your computer’s default iTunes backup location — and let you change it.

1. Download and install iPhone Backup Extractor.
2. Choose Preferences from the main menu
3. Select Backups from the Preferences window

The «Preferences» pane showing backup locations

Click the Change button to start the process of changing your iTunes default backup folder.

This functionality is completely free in iPhone Backup Extractor, but if you’d like to change your folder manually without using it, we’ve included instructions below. 💫

Manually changing the iTunes iOS backup folder on Windows

1. Open the default Backup location in Explorer using the Windows Run command. Press ⊞ Win + R and the Run window should appear. Enter %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync and press ⏎ Enter .
2. The Explorer window that opens will show a folder named «Backup». This contains any iTunes backups which are already present on the computer. In order to change the backup folder’s location, this folder must be renamed, moved or deleted. As an example, one could rename it to «Backup (Old)».
3. Once the «Backup» folder has been renamed, moved or deleted, a symbolic link can be created to the desired backup location. In order to do this, a Command window must be opened. By holding ⇧ Shift and right-clicking in the recently opened MobileSync Explorer window, users will see a menu with the option «Open command window here» or «Open PowerShell window here». Click that.
4. Use the following command mklink /d Backup «[desired-new-backup-path]» . Once this command has been entered, press ⏎ Enter and the change will be complete.
5. After restarting Windows, iTunes will store its backups in the new location.

Why /d and not /J?

When we run the command to create a link on Windows, we use the /d argument rather than /J . Both of these arguments lead mklink to create a soft symlink. However, /J is a legacy argument designed for creating directory junctions. It will work in most cases, but won’t always work for users with a NAS. /d works in more cases, and consequently, it’s what we include here.

Using PowerShell and getting ObjectNotFound ?

The above instructions work when using a Command shell in Windows. Users of PowerShell will find that the mklink utility is only built-in to Command, and not PowerShell. To get around this, either stick to a regular Command shell, or prefix your command in PowerShell with cmd /c . That’d make the linking command look like cmd /c mklink /d Backup «[desired-new-backup-path]» .

Manually changing the iTunes iOS backup folder on macOS

1. Launch the macOS Terminal application. This can be found using Finder, under Applications / Utilities / Terminal . Alternatively, it can be launched using Spotlight by pressing ⌘ Cmd + and typing «Terminal» before pressing ⏎ Enter .
2. Instruct the Terminal to change to the default iTunes backup location, by entering cd

/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync and then pressing ⏎ Enter .

Reveal the current backup folder in Finder by entering open . and then pressing ⏎ Enter .

The Finder window that opens will show a folder named «Backup». This contains any iTunes backups which are already present on the computer. In order to change the backup folder’s location, this folder must be renamed, moved or deleted. As an example, one could rename it to «Backup (Old)».

Once the «Backup» folder has been renamed, moved or deleted, a symbolic link can be created to the desired backup location. Use the following command ln -s [desired-new-backup-path]

/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup . Once this command has been entered, press ⏎ Enter and the change will be complete.

After restarting the Mac, iTunes will store its backups in the new location.

Operation not permitted?

If you run into an «Operation Not Permitted» error when doing this on macOS, it will be caused by a lack of permissions for your Terminal app. In order to make the operation work, you’ll need to grand «Full Disk Access» to your Terminal. You can read how to do that here.

How to restore the iTunes backup folder to its original location

If you’ve taken the steps above, and you’d like to rever the change, the process is straightforward:

1. Browse to the iTunes backup folder.
2. Delete the Backup symlink that will appear there.
3. Drag your original Backup folder back in, renaming it if necessary to match its original name.

Other challenges?

We’ve had some users reach out who have already moved their iTunes backup folder to another location — simply by dragging it — and now lack the necessary symlink for iTunes to be able to see the backup.

It’s easy to solve this, and there are two options:

Drag the folder back to where you found originally. If you’ve forgotten, it should be called Backup , and it lives in

Create a symbolic link pointing to it — in the same way that the instructions above describe. If you’re at this stage, you should open a Terminal and do this:

It should be as simple as that.

