Apple automatically backs up your iPhone to iCloud, but there are still several reasons why some would require an extra or alternative backup of their iPhones. A popular go-to method is backing up the iPhone to an external hard drive. This is not only a smart move but also an important safety precaution if you want your files and media secured and protected. Well, it’s not a particularly easy task and definitely not for beginners, but if you follow the steps in this guide, the whole process would be tremendously breezier. Show
Why Is Backing Up Your iPhone Important?The primary reason why it’s crucial to backup your iPhone externally, in addition to your iCloud backup, is because when you accidentally delete an item from iCould — permanently, there is no way you can recover it. You are at a dead end here. An extra, external backup would also come in handy if your iPhone breaks or stops working, and your latest iCloud backup does not include the files that are equally important to you. Remember, automatic iPhone backups occur at intervals. You may have an auto backup at 10 am, but you will lose any additional files at 1 pm if something goes wrong. Some people may also want an extra backup simply as an additional safeguard. They’d like to have as many backups as possible, especially if they’ve lost important data before. If you’re looking for a guide on how to create a backup on iCloud or how to create a backup for Android devices, we have some articles that might help you out. Why Should You Choose to Back Up Using a Hard Drive?Aside from the key points stated in the previous section, backing up your iPhone to an external hard drive will save you some storage space. If you’ve been an iPhone user for a long time, you would know that Apple only offers limited free storage space. Inevitably, you’d have to pay extra for additional storage. Long-term Apple users are well aware of this issue and it’s a highly frustrating one. If you are a Mac user, your automatic backups will also eat up your Mac’s storage space — even if you have selected the option to optimize your storage. What a frustrating downside but there is a way around it. iCloud Storage Plans & Pricing
Photos and videos eat up most of your storage. So, if you are fond of taking a lot of them, you would run out of storage space pretty quickly. You may ask yourself. You’ve learned how to back up your iOS device onto a hard drive and proceeded to do so. But the problem is that your iPhone still created a backup of your files on iCloud. How does that even help save you storage space? The key here is to delete your large files from iCloud after you’ve secured a backup to an external hard drive. This will free up some storage space from your iCloud and you can easily retrieve your files from your hard drive whenever you need to. Related: What Is iCloud Plus? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to back up your iPhone to an external hard drive. Remember that this is an advanced operation. You must follow the instructions below so it won’t falter or fail. To make this complicated process simple, you need to understand where your backups are originally stored on your Mac. Where are iPhone backups stored? The original location of your iPhone backups is in the iTunes app; which in turn will be stored in a folder within your Mac called ‘MobileSync’. This folder is not readily viewable in your ‘Finder’. You will have to access this folder to backup your iPhone to an external hard drive and this comprehensive guide will show you how. The process may slightly differ based on your Mac’s OS version. Here’s the process for the latest macOS update, Catalina: Step 1. Locate and View Your Original Backup LocationBefore proceeding to back up your iPhone to an external hard drive on Mac, it’s a good idea to first locate and view your backup’s original location. This will make the next steps smoother. First, connect your phone to your Mac/computer using a charger or lightning cable. If your phone is running on an older update, the computer might ask you to update it. However, you can skip this process. Open ‘Finder’ and click/tap on your iPhone’s name or icon under ‘Locations’. In this example and the image below, the iPhone’s name is Tiny’s iPhone 8. Scroll down and click on ‘Manage Backups’. From there, you will see the backups that you’ve made, if there are any, within your Mac. Now, view where this backup is stored within its folder. To do this, stay on the same Finder window. Press and hold ‘Option’, click on ‘Go’ (5th item on the top-most part of the screen), tap on ‘Library’, then click on ‘Application Support’. Subsequently, click on ‘MobileSync’, and from there, you will see the folder called ‘backup’. That’s where your iPhone backup files are stored. Note: Do not close this window! You will need this window to remain open separately once you are ready to back up your iPhone to an external hard drive. Now, to open a new Finder window for the rest of the steps, simply hold ‘Command’ and press the N key on your keyboard (Command + N). Step 2. Connect Your External Hard DriveThis is self-explanatory. Connect your hard drive to the computer or Mac you are using. Step 3. Rename the Original Backup FolderOnce you’re in the MobileSync folder, rename the ‘backup’ folder to ‘oldiosbackup’. Take note that this is only an example and you can change it later. The purpose of this is to prevent your Mac’s system from confusing it from the new backup folder that you will create. You may delete this old backup folder once the process is complete. Step 4. Provide Permission to Make Administrative ChangesNext, click the Apple icon on your home screen then go to ‘System Preferences’. Press the ‘Security and Privacy’ option, then select ‘Privacy’. Toggle the lock icon to unlock this option and you will need to input your Mac’s lock code. If ‘Terminal’ is not yet on the list, click on the plus (+) button and then select Terminal from the applications list. Now, tick the box beside Terminal so that you’ll see a blue check which means you’ve permitted it to make administrative changes to your Mac. Step 5. Create a Backup Folder in Your External Hard Drive Using the TerminalNow that you’ve given full access to your Mac’s Terminal, you will create your iPhone’s new backup folder within your external hard drive. Launch the Terminal either by using Spotlight and typing terminal on the search bar or by accessing it from the Launchpad under the folder named ‘Other’. Now, here’s the tricky part. You are going to type in a series of commands in the Terminal to instruct your Mac to backup your iPhone to the external hard drive. Note that it’s crucial that you type in the exact commands, otherwise the process will fail! To make this easier, it is recommended that you open your TextEdit app or notes, whichever you prefer; then copy and paste the commands from there to the Terminal. To make it even simpler, we will teach you how to use the drag-and-drop method below:
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