How to Backup an iPhone to External Hard Drive with Mac OS X
For those of us with larger storage size iPhone and iPad models, backing up the device locally can be a burden on limited disk space. A simple solution to this storage dilemma is to backup an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to an external hard drive instead, where disk space is often more abundant. We’ll walk you through how to get this setup in Mac OS X, so that any locally made backup from iTunes goes to an external disk rather than the internal drive, thereby helping to preserve local disk space and offload storage requirements.
In order to successfully get iTunes backups of iOS devices to automatically backup to and store on an external drive, you’ll need some working knowledge of the command line and directory structures, since we’ll be using symbolic links to get this done. Aside from that, you’ll need the usual to make a generic iPhone or iPad backup with iTunes, including a USB cable for the iOS device, and of course an external hard drive with enough free space available to maintain the backups. I personally use the same hard drive for Time Machine and for file storage and created a subfolder on the file storage portion for iOS backups, but you can use a separate drive, a dedicated drive, a partition, or whatever works for you. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to set up Time Machine and complete a backup of the Mac before beginning.
How to Backup iPhone & iPad to an External Hard Drive with Mac OS X
This works the same with all versions of Mac OS X, all types of iOS devices with versions of iOS, and all versions of iTunes, since the location of the iOS backup files has stayed the same on the Mac. Technically you could do this with a network volume as well, but we’re focusing on a traditional external hard disk here.
- Quit iTunes if you haven’t done so already
- Connect the external hard drive to the Mac if you haven’t done so already, then create a new folder on the drive (or partition) to dedicate to the iTunes backups. In this example, we’re creating a folder to store the backups called “iTunesExternalBackupSymLink” so that it’s purpose remains obvious
- Open a new Finder window, then hit Command+Shift+G and enter the following path:
- Locate the folder in this directory called “Backup” and copy that to the folder you just made on the external drive (in this example, the folder called ‘iTunesExternalBackupSymLink’ )
- Back in the original location of the Backup folder (at ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/), rename “Backup” to “Backup-Old”, or simply delete it – only do this after you have copied this folder to the external drive
- Now launch the “Terminal” application, found in /Applications/Utilities/ and type the following command, changing the names of your external drive and folder as appropriate ,then hit the return key:
- Quit Terminal, then confirm the symbolic link was created by returning to “~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/” in the Finder, the “Backup” folder should now be a generic file with an arrow on it, signifying there is now a direct link between that “Backup” and the location specified on the external hard disk
- Open iTunes and connect the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the computer as usual, select the device within iTunes, select ‘This Computer’ as the backup location (optionally encrypting the backup), and then choose “Back Up Now” to start the device backup to the external drive
- When the backup has completed in iTunes, double-check everything is in order by going to the folder on the external drive and confirming there is a “Backup” folder containing a hexadecimal named subdirectory – this is the backup made from iTunes of the device
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/
ln -s /Volumes/FileStorage/iTunesExternalBackupSymLink/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync
In this example, the external hard drive is named “FileStorage”, and the iTunes backup folder on that volume is ‘iTunesExternalBackupSymLink’, so adjust those as needed for your situation
That’s all there is to it. As long as the external hard drive is connected to the Mac, iTunes will now backup to that external storage volume rather than the internal hard disk. The backup will fail if the external hard drive is not connected to the Mac. Likewise, restoring an iOS device from a local backup will be impossible if the external hard drive is not connected to the Mac.
This offers a great way to save local disk space and offload iOS backups made in iTunes to another hard drive. You should still continue to backup to iCloud as well, since having dual backups offers a level of redundancy that is always appreciated should something go wrong.
If you’re interested in storing backups on external volumes, you may also be interested in moving an iTunes library to an external hard drive too, since that can further offload media and free up local disk space.
