Usually, you don’t have to know about the accurate location of iTunes backup files because iTunes will show them for you automatically. But what if you purchase a new computer and want to transfer the backup files from the old PC to the new one, you have to know the location of the backup files so that you can have a copy for them. This article will show the following several parts:

Part 1: The location of your iPhone backup files

1: The location of your iTunes backup files

If you are a Windows user, you can find your iPhone backup files under the path just as below according to your operating system:

Note: In order to show the hidden folder, you should enable “show hidden files” firstly. Just open an arbitrary folder, go to “Tools->Folder Options->View”, and then enable “Show hidden files, folders and drives”.

For XP: C:\Documents and Settings\ (username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

For Vista:

For Windows 7: C:\Users\ (username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

For Windows 8, 8.1: C:\Users\ (username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

For Windows 10: C:\Users\ (username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

(The “C:” means the system drive of your computer.)

You can open an arbitrary folder and input the path above into the address bar and then tap the Enter key, to access the target path quickly.

If you are a Mac user, you should go to “ ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/” and view all your iPhone backup files there.

2. Location for iCloud backup files

As to iCloud backup files, since they are all saved in the remote storage, you cannot find iCloud backup files on computer but can still view them very easy.

To Mac users, you have to go to “System Preferences” under Apple menu, and go to “iCloud” and click “Manage” Menu.

To Windows users, just click Start| All Programs| iCloud| iCloud and then choose “Manage”, if you are using Windows 8, you can find the relevant title in the Start Window.

Besides, you can also view the backup data directly on your iPhone. Just go into Settings->iCloud and then choose “Storage & Backup”.

Part 2: Change the storage path of iTunes backup files

Since you know where your backup files are, you must wonder how to change the default storage path and save your backup files in other places so that you can save more space for your system drive. This is not really complex. Here are the steps:

For Windows XP:

• 1) Close your iTunes. And you have to download the junction utility from the Internet.
• 2) Extract the junction utility, and copy “junction.exe” to your username folder.
• 3) Go to the path which saved your iTunes backup files, copy all the backup files to other places.
• 4) Click Start, click Run and input “cmd” into the text box, then tap the Enter key.
• 5) Now the command prompt will pop up, now you have to create an NTFS junction point. Input below commander and tap Enter key:
  Junction “C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “(the new storage path you want)”
• 6) Now back up your iPhone file with iTunes once, and go to the new storage path to check whether the new backup file is saved there.

For Windows Vista/7/8:

• 1) Go to the location of the iTunes backup files, and copy all the files into the new backup storage path you want.
• 2) Both tap Windows and R, and input “cmd” into the popping-up textbox, and then click Ok.
• 3) Now command prompt will pop up. Input the commander just as below and tap Enter key:
  mklink /j “C:\Users\username\App Data\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “(the new storage path you want)”
• 4) Backup your iPhone file with iTunes, and go to the new storage path to check whether new backup file is saved there.

For Mac OS X:

• 1) Exit iTunes, and go to the iTunes backup location and copy all backups to the new storage folder.
• 2) Launch Terminal and enter the command prompt. Input the commander just as follows:
  ln -s /Volumes/External/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup
• 3) Back up your iPhone file with iTunes, and go to new storage path to check whether the new backup data is saved there.

Part 3: How to delete iTunes backup files

Although backup files can give you a chance to get your important data back after deleting them by accident, too many backup files may also waste the storage space. In this case, you may need to delete some files which are already out of date and make room for the new backup files. As to iCloud backup files, deleting the useless backup files in time is also very important. As we know, your iCloud storage is limited and precious, so you have to delete some out-of-data backup files or you may not have enough space to back up your iPhone anymore.

Since you have known where your iTunes backup files are, deleting them can be very easy. Just go into the storage folder of iTunes backup files, and choose what you want and delete them directly. As to deleting backup files in iCloud server, you can just finish the task on your iPhone: Just go “Settings”->”iCloud”->”Storage& Backup”->”Manage Storage”, and then select the backup you want to delete, and then tap “Delete Backup”.

Part 4: How to recover iPhone data without any backup files

Deleting backup files is really easy, but if you just deleted certain important backup which contains your precious personal files by mistake, and you just want to use it to restore your iPhone, it can really be a great disaster. Just in case, you have to know how to retrieve the lost data without backup files as well. Actually, there are some methods to get the deleted data back without backup files, and the easiest way is to choose a well designed tool to help you.

