How To Copy Your IPhone Backups To An External HDD

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How to copy your iPhone backups to an external HDD is a useful skill to have if you want to free up space on your computer or create a backup of your backups.

By moving your iPhone backups to an external hard drive, you can protect your data in case of a computer crash or upgrade, and keep your computer's storage space free for other files.

In this article, we will walk you through the steps of copying your iPhone backups to an external HDD on both Windows and Mac computers.

Can You Back Up Your IPhone Directly To An External HDD?

Yes, you can back up your iPhone directly to an external hard drive (HDD) using iTunes. By default, iTunes saves iPhone backups to the local hard drive of your Mac or Windows computer, but you can change the backup location to an external HDD.

COPYRIGHT_NOVA: Published on https://www.novabach.com/i/how-to-copy-your-iphone-backups-to-an-external-hdd/ by Daniel Barrett on 2023-04-11T09:06:46.651Z

To back up your iPhone to an external HDD, connect the drive to your computer and then follow these steps:

Launch iTunes on your Mac or Windows computer.
Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.
Click on the iPhone icon in iTunes to access the Summary page.
Under the Backups section, select "This computer" and then click on "Back Up Now".
When the backup process starts, click on the "Change..." button next to the "Backup Location" option.
Choose your external HDD as the new backup location and click "OK".
Wait for the backup process to finish. Once done, you can safely eject the external HDD from your computer.

Note that backing up your iPhone to an external HDD may take longer than backing up to your local hard drive, depending on the speed of the drive and the connection interface (e.g., USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0).

Additionally, it's important to regularly back up your iPhone to ensure you don't lose any important data in case your device is lost, stolen, or damaged.

How To Copy Your IPhone Backups To An External HDD

Step 1 - Find Your IPhone Backup Files

Before you can move your iPhone backups to an external HDD, you need to locate the backup files on your Mac. Here's how to find them:

Open a Finder window on your Mac.
Click on "Go" in the top menu bar and select "Go to Folder."
Type in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ and click "Go."

This will take you to the folder that contains your iPhone backups.

Step 2 - Copy Your IPhone Backup Files To The External HDD

Once you've located your iPhone backup files, you can copy them to your external hard drive. Here's how:

Connect your external hard drive to your Mac.
Open a new Finder window.
Click on your external hard drive under "Devices" in the left sidebar.
Create a new folder on your external hard drive to store your iPhone backups.
Go back to the Finder window that contains your iPhone backup files.
Select the backup files you want to move to the external HDD.
Drag and drop the selected files into the new folder on your external hard drive.

The files will begin copying over to your external hard drive. Depending on the size of your backups, this may take some time.

Step 3 - Delete IPhone Backups From Your Mac

Once you've successfully copied your iPhone backups to the external hard drive, you can delete the original backups from your Mac to free up space. Here's how:

Open a new Finder window.
Click on "Go" in the top menu bar and select "Go to Folder."
Type in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ and click "Go."
Select the iPhone backup files you want to delete.
Move the selected files to the trash.
Empty the trash to permanently delete the files from your Mac.

Step 4 - Verify Your IPhone Backups On The External HDD

After you've moved your iPhone backups to the external hard drive and deleted the originals from your Mac, you'll want to make sure the backups are still accessible. Here's how:

Open a new Finder window.
Click on your external hard drive under "Devices" in the left sidebar.
Open the folder where you copied your iPhone backups.
Check that the backup files are still accessible and functional.

If you encounter any issues with the backups, you may need to move them back to your Mac or create new backups to ensure you have a reliable copy of your iPhone data.

Backup iPhone (or iPad) on External Hard Drive [for Windows] - Step by Step

How To Clear IPhone Backups From A Mac

Clearing iPhone backups from a Mac is essential when you are running low on disk space or you want to start afresh with your backups.

This process is quite simple and can be accomplished in a few steps. Here’s how to do it:

Open iTunes on your Mac and click on iTunes from the menu bar.
Click on Preferences and then click on the Devices tab.
Here you will see a list of all the backups saved on your Mac. Select the backups you want to delete.
Once you have selected the backups, click on the Delete Backup button.

Alternatively, you can also clear iPhone backups from a Mac by using the Finder. Here’s how:

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable.
Open the Finder app and click on your iPhone under the Locations section.
Click on the Manage Backups button in the General tab.
Select the backups you want to delete and click on the Delete Backup button.

It is important to note that deleting backups from your Mac will not delete them from your iCloud storage. To delete backups from your iCloud storage, you need to do it from your iPhone or iPad.

How To Move IPhone Backup From External HDD To Mac

To move iPhone backup from an external HDD to a Mac, you can follow these steps:

Connect your external HDD to your Mac.
Open a new Finder window and click on your external HDD under "Locations."
Navigate to the "Backup" folder on your external HDD. Your iPhone backup should be located in a subfolder with a name that includes a string of numbers and letters.
Drag the iPhone backup folder to a location on your Mac, such as the desktop or a designated backup folder.
Wait for the transfer to complete. The duration of the transfer will depend on the size of your iPhone backup and the speed of your external HDD and Mac.

Once the transfer is complete, you can safely disconnect your external HDD from your Mac. Your iPhone backup will now be stored on your Mac's internal storage, and you can use it to restore your iPhone or transfer it to another device if needed.

Final Thought

How to copy your iPhone backups to an external HDD is essential to protect your valuable data. While it's easy to back up your iPhone to your computer, it's also important to keep those backups safe by copying them to an external hard drive.

By following the steps outlined in this article, you can copy your iPhone backups to an external hard drive and have peace of mind knowing that your data is secure.

Whether you choose to use iTunes, Finder, or a third-party backup tool, the process is simple and straightforward. Don't wait until it's too late – start backing up your iPhone and keep those backups safe on an external hard drive.

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