Backup your iPhone (or iPad) on External Hard Drive [No 3D Party Software] - Step by Step

While iTunes doesn't have an option to you to backup your iPhone or iPad on an external hard drive, in this video, I'll show you how to trick iTunes to store the backup on the External Hard Drive automatically.

We recommend to get an external drive which has comfortably enough space for iTunes to perform the backup. For instance, if you have an 256GB iPhone which occupies only 40GB, then having 80GB of free space, would certainly work.

During this video, you will have to find and access the Backup folder where iTunes is performing the backups. To do this, I illustrate the steps for both Windows and Mac computers:

For Windows users

For Mac users
1. Click on your Desktop
2. From the top menu, press on Go.
3. From the dropdown menu, choose Go to Folder.
4. Paste this in the input ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/

#iphone #backup #itunes #external

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[TechLunar]

If you are using a Windows computer check out this video!

[Umbrasana]

I searched far and wide for this to work. You have no idea how much this tutorial is appreciated, thank you.

[orioneyes]

My terminal says: No such file or directory.
Any idea on how to fix this?

[encyclopediarealestate]

Nice don't forget to put a space in-between each section I messed that up a few times.

[supuninelunika]

i m using catelina i followed steps correctly but its not successfull
in terminal it says illegel option
may i know why is that

[IssamTaQi]

Hi my friend pleas can help me? its keep my backup stuck when trying to finish !

[markitoss]

Thank you for this! My suggestion is to reupload this, mention those spaces and take your time on how to unlink the backup. Other than that no complaints because there are others that are less tech savvy than I and would probably need that explained a little slower.

[junny]

Great man, still working on Sequoia and iOS 18. Thank you.

[MrTubeman]

So what about people who are running Monterey, and finder is used not iTunes?

[josemontanez]

What happens when you want to restore? Will it normally restore or would I have to do anything specific?

[ComedyTech]

Finally got it to work I put the backup spelled back up with a space. Also I put the back up file in the back up file instead of just putting in sync. In the end I got it all working Terminal wasn't showing up in key search but found in the launch pad.

I have follwed all the steps shown in video but its not working. I am using mac os bigsur version 11.6.2, after I gave command Its says an illegal option in terminal. Any suggestions?

[tarifr]

This video was exactly what I needed and have been searching for awhile. You also showed how to unlink and undo it just incase of any issues. Thank you so much!!

[Katoraxia]

wow this actually works. ive been searching for an hour now and all these websites have false titles on how to backup straight to the external. thanks so much!

[MikeSyraxx]

I have a 2tb hardrive it still says “mac has not enough space”

[tingng]

hi thank you for such helpful vid
need a little help here, I did the terminal step, it said it's an "illegal option" for some reason?
if I follow the website step, add "~" after my external hard drive file, and before the Mobile Sync file, it said the same "illegal option"

it said:
ln: illegal option -- /
usage: ln [-Ffhinsv] source_file [target_file]
ln [-Ffhinsv] source_file ... target_dir
link source_file target_file

[blancobeatz]

Tried this so many times with other instructions for typing in that terminal thing. The drag and drop eventually did the trick and only saw this in your vid for the first time. Much appreciated thank you!

[rocklude]

Finally the one video that simplifies this process! Thank you sir!

[loganjones]

when I hit enter I received what looks like an error code.
“Zsh: no such file or directory:
I did exactly as you said other than I did delete the original copy of the backup off my Mac before going into the terminal. As far as I know the file still exists I only deleted the content. I’m hoping I didn’t mess something up on my Mac🤦‍♂️
Any ideas?

[ah]

This is still super complicated, anyone able to streamline this