Olympic Sunday with another golden tip from our column MM Answers. 🏅
The question of the day:
How to change the backup location of my iGadget to an external HDD?
iGadgets
If you have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch with 64GB or more, you certainly have a problem backing up your device.
The backup option in iCloud is often the most recommended, but in addition to requiring the hiring of more space in the cloud, there is still the problem of time for both copying files and restoring the device (when and if necessary).
In addition, there is the option of backing up via iTunes.
In this case, however, you can easily clog your Mac with backups (especially if you have an iPad and an iPhone / iPod touch, for example).
A good option is to move this local backup that is usually inside iTunes to an external HDD.
Thus, you save space on your Mac and maintain the benefits of having a local backup (which, unlike the option in iCloud, performs tasks much faster).
Because exactly what we are going to teach in this MM Answers of today.
To perform this change of backup location, it will be necessary to use the Terminal (located in / Applications / Utilities /) through it we will define the destination folder of your new backup location.
Preparation
Before you start, prepare your Mac and external HDD.
- With iTunes closed, connect your drive to your Mac.
- Create a folder on the disk just as an example, we will use the name BackupExterno.
- Right click on the Finder icon and select Go to folder (shortcut G) and enter the following path: ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync /
- Locate the folder called Backup in this directory and copy it to the new BackupExterno folder.
- Go back to the original “Backup” folder (~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync /) and delete the folder from your Mac.
- In my case, the external HDD is called MMHD.
The command in the Terminal that defines the destination of the iTunes backup looks like this:
ln -s /Volumes/MMHD/BackupExterno/Backup/ ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync
- Close the Terminal, right click on the Finder icon and select Go to folder (G) and enter the following path: ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync /.
- Make sure the Backup file is a shortcut that points to your external disk, as shown in the image below:
Backup
After checking the shortcut, connect the device to your Mac, check that the option to back up to the computer is checked and wait for the process to complete.
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See you next time! 😉
Update · 02/05/2017 s 14:00
Some people asked me how to return the iTunes backup location to the original folder on the Mac.
- With iTunes closed, right-click the Finder icon and select Go to folder (shortcut G) and type the following path: ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync /
- Delete the “Backup” shortcut folder, which indicates the path to your HDD;
That done, just close the Terminal, open iTunes, connect your iGadget to the Mac and click "Backup Now". 😉