Are there situations where this isn’t possible?

This technique works on every Mac, but it won’t work on Windows PCs built prior to 2000. Prior to the release of Windows 2000, Windows used FAT-formatted filesystems by default, and those aren’t capable of creating symlinks. Any Windows PC build since then will almost certainly be using NTFS-format disks, and these support symbolic links just fine. If you’re running FAT and try to create a link, you may see this error: Local volumes are required to complete the operation.

Fortunately, Microsoft provide some instructions on how to upgrade a disk from FAT to NTFS. It’s a little more technical, but it is possible.

Aidan Fitzpatrick

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Comments (26)

August 23 rd , 2020

J’essaie tant bien que mal de déplacer ce Backup et de créer un lien symbolique. Cependant, la seule réponse que j’ai est: illegal option — /

Je vous laisse le chemin que j’utilise et si une âme charitable veut bien m’aiguiller. Merci 🙂

ln -s/Volumes/VERBATIM\ HD/SAUVEGARDE\ IPHONE/

/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup ln: illegal option — / usage: ln [-Ffhinsv] source_file [target_file] ln [-Ffhinsv] source_file . target_dir link source_file target_file

reply by: Reincubate Support

August 23 rd , 2020

Salut Gael, merci d’avoir écrit! Le problème ici est l’espace («») entre votre chemin et les barres obliques.

Il doit s’agir de ln -s /Volumes/VERBATIM\ HD/SAUVEGARDE\ IPHONE/

/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup , et non de ln -s / Volumes / VERBATIM \ HD / SAUVEGARDE \ IPHONE /

/ Library / Application \ Support / MobileSync / Backup

Faites-nous savoir si vous avez besoin d’aide! 🙂

January 15 th , 2020

Backing up to remote Synology server (not local). All you need:

January 4 th , 2020

Exactly what I needed. I don’t want to store on my MacBook as it takes 200GB. This allows me to move to a Time Capsule. I don’t use Time Machine but I use Time Capsule as a network drive and another copy of the whole Time Capsule to another network drive.

reply by: Reincubate Support

January 4 th , 2020

December 1 st , 2019

I’ve got the symbolic link created, but my iPhone back up still goes to the original C: drive location. When I look on my k: drive, I do not see the symbolic link file subdirectory even though it said it was created.

reply by: Reincubate Support

December 1 st , 2019

Hi Rick: the symlink should be in your C: drive, in MobileSync , and called Backups . It’d be that that points to the K: drive in your case. If you get stuck, why not use the functionality in iPhone Backup Extractor? It can do it for you, and it’s in the free edition.

October 3 rd , 2019

How do I figure out the my desired new backup location path? I want to use an external drive.

reply by: Reincubate Support

October 3 rd , 2019

Hi Colleen, thanks for commenting. If you use the functionality in iPhone Backup Extractor to change location, you can make the change simply by browsing to the folder you want. That might be easier! 🙂

September 30 th , 2019

A fix to the insufficient permissions error—

Since I got the permissions insufficient in both cmd and powershell. First you search cmd and then right click the command prompt app and run as admin. Navigate to the directory using the cd command ex.( cd c:\users\youruser\apple\mobilesync ). once in the directory you can use the ( mklink /d backup [new directory] ) command listed in the article. That worked for me.

As a side note, when using the cd command to navigate remember that you will likely have to put any folders with a space in the name inside quotation marks ex.( cd c:\users\»this user»\apple\mobilesync ). hopefully this helps some avoid the hassle of having to figure out this process if you get that persistent insufficient permissions response.

September 16 th , 2019

So I’m trying to change the backup path on Windows, and of course get the «insufficient privilege» error in the regular Powershell. So I ran it as administrator by typing it in the search bar and it said it created the symbolic link to the location, so I restarted my PC & tried updating iOs but the backup still went through to the original location (my hard drive, while I wanna change it to an external one simply ’cause I don’t have enough space left on the former, lol).