Creating External iTunes Backups Entirely with Command Line
Advanced users can also perform the entire process of directory creation, copying, and linking from the command line, if desired. The general syntax for that process would look like the following:
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/iTunesDeviceBackups/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/
Once the symbolic link has been created, open iTunes and start the backup as usual.
For what it’s worth, there are sloppy and less technical ways to go about this, mainly copying the iOS backup files from an internal drive to an external drive manually, then removing them from the internal drive, and copying them back from the external drive back to the internal drive when needed, but that’s really a hassle, and given how well the symbolic link process works, it’s just not necessary.
What about Windows? Is it possible to do the same on a windows computer running itunes?
Yes, if you backup an iPhone to Windows PC you can also copy the iTunes backup folder to an external drive on Windows, then symlink it to the external drive.
From a command window (run command.com if all else), assuming Windows 10 and external drive is “E” with directory ‘iTunesDeviceBackup’
mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "E:\iTunesDeviceBackup"Initial path may vary depending on Windows version and where iTunes stores backup files, see here for more version paths:
http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/11/iphone-backup-location/
I no longer us Windows primarily so I can’t run through this at the moment, but it works and I used to do it with iTunes media. Details about symlinks in Windows are here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753194.aspx
It works fine, just slightly different to setup. Everything else is the same, backups to iTunes then transfer directly to the attached external drive.
Does this method need to use a symlink? Would an Alias of the backup folder also work?
don’t use alias’ for stuff like this. sym links hard code the info so that no mistakes happen.
some system items or apps will view an alias as a file, instead of a link to the folder, and ignore or fail when attempting to write to the folder
a sym link virtually guarantees to fool all system and app processes into believing the directory exists in the proper location while transparently pointing it to the new one.
Yes this requires symlink, can simplify like so
ln -s /Volumes/[External Drive]/MobileSync ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSynchow does one undo this?
Delete the symbolic link (finder or command line), then copy the “Backup” folder from the external drive back to the user library location. Easy peasy.
So I have an issue where I did this and then my hard drive died… How do I change my backups back to being on my computer now that I can’t access my external drive?
So I have an issue where I did this and then my hard drive died… How do I change my backups back to being on my computer now that I can’t access my external drive?
Thanks for any help.
The ln command string seems to be missing the Backup folder in the target destination. I’m running OSX 10.8.5 and the command I had to enter was
ln -s /Volumes/M3TB/iTunesExternalBackupSymLink/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup
2nd thing is that the external hard seems to have to be formatted in Apple format. Mine is NTFS and the backup fails…
You are right with the Command.
this is a pretty horrible idea
actually.. it’s a great idea that apple DESTROYS (typical nanny state apple telling us what we can and cannot do)
I’ve tried using symbolic links (ln command in terminal) to move other system related items to an external drive and any time apple issues a system update that happens to addresses something in the location of the link on the drive, it assumes the actual files are missing , deletes the link, creates a new/generic/fresh install version of the folder that was there before and updates that instead.
apple’s system updates DO NOT respect user choices, especially symbolic links.
the solution: after each system/software update, check to see if your link is still in tact. if not, youll have to copy over the updated files to your external drive then recreate the symbolic link
iTunes backups of iPhones and iPads are not system files, so this is not a problem. It works flawlessly, I use it all the time.
Of course you’re going to have a problem if you’re trying to move your SYSTEM files with symlinks, that is a bad idea.
I agree with Sandy on this. I’ve used a symbolic link on my Mail folder for five years and many OS changes without a problem. It’ll have to be for another OS X Daily article, but ln -s for the Mail folder works really well because that folder can become massive in size. I send mine to a Mail folder on an external Raid.
You can also change the backup location in iTunes. Go to Preferences > Advanced and set the media location there.
The media location is for your music, apps, itunes junk, it does not include the iOS backups
Media location:
~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
Backup location:
~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/
this is a great tip, HOWEVER, doing this, when you back up your computer, do are no longer backing up your iOS backup.
One would need to do a second backup of this data on another drive or partition in order to be safely backed up. Nothing is backed up until it is backed up twice!!
