Moving your iPhone or iPad backup to an external hard drive is a great way to free up space on your Mac, especially if you've backed up more than one device on the same computer. However, managing storage on your Mac can be tricky, even more so if you have limited space. Show
That's why you need to get creative, and moving your backup files to an external hard drive is a convenient way to have some extra space on any of the best Macs — that is, besides using iCloud. Here's how you can move your iPhone or iPad backup to an external hard drive. Note: This guide is for people who back up their iPhone or iPad using a computer, not through iCloud. It works with macOS Monterey and later. What are these backup files, and why are they taking up so much space?When you back up your mobile device using your computer, the backup is stored on your Mac. The location of the backups is in a folder called MobileSync, and sometimes it gets pretty big, especially if you are syncing multiple devices. Old backups are replaced with new ones, but families with multiple devices backed up to one computer will take up a lot of storage space. We highly recommend syncing on iCloud and then deleting the backups on your Mac rather than relocating them. It's a better, more straightforward option, but you might need to buy some extra iCloud storage. If you're thinking about using iCloud, here's how to choose which iCloud storage plan you should get. That being said, if you're still bent on moving them to an external hard drive, we're here to help. Step 1: Locate your backupsThis part is easy. Your backups are stored in a MobileSync folder. You can find them by typing ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup into Spotlight. You can also find the backups for specific devices from Finder.
Step 2: Move your backups to an external hard driveThis part is easy, too. But, you really have to pay close attention to the name of your hard drive and the new folder names you create, including punctuation and spacing. This information will be used when creating a Terminal pathway. If you use different terms than the ones suggested, replace them with the exact name you have in the Terminal command in Step 3.
Do not delete the old_backup folder yet. Step 3: Create a symlink to tell your computer the new location of your backupsThis is the most complex and essential step to moving your iOS backups to an external hard drive. If you don't perform this step, your computer won't back up your iPhone or iPad anymore. You'll have to move the folders back to your Mac instead of manually. In this step, you'll create a symlink — or symbolic link. When you create a symlink, you create a new path for Finder to take to get to the backups folder. Former iMore writer and Mac genius Peter Cohen explains symlinks perfectly: "Some applications don't follow aliases properly. An older way of creating those connections is more reliable for actions like what we want iTunes to do: Symbolic links, aka symlinks. They work at a low enough level that applications and operating system functions don't have as hard a time with them as they do aliases. We're going to use Mac's Terminal app to create a symbolic link to trick iTunes into backing up onto your external drive rather than the boot drive," Cohen said. If you're using macOS Mojave or later, you will first need to change the permissions for Terminal on your Mac. Otherwise, you won't have permission to follow the remaining steps of this process. To do so:
Next, a lesson in using Terminal. The proper pathway is critical for this to work. Every person's hard drive and backup folder names will be different. The following is the anatomy of the Terminal code we are using: ln -s /Volumes/External/ios_backup ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup/4f1234a05e6e7ccbaddfd12345678f1234b123f
If your external hard drive's name has space, be sure to use the proper coding. For example, if your hard drive is named "My Passport," be sure to use a backslash after My, then Space, then Passport. Like this: My\ Passport. Don't forget to capitalize when necessary.
You will see a new folder in your MobileSync folder called "Backup," or the series of numbers and letters that represent your device. You can tell this is a symlink because it will have an arrow in the bottom left corner. Next, you'll need to confirm that it worked before deleting your old_backup file on your Mac.
If the pathway relocation worked, and you can confirm that backups are now happening on your external hard drive, you can delete the old_backup folder on your Mac. Note: If you go back to the MobileSync folder and open the symlink folder, you will see the names of the files that relate to your backup. These are aliases, not actual files. It's like a thumbnail of a picture. Step 4: Disable automatic backups when connected to your computerIf you don't always have an external hard drive connected to your Mac, you will need to disable automatic backups of your iPhone or iPad. Otherwise, you'll get an error message whenever you connect your iOS device to your Mac.
Don't forget to manually back up your iPhone whenever you connect it to your computer and have your external hard drive plugged in too. How to restore the backup to your iPhoneTo restore an iPhone or iPad backup from an external drive requires moving the files back to the Mac.
Depending on the size of your backup, this could take a long time. Make sure you have enough space on your Mac. Next, you'll need to begin the restore process in Finder:
Your mobile device is now being restored. Once it's done, you may wish to delete the backup folder you dragged to the Mac to save space. Otherwise, you'll now have two backups, the one you saved on the Mac and the other on the external drive that continues being used for backup purposes. How to remove the symlink and go back to storing your backups on your MacIf you made a mistake and the symlink didn't work, or you want to go back to storing your backups on your Mac, all you have to do is delete the symlink folder you created. No need to enter any "rm" or "unlink" command in Terminal.
Lots of steps — perhaps a better solutionAs previously stated, we strongly recommend not backing up your mobile devices via Mac. Instead, consider using iCloud to keep copies of your iPhone or iPad files. iCloud works seamlessly with all of your Apple devices and can keep everything tidy and organized. There are even other cloud storage apps and sites if you don't prefer iCloud, but want something like OneDrive instead. However, if you're still committed to going old-school, the above steps will help. How do I backup my iPhone to my Mac via USB?Back up iPhone using your Mac. Connect iPhone and your computer with a cable.. In the Finder sidebar on your Mac, select your iPhone. ... . At the top of the Finder window, click General.. Select “Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac.”. Can you back up your entire iPhone to a flash drive?How to Backup iPhone to Flash Drive via iTunes. Actually, there is no direct way to backup iPhone to USB flash drive via iTunes. But you can first make a backup via iTunes on computer > find the iTunes backup > copy the backup files from computer hard drive to flash drive.
How do I backup my iPhone to an external hard drive directly?To back up an iPhone to an external hard drive directly:. Connect your iPhone to your PC with a USB cable and go to "Backup Manager" > "Back up" in EaseUS MobiMover.. Check the content you need to backup and tap "Select" to change the iPhone backup location to the external hard drive. ... . Wait for the backup to complete.. How do I transfer everything from my iPhone to my Mac?On your Mac, go to the Apple menu and then System Preferences and find iCloud. Then select iCloud Drive. If your files are all synched up, then you'll be able to access the same files from both your phone and Mac using the iCloud Drive app on Mac and the Files app on your iPhone.
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