Keep Apple devices in synchronize
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There ‘s never excessively many photos on iPhone, right ? Wrong. When it comes to backing up your io device, endless photograph, messages, and files can suffocate your inner storage on Mac .
The first way to solve the trouble is reasonably aboveboard : Keep your iPhone or iPad clean. It became a moment easier with the turn of io 13, which allows removing similar shots and clutter from your Photos veranda automatically. If you take your drift cleanness seriously, you can go further and install a bright twin finder like Gemini on your phone. Whether you ‘re an Instagram husband/wife, or plainly love good photography — this is a pro-level cock to save your disk space.
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But what if photos are not the problem ? Sometimes it ‘s about textbook doctor, mail attachments — lots of little files that become heavier and heavier as they pile up. It will take hours of work to free up memory space manually. So we suggest you do n’t. You can solve the trouble by changing iPhone backing location rather .
In this scout, we ‘ll tell you everything about where iPhone and iPad backups are stored by default, how to move them to an external campaign, and what ‘s the best Mac instrument for running direct io backups .
How to change iPhone backup location on Mac
There are two Apple ways to backup io devices to Mac — using iTunes or iCloud. none of them is identical easy. We ‘ve prepared detail instructions on how to locate and move iPhone backup to an external drive both ways. If you follow these, nothing could go wrong.
Locate iOS backups in iTunes/Finder
here ‘s how you find a tilt of io backups if you use iTunes :
- Click on the Spotlight Search button in the menu bar
- Type the following command: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
- Hit Return.
The mechanism is a bit different if you ‘re searching for a particular backup. In this case, go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. Control-click the selected accompaniment and blue-ribbon Show in Finder from the drop-down menu. note that if you ‘re using macOS Catalina or later, you ‘ll have to locate backups via Finder, while newer operating systems don ’ t have iTunes in its original form :
- Open a new Finder window
- Select Go > Go to Folder
- Type the command ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
- Hit Go.
- Access your Backup folder from there.
An important thing to remember is that you should n’t copy or extract particular files from your Backup folder — this might lead to your files being ruined. What you have to do is to copy and transfer an entire folder.
Locate iOS backups in iCloud
If you use iCloud for iPhone backup, you do n’t have to suffer from the low repositing trouble. once your iPhone or iPad files are backed up, you can merely delete the backups. none of your valuable data will be damaged. How to remove backups from iPhone or iPad and turn off backup for your device.
- Go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud
- Click Manage Storage > Backups for iOS 11 and iCloud Storage > Manage Storage for iOS 10.3
- Select your device name
- Delete Backup > Turn Off and Delete.
On your macintosh :
- Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud
- Select Manage and click on the Backups
- With the backup selected, click Delete to remove the backup. Confirm that you would also like to turn off Backup if needed.
Backup iPhone to external hard drive
For those who backup via iTunes/Finder, the journey is n’t finished. now it ‘s time to backup iPhone to USB drive, an external difficult force that wo n’t affect your storage on Mac. This should be done identical cautiously. Any undertake to extract files from the backing booklet or using the wrong name of a hard drive may end up in a failure. besides, let us warn you in boost that you should n’t delete a backup after you move it to the new storage localization. Before you do anything to your honest-to-god io backup, make sure you set iTunes to backup from the hard drive. Let ‘s go through it step by step .
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- Connect your external hard drive to Mac and open it.
- Select the backup folder from the Finder window or iTunes. Usually, the name of the backup folder consists of random numbers and letters, or it’s called “Backup.”
- Drag the entire folder — couldn’t emphasize it more — to your external drive.
- Type your admin password.
- Rename the backup folder to “iOS_backup” and enter the admin password once again to confirm your action.
now, the most delicate part. It ‘s not enough to create iPhone external storage, you have to tell iTunes where it is to ensure the backups will be done outwardly from now on. To make that oeuvre, you should create a new path — or a alleged emblematic link — for iTunes/Finder. Before you dive into it, make indisputable you allow Full Disk Access for Terminal. You ‘ll have to enable it manually if you use macOS Mojave. In this case, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy. Unlock by entering your admin password and chatter Full Disk Access. Add Terminal to the list of apps with full access license via the asset push button.
Create a symlink
Can you backup an iPhone to an external hard tug without a symlink ? not without using third-party tools. so let ’ s dive in into what symlink is and how to create it .
Symlink actually stands for “ symbolic connection ” and is just a file that contains the path to your stand-in. In a bible, a bookmark.