Yes correct, but you should backup to iCloud as well. It’s easy and a good option.
You either backup to your computer- and include passwords, as it’s encrypted- or you backup to the cloud, which isn’t encrypted.
Your choice.
iTunes backups must be encrypted manually, highly recommended. iCloud backups are encrypted automatically, which is why they include health data and passwords. Also why the current FBI / San Bernadino situation is where it is, they reset the iCloud password.
Anyway, everyone should backup to BOTH services for having reliable backups. Redundancy is good.
No. There was no (recent enough) iCloud backup of the San Bernardino phone, *and* the password was reset. That started the whole issue.
iCloud backup can be read by apple and they did send it to the FBI. Only it isn’t recent enough, and with a changed password, the phone can’t be triggered to backup again to iCloud.
hi I am running Version 10.11.3 (15D21) and this does not seem to be on my system. ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/ I am a novice Mac user; can anyone help? Thanks
Hi Paul,
Quick question:
Will the external iPhone folders continue to be backed up in Time Machine?
How to “backup” an iPhone?
Great! I’m backupping my phone right now!
There, I backupped it!
#EnglishIsHard
GrammarNutsy, I am glad you were able to “backup” your iPhone to an external hard drive, it works great to backup your iPhone this way, offloading the storage to another drive, right? I have been going this route since the iPhone started requiring backups, personally. Now, once you escape the 17th century over there and join the 21st century with computers and iPhones and other technologies that require backups, you will find that ‘backup’ is indeed the proper word and backup is proper vernacular. In fact, the verb form is ‘back up’ in two words, whereas the noun is ‘backup’, one word. That is one word, backup. Backup that iPhone! The more you know, the less you will sound like you just crawled out of a slumber, Sir Rip Van Winkle! Enjoy your backups!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
#BackupIphone #LOL #BackupYouriPhone
Hi
Could someone please help me out…
I have done all the steps and there seems to be problem at the very end!!!
I keep getting the following message in the “Terminal” window: …/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/: File exists
and the Symbolic Link is not created!!!
What am I supposed to do?
This means, you have not replaced the name of the folder on your mac from ‘Backup’ to ‘Backup_old’
My iPhone is backing up now. Thank you! For those who are having trouble, I would recommend typing your string for terminal in a Word doc. Make sure it’s perfect. Don’t have spaces in your external HD name or your folder name on the HD that will hold the backup. Make sure those two file names match perfectly. Open terminal. Don’t hit enter or a space, just paste the string, make sure there isn’t a space at the end of the string, and then hit RETURN. It took me a few times, but I eventually got it to work. Save your Word doc with a link to this article. I even pasted the string several times on the page in case it got corrupted somehow as I need to do it again for a second iPhone on a different hard drive.
Thanks for this MovieGourmet! I had so much trouble, but I had a space in the name of my external HD. This fixed the problem!
I have followed all your steps, I have OS X 10.11.4, and it’s still not working. I’m using a Seagate backup drive, though. Once I do the terminal command, it creates the file with the arrow, but when I go back to iTunes, it says “Your phone backup is corrupt or missing” or something like that. I’m not sure what’s going on.
As a follow-up, I have spaces in the names of my External Hard Drive and the file name I want them to be backed up to. When I type them into the Terminal (I’m typing them correctly by the way – I’m using Tab so it automatically finds and types the file name into the Terminal), it doesn’t make a folder with an arrow; it makes a paper with an arrow. I’ve found that when I get a folder with an arrow, it works. But, like I said, when I use the names with spaces, it only gives me the paper with an arrow. Help?
Update: My file name is “Chase’s iPhone Backups”. It’s the apostrophe that’s messing up the process. Is there a workaround to this? If not, no worries. The apostrophe’s not that big of a deal to me.
