What Should You Do to Change iTunes Backup Location

Is it possible to change iTunes backup location? It should be a difficult question to answer. Apple does not allowe you to edit, relocate, rename or extract content from iTunes backup. Because the process may ruin some important files. Still, it is not a wise solution to default the iTunes backup location as the primary drive, especially for Windows users. Compared with other drives, the primary drive is more likely to run out of space or affect with virus. In order to protect the iTunes backup, you can learn more details about how to change iTunes backup location from this article.

Part 1: How to find iTunes backup location on Windows and Mac

Where does iTunes store backup file on computer? If you need to change iTunes backup location, you should first locate the iTunes backup files. For the iTunes backup location is slightly different if you use different operation systems, you can learn more details about the location for each operation system as below.

For Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP users:

Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista:

\Users\ (username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

To quickly access the AppData folder, click Start. In the search bar, type %appdata% and press Return.

Windows XP:

\Documents and Settings\ (username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

To quickly access the Application Data folder, click Start, and choose Run. Type %appdata% and click OK.

For Mac users:

Mac users can find iTunes backup location in the following places. Make sure the backup folder is included in your data-backup routine.

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Note: The "~q" represents your Home folder. If you don't see Library in your home folder, hold Option and click the Go menu.

Part 2: How to change iTunes backup location

Just follow the instructions to find the iTunes backup location. Now we get to the point, how to change iTunes backup location? If you want to change the default primary drive to D drive or E drive, you can take the following steps.

Step 1. Create a New iTunes Backup Directory

First, you need to create a new iTunes backup folder on D drive, E drive or any drive that has more free storage space. You can name the folder as "New iTunes backup".

Step 2. Rename old iTunes backup folder on system drive

Follow the steps above to find the iTunes default location and rename the folder name from "Backup" to "Old iTunes Backup" or other names.

Step 3. Open a command prompt

After your rename the original iTunes backup folder, press SHIFT key and right click on the old iTunes backup file location. You will get a pop-up menu to change iTunes backup location. Select "Open command window here".

Step 4. Create the Symbolic link

In the prompt window, manually type in the following command where D:\ is the new drive location (drive letter may vary) and "Backup" is the name of the iOS backup folder you just moved:

mklink /J "%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"

Step 5. Change iTunes backup location

Now you will see the command prompt window return a success in creating a junction. And a new folder shortcut called "Backup" will appear in the original location.

Connect your iPhone to PC and back up various data on it with iTunes. You'll find that you have already changed the iTunes backups location as E: \Backup (or wherever you created the new backup folder). Then you can take another test. For instance, you can back up iPhone to iTunes to find whether it works. Finally copy the files from the old iTunes to the new folder. Now, delete old iTunes backup files existing in the MobileSync folder.

Part 3: Best way to access and view iTunes backups

You may know little about the command line or have difficult to change iTunes backup location. Is there any simple method to access and view iTunes backup, or even save some important files to E drive? iPhone Data Recovery should be the most recommended program to pick up the most important files from iTunes backup without changing the iTunes backup location. Just learn more details about the key features of the program first.

How to access and view iTunes backup files

Step 1. Connect iPhone to Computer

Download and install the latest version iPhone Data Recovery. Then you should connect your iPhone or other iOS devices to computer. The program will detect your iPhone automatically.

Step 2. Scan iPhone content

After the software detect your phone, you can choose "Recover from iTunes Backup" to scan the iTunes Backup files. It takes a few seconds to scan the all your iPhone data.

Step 3. Preview and Recover

Preview the lost data and select the files you want to recover. You can also extract the files from iTunes backup to your computer. Then you can back up them to a new driver without changing the iTunes backup location. Actually, it also enables you to backup iPhone without iTunes.

You can save the recovered contacts in VCF, CSV, HTML format to PC or back to the devices. You are also allowed to save the recovered media contents like photos, videos and more to computer, export text contents like text messages, notes, iMessages and more to pc or back to the devices.

Jump to this post to learn how do you retrieve deleted iMessages from iTunes.

Conclusion

What should you do to change iTunes backup location? You should know the location of the iTunes backup files first. And then you can change the backup location for iTunes with command line. The article also offers an alternative solution to copy the iTunes backup files selectively to another drive. With this method, you don't have to change the iTunes backup location.