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If you want to save an iPhone accompaniment to an external drive, your system needs to know where to put the files, indeed creating a symlink is essential. As outlined above, symlink is created with the help of Terminal .
first, give Terminal Full Disk Access in your Mac ’ sulfur System Preferences. Next, overt Terminal and type in the follow command :
ln -s/Volumes/Nameofyourexternaldrive/ios_backup/~/Library/Application Support /MobileSync/Backup/Nameofyourbackupfolder
Replace “ Nameofyourexternaldrive ” and “ Nameofyourbackupfolder ” with respective values — an demand name of the unvoiced drive you are using ( should be displayed in Finder ) and the diagnose of the backup folder for the iPhone or the iPad. You ‘ve done everything right if you can find a newly created symlink file with the name of your accompaniment booklet in the MobileSync folder. The file icon should have an arrow in the bottom left corner .
How to remove the symlink and go back to restoring your backups on your Mac
As you can see, while you can backup an iPhone immediately to an external tug, it takes quite a few steps. If you decide to remove symlink and use a more square tool, you can precisely type in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup in Spotlight to locate your folder, open it, and plainly delete it.
Backing up to an external drive: How to check it works?
now when you ‘ve backed up iPhone to portable hard drive, run a quiz to see whether iTunes is in truth backing up from the new localization :
- Connect your iPhone or iPad.
- Launch iTunes or find your device via Finder.
- Select Back Up Now.
- With the backup completed, open the iOS_backup folder on the external drive.
- Check the date and time of the last backup — it should coincide with your recent activity.
only after the test proves successful can you delete your honest-to-god accompaniment.
How to backup iPhone directly to external drive
There are two adult problems with iTunes backups. And we can understand why you say “ nay ” to both of them. First of wholly, if you ‘re backing up with iTunes or iCloud, you never know what files are covered. While you have to move an integral booklet to your external drive, there ‘s no way to check what ‘s inwardly — not to mention selecting specific files for a accompaniment .
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Another thing is concluding commands can go incorrectly — and they much do. A single mistake can break the whole process, so you ‘ll have to start all complete again. The good news is you can actually back up iPhone to an external hard drive without iTunes and iCloud. The tool that you need for that is called AnyTrans for io. AnyTrans is a Mac utility that handles connections across io, macOS, and AnyDroid for Android devices. And by “ connections ” we mean lots of useful things that built-in utilities like iTunes ca n’t handle :
- Transfer media files, including photos, messages, and documents from your iPhone/iPad to Mac.
- Back up your iOS device to an external drive in seconds.
- Preview files that you’re backing up and select your custom file types if you don’t want to back up everything.
- Preview old iCloud and iTunes backups and transfer files from your old backup directly to an external drive.
The stand-in process is a four-step manage if you use AnyTrans — alternatively of complicate Terminal commands. hera ‘s how you back up directly to an external drive :
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to Mac and open AnyTrans.
- Click on Backup Manager > Back Up
- Choose the files you want to back up
- Choose your external drive as the target save location and click on the Next button to start backing up.
That ‘s it. Everything you ‘ve backed up will now appear on your external drive. besides, check out information about what do you do if your iPhone wo n’t turn on at all. Let ‘s sum up with a few tips that will help you keep your iPhone data protected :
Double protection
If you ‘re determined to use the built-in tools for your io and iPad backups, we recommend using both iCloud and iTunes/Finder. It ‘s never a waste of time when it comes to ensuring your data security. then in character something goes wrong, you ‘ll have a backup plan. Pun intended.
Move backups across storages
possibly you have lots of data. Or, you merely prefer cloud repositing to storing your files on a local drive. That ‘s apprehensible. To ensure nothing gets lost in the shamble, use CloudMounter to mount your defile drives as local disks and therefore, transfer backups across multiple storages flexibly .
Two (or 240) for the price of one
Both AnyTrans and CloudMounter are available with a Setapp subscription. Setapp is a box of curated Mac and io utilities that solve the majority of jobs on your devices. so if you get a Setapp subscription, you ‘ll be able to handle automatic io backups, move backups across memory, and a million other things .
Why you should use an external storage for backup
now you know how to store iPhone accompaniment on an external drive or in cloud storehouse and can choose the most desirable choice for your daily act. Making sure your most valuable data is safe and has a backing copy is full of life, thus take the clock to arrange for your most optimum solution.
As detailed above, you can create an external copy of your device ’ second files into an external booklet with the avail of iTunes or a obscure storage in iCloud. You can besides use third-party tools to make your backup procedure seamless and blowy .
AnyTrans for io and CloudMounter are excellent solutions you can try for promptly, hassle-free backups that require following to zero technical foul skills and save you time on figuring out all the kernel. Feels like something you ’ five hundred be into ? Try both apps and many more tools for productivity and better efficiency on Setapp now !
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