Hi,
I followed every step but got an error at the end. When I click to back up to “This Computer” on iTunes, it gave me error message “iTunes could not back up the iPhone “……..” because an error occurred.” Could someone help?
If I ever want to dismantle SymLink, how do I do that? As in I no longer want to backup to an external hd but to the mac instead, what are the steps? Thanks!
Great question. Since the symlink is basically a file (like an alias) rather than a folder, you can either unlink it or delete it like a file and not like a folder. For example:
Change to the directory where the symbolic link exists (in this case, perhaps on external hard drive)
cd /directory/where/symlink/exists/Then remove the symbolic link in that directory:
unlink symlinkThat should do the trick. Be very specific with the command syntax, as exact names and paths matter.
It’s less desirable but you can also use the rm -i command
rm -i /Path/to/symlinkIf you’re new to the command line, it can be helpful to enable a confirmation dialog with rm and srm as discussed here:
http://osxdaily.com/2016/04/21/enable-confirmation-rm-srm-delete-files-folders-command-line/
I have done everything as directed above, however, as with Shervin above here, I too get the file exists line. When I do step 7 the Backup folder is there alongside the Backup-old file, but there is no arrow to indicate the folder is linked. I am using El Capitan and a LaCie external drive. As a result when going to stage 8, the phone backs up to the computer and not the external drive. Very Frustrating.
thank you!
Hi,
This is great, thanks!
Is there a way to do this backup to a hard drive connected to a base station?
[Volumes] seem to be restricted to a directly connected drive and not a “via-connected” drive (i.e. “Base Station/MyExternal”)
Thanks for the advice!
Cheers,
JB
I followed the instructions and everything seemed to be ok, however, when I try to perform a backup through iTunes, the following message pops up – “iTunes could not restore the following iPhone “iPhone” because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone that is being restored”
Please help. I have no idea what’s going wrong.
Same for me. I give up.
Check out Movie Gourmets comment above. you cannot have ANY spaces in both your external HD name or your folder the backup will go into. I had the same problem over and over until I fixed that
Thanks a lot for your tutorial. I installed you commands in the terminal to backup my iPhone 6 and iPad Air in a AirTime Capsule 2TB (connected by wi-fi) and it worked.
Sometimes, after swichting off my Mac I have to install your command in the Terminal when I start my Mac again. Do you know how to solve it?
Best regards.
I think there was a typo. Instead of
ln -s /Volumes/FileStorage/iTunesExternalBackupSymLink/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync
I think it should have been
ln -s /Volumes/FileStorage/iTunesExternalBackupSymLink/Backup ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync
the extra slash at the end of the word Backup I don’t think is needed
Hi
I tried backing up Iphone 6 plus 64GB on my macbook air, the backup takes close to 4-5 hours and that too after the backup is finished Itunes still says that the Your device has never been backed up on this computer.
Tried doing for my Ipad too.. but no luck.
Please advice.
“no such file or directory”
Why am I getting this message???
Because you entered something wrong into the command line and you are pointing something at a location that does not exist. Having no idea what command you did or did not enter it’s impossible to say. Also, the command line requires precise syntax, without precise syntax you will get errors (or worse) which is why it’s aimed for advanced users only.
So, I’ve completed the steps #1 thru #7, verified that the symbolic link was created. I then did a backup via iTunes (the step #8), finished it without any errors. iTunes shows me that the most recent backup was done today, a moment ago. I then went to my external hard drive to double check that a hexadecimal file was created and…nada….What am doing wrong and how to find out where the backup actually is being stored??
any help with this error ?
itunes could not backup the iphone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with iphone
I have tried your method for backing up my iPhone 6 to my external hard drive (a WD My Passport). Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work. The generic file doesn’t appear it remains stubbornly the same. Can you suggest a remedy?
Worked for me. Awesome, thanks.
You know what would be a good addition/follow up to this article, the commands and steps to undue this setup.