Do not mislead people. With great desire and a certain amount of skill, this can be done without any data loss.

So, first you must understand that you can recover (use) data from your iPhone only from under his account AppStore using your Apple ID and password. If you are ready for this (the phone will be yours or your loved one’s), then you need to do the following (I’ll give the simplest solution to your question).

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer. In the opened iTunes program(I hope you have it installed), on the right side of it, click on your iPad. In the window that opens, in the “Backups” section in the “Automatic creation of copies” subsection, put a marker (check mark) opposite the “iCloud” item. Then, click on the “Create a copy now” button. Wait while the copy is created. After creating a copy, close iTunes without disconnecting the iPhone from the computer.

ZY If you don’t have iCloud configured or you don’t know what it is, then here it is: http://ipadstory.ru/icloud-na-ipad-nastrojka-icloud.html

2. Download the archive with the iTools program (http://122.228.70.14/dl/iTools1107R.zip), unpack it to any place convenient for you, for example, on your computer desktop. Launch the iTools program (in Win7 as Administrator). When the program has opened, click on the application item, which is located under the name of your iPhone and wait for iTools to scan all the programs installed on it. Then, put a checkmark at the very top of the program selection column, thereby selecting all of them. Click on the "Floppy disk" button on the top panel of buttons. A window for selecting the folder for saving the backup copy of the programs will open. Select (create) an “archive” folder and click “OK”. When asked by the program: “Save application/game settings?”, answer “Yes”. After this, the application backup process will begin. This process is quite long and depends on the number and volume of programs and their data. After archiving, copy the application folder to another computer.

3. Thus, at the exit you will receive a copy iPhone data in the iCloud cloud and copies of programs installed on the iPhone. During activation new iPhone, enter your account information in the AppStore and select recovery from iCloud.

4. Install iTools on your computer (iTunes must be installed on your computer before and identify your iPhone at least once). Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTools. After the program has detected the tablet, click on the “Applications” item, which is located under the “library” item. Click on the first button on the button panel and, in the pop-up menu, select the “Folder...” item, indicating the copied folder with applications. Select them all and click on the green “Install” button. Wait for the applications to download to your iPhone.

At the exit you will receive an iPhone with your applications.

iTunes works by allowing you to control Apple devices from your computer. In particular, using this program you can create backup copies and store them on your computer in order to restore the device at any time. Don't know where the backups are stored? iTunes copies on the computer? This article will answer this question.

The ability to restore devices from a backup is one of the undeniable advantages Apple devices. The process of creating, storing and restoring from a backup was introduced by Apple a very long time ago, but so far no manufacturer can provide a service of similar quality.

When creating a backup using iTunes, you have two options for storing them: in cloud storage iCloud and on your computer. If you chose the second option when creating a backup copy, then the backup copy, if necessary, can be found on your computer in order, for example, to transfer it to another computer.

Where does iTunes save backups?

Please note that only one iTunes backup is created per device. For example, you have iPhone and iPad gadgets, which means that every time you update the backup copy, the old backup will be replaced for each device with a new one.

Each backup is displayed as a folder with its own unique name, consisting of forty letters and symbols. In this folder you will find a large number of files that do not have an extension.

How to find out which device a backup belongs to

Considering the names of the backup copies, it is difficult to immediately determine which device this or that folder belongs to. You can understand the ownership of a backup copy as follows:

Now you know where iTunes saves backups. We hope you found this article helpful.

We all know how important it is backup our mobile devices. But what if you don't have enough space on your Mac or PC to store your iPhone or iPad backups? Depending on the size of your device, multiple backups can begin to take a toll on your computer's memory. How to solve this problem? Of course with the help external hard disk! Next, we'll tell you how to set up iTunes to automatically back up your device to an external hard drive.

How to Backup iPhone or iPad to External Hard Drive on macOS

Creating a backup is a very simple process, but you will experience some difficulties if you have little memory left on your computer. To solve this problem, it is advisable to understand a little about the command line. And of course you need your mobile device, a USB cable and an external hard drive. If you have everything ready, then we can start.

Step 1.