So I guess my question is: how do I run Powershell in the MobileSync window as admin/how do I get the one I open through the search bar as admin to go to the MobileSync folder location so I can properly create the symbolic link & switch it up? :/

P.S. I did skip step one if I’m being honest, but only did so ’cause I already found the location manually, then proceeded to follow the instructions w/ renaming the folder, etc. Might this be the reason why it’s not working? If so, shall I re-rename it to its original «Backup» name and try it again with the 1st step? I doubt it since I can’t get the Powershell to go to the MobileSync location while I run it as admin to begin with/can’t change it without running it as admin in the aforementioned window. Then again what do I know, lol.

P.P.S. Does the admin-run Powershell not need the MobileSync path to be put in and can successfully render the switcheroo by typing the featured command right after the «system32» path? If so, what seems to be the problem?

I was hoping to update my iOS tonight, and am getting more & more frustrated as we speak. Sorry for the post being so jumbled, hope all’s clear. Thanks for the help!

reply by: Reincubate Support

September 16 th , 2019

Hi Aaron, thanks for the comment.

Yes, if you skipped step 1 your Powershell will be looking in the wrong folder, so it won’t have created the symbolic link in the right place.

If you’ve already got a Powershell or command window open, you can make it change folder with this command:

cd %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync

(If it’s looking at the wrong drive, you’ll have to change drive by typing C: .)

We’ve reached out to you directly to help, but if anyone else runs into the same problem, we’d recommend undoing the steps you took, starting over, and making sure to include the first step. 🙂

September 3 rd , 2019

I tried it, the following error popped up .. Plz advise

reply by: Reincubate Support

September 3 rd , 2019

Hi Mohamed, it looks like you’re using PowerShell to run the command. If that’s the case, you must prefix you command with cmd /c , so it’s like cmd /c mklink , etc.

August 9 th , 2019

I’m trying to do this on Mac OS 10.14.6 (Mohave), but when I try Step 5, I receive a «Operation Not Permitted» message. Any ideas.

reply by: Reincubate Support

August 9 th , 2019

Hi Sean, thanks for commenting. On macOS Mojave and newer, you’ll need to grant «Full Disk Access» to your Terminal in order to make the change. There’s a how-to on how to do this for iPhone Backup Extractor here, I hope that helps!

July 27 th , 2019

Thank you for the article. Here are a few notes to help somebody.

• Run CMD or PowerShell as admin (right click)
• Change directory CD (include space). Example: CD C:\Users\Username (change this)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync
• Command (this is from this article). Example: mklink /d Backup «L:\Users\XYZ»

July 25 th , 2019

I’m still having trouble with permissions, when I open up powershell in admin I get a command line PS C:\Windows\System32> I don’t seem to be able to open it in admin mode from the file path of the itunes back up.

reply by: Reincubate Support

July 25 th , 2019

Hey Joe, you can change directory using the cd command. Try this:

cd %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync

July 16 th , 2019

Thanks for this assistance! I too got stuck on the «you do not have sufficient privilege to perform this operation.» I then followed your advice in the comments above and ran Powershell as an administrator, but the Powershell window that opens from the MobileSync folder doesn’t seem to recognize that and keeps giving me the same message. What do I do from here? Thanks!

reply by: Reincubate Support

July 16 th , 2019

Hey Jess, thanks for writing. It’s the same privilege error you’re getting? If you drop us a note I’m sure we can guide you through it.

July 14 th , 2019

У меня выдает ошибку в PowerShell mklink : Имя «mklink» не распознано как имя командлета, функции, файла сценария или выполняемой программы. Проверьте правильность написания имени, а также наличие и правильность пути, после чего повторите попытку. строка:1 знак:1 + mklink /d Backup «[desired-new-backup-path]» +

+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (mklink:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

reply by: Reincubate Support

July 14 th , 2019

Привет Андрей, попробуй cmd /c mklink и так далее 🙂

Источник