Back up an iPhone to an external hard drive in Windows 10

There are a significant number of iPhone users running Windows 10 operating system on their computers. Most of these users use the official iTunes software to create security of their iPhone to a Windows 10 PC.

Having the default in iTunes, the program stores the iPhone backup in the same drive where Windows 10 is installed. The actual location of these backups is:

If iTunes is installed by Microsoft Store: Users \ UserName \ Apple \ MobileSync \ Backup
If iTunes is installed outside of the Store (using a setup file): Users\Username\AppData\\Apple\MobileSync\Backup
(where User_name you need to change it with the name you have entered in Windows)

The problem with both of these default locations is that they are located on the drive where Windows 10 is installed as well. If you have Windows 10 installed on a relatively small SSD and you do not have enough free space to back up your iPhone, you might want to back up to a different hard drive (internal or external).

the current του iTunes για Windows OS δεν προσφέρει την επιλογή αλλαγής της of the backup location. So, in order to be able to backup iPhone to an external hard drive you will have to work around it by creating a symbolic connection.

Let's see how you can change the default iTunes backup location for iPhone backup in Windows 10.

Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to the your Windows 10 and make sure it appears on your computer. Alternatively, you can choose an internal disk, different from the one where Windows 10 is installed.

Step 2: Navigate to "My Computer" and go to the top of your external hard drive by double-clicking the drive icon.

Step 3: At the beginning of the external hard drive, create one new folder called MobileSync. For example, if the drive letter of your external hard drive is "D", then the path to the MobileSync folder will be D: \ MobileSync.

Step 4: Then go to one of the following locations:
If iTunes is installed from Windows 10 Store: C: \ Users \ UserName \ Apple \ MobileSync
For the classic iTunes desktop version: C: \ Users \ UserName \ AppData \ Roaming \ Apple Computer \ MobileSync
(where User_name you need to change it with the name you have entered in Windows)

Step 5: Cut (do not copy) the Backup folder from this location and paste it into the new MobileSync folder that you created at the beginning of the external hard drive. So the path to the Backup folder will be: D: \ MobileSync \ Backup (Where "D" is the drive letter of your external drive).

Step 6: Open a Command Prompt as an administrator. To do this, right-click Start and select "Command Prompt Command Line".

Step 7: In Command Proprt, run the following command:
If iTunes is installed from the Store:

MkLink / J "C: \ Users \ UserName \ Apple \ MobileSync \ Backup" "D: \ MobileSync \ Backup"

If iTunes is installed outside the Store (using the installation file):

MkLink / J "C: \ Users \ UserName \ AppData \ Roaming \ Apple Computer \ MobileSync \ Backup" "D: \ MobileSync \ Backup"

(where User_name you need to change it with the name you have entered in Windows)

In the above commands, "C" is the drive letter of Windows 10, "username" is your real username on your computer, and "D" is the drive letter of the external hard drive (new location) you want to use to back up your iPhone.

Now you can connect the iPhone to your computer, start iTunes and create a backup that will be saved in our case on disk D:

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Written by Dimitris

Dimitris hates on Mondays .....

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