Are regularly taking backup of your iPhone / iPad thought iTunes on your windows device? chances are there it occupy large portion of your C:/ drive. Users who are looking in for Free-up Space in C Drive and changing their iTunes backup location in Windows, this article is going to be helpful to you for sure.
This process require two major steps:
- Locate backups of your iPhone / iPad (iTunes backup location in your windows device)
- Change iTunes backup location to other drive
The process is pretty simple but it require basic understanding of the file system of your windows operating system. If you are not familiar with the system, kindly consult your tech support person to change iTunes backup location on your windows system.
Why One Need To Change iTunes Backup Location in Windows PC?
When you have iTunes backups, your device is automatically taking up a lot of space. In return when you want to run Windows machine, it ought to take time and pose problems as the entire data or software gets stored in C: (Primary drive) Apart from the media folder, there is no way you can put all the iphone / ipad backup data of iTunes to some other drive. So, iTunes by default stores all the data to C:/ (Primary drive) and eats up all the space.
One definitely needs to change the iTunes backup location in order to get going with the regular functioning of Windows without much hassle. The ideal way is to move the data from C: and there are ways to do so too.
Step 1: How to find iOS data back up of iTunes in your Windows operating system (OS 7,8 or 10)
A user must understand the way iTunes function and use it. So here it goes-
iTunes is by default stored in C: where the location cannot be changed. The address of your iTunes Backup location will be as under –
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup.
Here <username> essentially means the username you use for Windows. You can also access specified folder through below mentioned steps:
- Locate the Search bar in your windows operating system:
- If you are Windows 7 user, just click on Start.
- If you are Windows 8 user, you need to click the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner.
- In Windows 10, you need to click on search bar can be found near start menu. (Or just press Windows + R key)
- Now enter %appdata% or %USERPROFILE% (if you downloaded iTunes from the Microsoft Store).
- Press Return.
- You will see the list of all different programs you have installed. Now click on: Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.
Replacing C:/ (Primary drive) With A Backup Plan
Here is the trick where you will be replacing the primary backup folder with the new location by linking with OLD to NEW location. Checkout below steps:
Here, you will have to create new folder named Backup in D:\ or E:\ or any other drive where you want to move the iTunes backup. Checkout below screenshot, where we are using D:\ drive to relocate our backup:
Now go to your existing MobileSync folder and rename your current backup folder name (make sure you already have a backup of your previous iOS devices or keep them on some secure place). Now create a new folder with the same name as mentioned below:
You can now simply link the iTunes Backup location from the C:\ drive to your new preferred location (here it is D:/ drive backup) by following below simple steps:
Steps To Change iTunes Backup Location In Windows OS
- Think of the alternate folder you wish to create your new backup folder. (Here we choose D:/ drive for that)
- Find the present iTunes backup directory and rename it. for doing so, click the start button and paste the link “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync” in the shortcut box
- You are good to access the backup folder used by iTunes. To keep the things simple for your understanding, inside the folder, you will find the Backup folder. Simply rename it as Old iTunes Backup or iTunes Backup old version etc. (Before heading to any linking of the iTunes Backup location folder, be sure of the location. If you are somebody who uses Apple computer, we suggest you check on the location for the same.
- Now open a command prompt
- When the command prompt is open, enter mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “D:\Backup” in the command menu. (The reason for using mklink /J is to create a symbolic link to the latest folder from that of the older folder in C:). See below screenshot:
- When you see the specified message, the new Backup is now linked with the old backup folder.
- Now whenever you connect your iOS (iPhone / iPad) to your windows PC and start taking iTunes backup, the all data will be saved to D:/ drive Backup folder instead of C:/ drive backup location.
- You are now good to connect your iOS device to the PC and backup with iTunes.
- You will get enough storage space as now the new Backups are created in D: \ or E: \ (depending upon your preferred drive).
You are good to enjoy the free space as well as the iTunes backup remains with you. If this article has helped you, feel free to share with your friends. If you are still finding any issue while changing iTunes backup location on your windows PC, do write us here by comment and we will try to resolve your query at earliest.