Connect your external hard drive to your computer. Make sure you have enough free space on an external hard drive to back up your iPhone or iPad. Create on disk new folder with the name “iPhoneiTunesBackups”.

Step 2.

Open a new Finder window by opening Finder (Command + Spacebar and typing Finder), then open the item File -> New Finder Window.

In the new Finder window, click Command + Shift + G to make the address bar appear. In the empty text field, enter:

Step 3.

You will find yourself in the folder with which we will work. Select the folder called “Backup” and copy it.

Step 4.

Go to your external hard drive and find the folder you just created. In our example this is the folder iPhoneiTunesBackups. Paste the folder from here 3 steps.

Step 5.

Make sure the folder is copied correctly. Now, returning to the original folder ( ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/) rename the folder to BackupOld or something similar.

You can also delete this folder, but in our example we will leave it.

Step 6.

Open terminal(Command + Space and type terminal) and enter the following line:

Ln -s /Volumes/ MYPASSPORT/iPhoneiTunesBackups/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync

Replace in this line MYPASSPORT to your name hard drive and folder name iPhoneiTunesBackups to your own if they differ from our example.

Once you have verified that everything is entered correctly, press ENTER and close the terminal.

Attention! If the name of your external hard drive consists of several words with spaces, then in the command above you must add a backslash (backslash) \ before each space

Step 7

To figure out what happened after entering this command, do it again Step 2. If you did everything correctly, then in the folder ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/ you will see the old backup folder and the new Backup folder with an arrow. The arrow means that this folder now links to the folder located on the external hard drive.

Step 8

Open iTunes and connect your device. In the “Backups” section, select “ This computer" and press Create a backup. The new backup will be saved to your external hard drive.

Step 9

Check that the last backup was saved to your hard drive. To do this, look at the last modification date of the iPhoneiTunesBackups folder, or check for new directories in it.

Now every backup of your iOS device will be done to an external hard drive. You don't have to keep your external hard drive plugged in all the time; you can only plug it in when you're about to perform a backup.

If you want to return everything to its original state, simply return to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/ and delete the folder with the arrow. Then rename the old folder to Backup. That's all.

For advanced users

Advanced users can also complete the entire directory creation, copying, and linking process from the command line. Using the following commands:

Mkdir /Volumes/ExternalFileStorage/iTunesDeviceBackups/ cp ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ Volumes/ExternalFileStorage/iTunesDeviceBackups/ cd ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/ rm -r Backup/ ln -s /Volumes/ExternalFileStorage/iTune sDeviceBackups /Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/

Windows 10

For Windows procedure identical, except for step 6.

Call command line using the WIN+R combination and type cmd. In the command line, paste the following line (let's assume E: this is the letter of the external hard drive):

Mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\" "E:\iTunesDeviceBackups\"

Method 2: how to make a copyiPhone oriPad to an external drive in Windows 7, 8, 10

Depending on the amount of data you have, a copy of your iPhone or iPad can take up quite a lot of space on your computer. For those who do not have this place, there is also a solution - use an external HDD. This can be done using the iMazing program, which allows you to back up your devices and manage the files and information on them.

How to make a copyiPhone oriPad to external drive

Step 1: Download and install the iMazing program on your computer.

Step 2: Connect iOS device to your computer and open iMazing.

Step 3: Once iMazing detects your device, the first thing you'll need to do is change where you save your backups. To do this, select your device in the menu on the left.

Step 4: Click on the gear icon to open settings.

Step 6: Select the one you need external drive or click Choose a custom location to select a specific folder on that drive.

Step 7: Click Done to save the new location.

Step 8: Click again Done to close settings.

Step 9: To make a backup, click on the button Back Up.

Step 10: Configure all available options and then click the button Back Up in the lower right corner.

Step 11: iMazing will begin the backup process. It will take from a few minutes to half an hour depending on the amount of data on your device.

On external drive the folder " iMazing. Backups", where all your copies will be stored. Do not delete it or change the contents, otherwise this may damage your copies.

How to recoveriPhone oriPad throughiMazing

Step 1: First, you need to disable Find My iPhone. Open Settings and click on your name at the very top. Then go to iCloud> FindiPhone and turn off the switch.

Step 2: Connect your device to your computer and open iMazing.