Thanks again, Rick
I completed all the steps. sym link seems to be fine. I told iTunes to back up and it says that it’s syncing, and a new hex-ish file has been created in the external Backups folder. But that was over 3 hours ago and it’s still on Step 2 of 4 “Backing up”. I have a WD mycloud, so not USB but ethernet cable connecting iMac OX 10.10.2 to the drive. Will that affect a symlink, not having a hard connection? Any idea how long it *should* take a 128Gig phone to back up over an ethernet cable? If it’s something that’s doable overnight, fine. But it was never successful copying the old backups across, just took all night and still said 9 hours or 44 days expected time, depending. They hung even when I tried to stop the finder copy task. Had to shut off the computer (finder disabled restart). So I’m wondering if this is going to just hang forever and never complete. Considering a thunderbolt connected drive, but will be another several hundred dollars. Would be nice to limp along with this mycloud.
128GB iPhone will take quite a while to backup, but you should use a USB 3.0 cable with the external hard drive when possible for best results.
Thank you so much, this is awesome!!
I have 128GB iPhone 6s and this saved over 90GB on my macbook pro.
Much appreciated !!
Ahhh..HELP PLEASE!
i just did this step by step and it didn’t work…. now it won’t let me update my iphone at all. can anyone help… i tried to undo the steps but now if i try and back up it says unknown error cannot backup….. : S
any ideas… my computer doesn’t have enough memory for me to back up my iphone which is why i wanted to try via external hard rive….
Can you please post the step to undo the setup. I am having the same problem as the others and I want to revery back the original setup.
Hi. I’m a new Mac user and having trouble creating the symbolic link for APPDATA while transferring from Win7. I have an external exFAT HDD that I’ve successfully transferred the mp3s’, iTunes library and APPDATA over to via Win7 and it works fine with Win7 iTunes.
I’m attempting to link those Win7 created directories on the external HDD to my new Macs’ iTunes. My library and music works fine. APPDATA is the problem. When I try creating the symbolic link with
~ ln -s /Volumes/[External Drive]/Prod_iTunesAppData ~/Library/Application\Support/MobileSync
and many different iterations of the above, the only result I get is
-bash: /Users/[Me]: is a directory
No symbolic link created and I’ve run out of ideas… I’m hoping to use the same single external backup location via both my mac and Win7 iTunes during the transition.
Hope you can help. Thanks
Hi, i have an iphone5 and mac OS X 10.9.5. I did step number 6, but when i did step# 7 i only see another blue ‘backup’ folder there, like it was before. there is no arrow on it.
also when i go into itunes to check, i pick device and it doesn’t seem to give options to ‘choose my computer’ it has the option to ‘backup’ and when i click that it just starts. So i’m not sure what i did wrong, and i’m not sure how to check if you can help.
Thanks!
So any updates on the “itunes could not backup the iphone because the backup was corrupt or not compatible with iphone” error. I too, got this and can’t do anything in regards to backing up my device. Any little bit helps. Thanks.
I have done every step as listed and for some reason once done the backup folder that is supposed to be blank with arrow does not appear. All i see is the backup folder (blue) and the old backup folder in Finder. It doesnt appear to be pointing to my external. Ive redone it 6 or 7 times. Can someone offer a word of advise.
Hi, very good instructions, thanks! I followed them exactly but without success at first, and realised that maybe it was because my backup drive had spaces in the name. The clue was that there appeared some separate symbolic links in the original library folder with parts of the drive name. So I renamed the drive and tried again. However – the “backup” link that I created in the library using Terminal now appeared as a normal kind of alias not a symbolic link. Should I be concerned? But everything seemed to work OK, and I backed up my ipad, iphone and ipod. Thanks!
Great stuff.
I use this to backup my iPhone to an external drive, it works fine.
I have had to restore an iPhone from the external drive backup before too, and it worked fine.