Step 3: Select your device in the menu on the left and click Restore a Backup.

Step 4: iMazing will show a list of all saved copies that are compatible with the device. Select the one you want and click Choose in the lower right corner.

Step 5: If you want to manually select which apps and data to restore, click the button Customize, if not, click Next.

Step 6: Click Next to confirm the restoration. In the next window, click Restore.

• Note: If the backup is protected, you will need to enter a password.

Step 7: iMazing will begin the recovery process. You can press at any time Close Window to return to the main iMazing window, and the restoration will continue in background. When the process is complete, the device will reboot and you can continue to use it as usual.

You can use some iMazing features (creating copies and installing applications) in trial version, but to restore or update the system you will have to buy a licensed one. A license for one computer can be purchased for $39.99, a universal license for $49.99, and a license for five computers for $69.99.

iTunes is a must-have companion for any iOS device owner. The utility helps not only to exchange content between a PC and mobile device, but also makes it possible to update or restore your Apple gadget, buy and download new applications and media files, create a ringtone, etc. However, perhaps the most important option of the program is performing a backup, because in our mobile assistants Today we store so much important and valuable information that it would be an extreme shame to lose it when it is lost/stolen or simply when the device breaks down.

In this article we will tell you how to create a copy of data in iTunes, as well as where iTunes stores backup copies.

Creating a backup in iTunes is a very simple procedure and even a novice user can handle it. To perform a backup, follow these instructions:

Ready! All that remains is to wait until the program saves the created duplicate on the PC. You can verify that the backup in iTunes was successful by opening the “Edit” section of the program, then “Settings” and going to the “Devices” tab - the created copy and the number of its creation will be displayed here.

As you understand, backups need to be repeated regularly. In this case, please note that only the latest current duplicate will be stored on the computer - when creating a new backup, old data is deleted automatically.

Where are iTunes backup files stored?

So, we figured out how to make a backup copy, but you probably have a logical question - where exactly does the program save the backed up information and is it possible to view it. Well, let's find out.

The directory into which the utility determines the copied data instance depends on what PC you are working with.

If you own a Mac, you can access the storage location as follows:

If you are using a Windows computer, to find the storage location of the backed up information:

How to view files and restore from an iTunes backup?

Now let’s talk about what a backup saved in iTunes looks like. It is a folder whose name contains 40 characters. There are a bunch of other folders hiding in this folder. None of the folders can be renamed, also on the official page Apple support It is highly not recommended to transfer the folder with backup information anywhere. After all, something can be accidentally damaged - you can accidentally delete some important file, and if the duplicate is damaged, when restoring data, you will most likely encounter an error.

However, most likely, when you see this pile of folders, you will have a question not about how to move them somewhere, but how to restore any information from a copy that looks so strange. Well, that is, with iCloud everything is clear - if you made a backup in the cloud, you simply open the iCloud.com website, log in using your Apple ID and see all the backed up data neatly laid out in clear sections - “Contacts”, “Photos” etc.

With iTunes, everything is somewhat different - you cannot view the data here, but, in fact, this should not worry the user too much. After all, this will not prevent data from being restored from iTunes to a new iOS device. When transferring content, the user will be required to initial setup new gadget, just select “Restore via iTunes” and connect the device to the PC - all the work will be done automatically.

But what if you need to extract partially backed up content in order to later transfer it, for example, to an Android device. This is where you have to work hard. There are different mechanisms for each type of information. For example, you can see how to copy contacts.

By the way, a complete list of information stored by duplicate data in iTunes can be found in this article.

What to do if iTunes backups refuse to be created?

Unfortunately, sometimes when performing a backup, you may encounter an error: “iTunes was unable to create a backup.” There can be many reasons for this - from simple wear and tear of the synchronization cable to conflicts with virus software.

First of all, if the backup procedure fails, it is recommended to take the following measures to eliminate the error:

If none of the recommendations help and you still cannot perform a backup, read this article or contact Apple Support.

Let's summarize

Well, now you know how to create a duplicate of data in iTunes, and you also know where the program stores the folders with the copies made. Unfortunately, it is impossible to view the information in them directly, but this is not important for restoring content. If you made a backup via iTunes, you can always extract information from the copy using special programs and get it in the end in proper form.