This is almost a necessity considering that Apple is so stingy with Mac disk space, selling tiny hard drives that can barely hold macOS and apps and documents let alone an entire iPhone backup or a photo collection! Maybe one day Apple will offer us ample storage space. That would be nice. Until then, I back up my iPhone to an external drive, I have to on a 2015 MacBook Pro with 256 GB storage, not enough room for a 128 GB iPhone to backup to without the external backups!
If someone could help me, I would appreciate it because I am in over my head a bit. I believe the link below is the location of my external hard drive folder. What code do I enter into terminal? I have tried and now backup does not work in either location.
afp://WDMyCloud._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Public/iphone backup
Thank you
Hi,
I am new to macbook. I followed all the steps but at the end there is a message popped up saying ” iTunes could not be back up the iPhone because the backup was corrupted or not compatible with the iPhone” My iphone is iphone6S. What should I do please?
I have seen a similar iTunes backup error message, I updated iTunes and changed the USB port and it worked afterwards. http://osxdaily.com/2014/07/16/fix-a-itunes-could-not-backup-iphone-error-message/
I’ve had so much trouble trying to empty out my files and junk on my mac’s internal drive just so I can have the space to backup my iPhone.. it was such a pain in the behind and so many people told me it’s not possible to backup to an external drive. Well, your way worked amazingly, thank you so much for your clear instructions!!
Following this tutorial on OS X El Capitan did not work for me – iTunes could not find the backup location. I then clicked the symlink directly, and Finder said, that it could not find the location, the symlink was invalid. It looked like a “white sheet of paper” with a little arrow symbol.
I found another tutorial on the web, which said to enter the following line into the terminal:
ln -s /Volumes/DriveName/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup
Doing so, this created a symlink, that, in finder, looked like a folder with an arrow. Clicking that, it took me to my external hard drive!
Backup from iTunes worked fine.
So, maybe, I made a mistake or the additional iTunesExternalBackupSymLink/
in your suggested code is not working anymore in the latest versions of OS X and iTunes?
Joerg,
Thank you very much! I tried your method (it created a folder with an arrow), and it worked!!
The other method on here created a page with an arrow. This method gave me an error when I tried to backup on itunes.
Thanks so much!
This has worked for me!!!!!
Hello,
On an iPhone6 128GB, and using ElCapitan 10.11.6, latest version of iTunes.
I have verified all the spellings, no extra spaces and all that.
Terminal did successfully create that Backup file with the white-sheet-and-arrow.
When I simply kickstart iTunes, switch it to Manually back up to this Computer and start, I get this error message:
“iTunes could not back up the iPhone “sPhone” because the back up was corrupt or not compatible with the iPhone. Delete the backup for this iPhone, then try again.”
Don’t know if this provides any clues but I went back to that white-sheet-and-arrow Backup file in my MobileSync folder and when I double click it to verify what location it is pointing to, I get this error message:
“The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “Backup” can’t be found.
What should I do?
I really could use this 71GB of space that my Phone back-up is drinking up right now.
I get the same error message. Did you figure it out??
hello, this is such helpful info!! i am running into one thing when trying to set up the sync to my external drive. at step 7 when I should just have one generic file with an arrow on it named “backup”, I’m experiencing a 3 different generic files with an arrow named “g-drive”, “iTunes”, and “mobile”. (the g drive is my external name). i don’t have a backup generic file anywhere, only those 3. will this be a problem with directing to the proper area? Im positive i followed the directions you have outlined, but please let me know if I am doing something wrong. Thanks so much for this helpful article!!
Alaxandra
Thank you so much for this great solution!! Ever sense i tried to change this my self i haven’t been able to backup my iPhone. Now the Iphone is backing up 50GB as i write this!
Thanks again!!
Great tip, thank you!
Direction number 6 didn’t work for me. The only output within the Terminal was “File Exists” and there was no symbolic link created.
What to do now?
I keep getting an error message when I try to back up saying something along the lines of… ‘Could not back up to the iPhone because an error occurred’
HELP!!!