How to backup your iPhone to an external hard drive

As an iPhone user, you should regularly back up your iPhone content to external devices in order to free up space on your smartphone or to avoid the worst: the loss of your data. This also applies to users ofiPad, iPod, Mac and for all electronic devices containing important data like your photo library, videos, contacts, notes, etc. The rule is simple, if you back up your digital content more often, you will be less likely to lose files.

The backup will allow you to easily recover some or all of your data if you lose or break your device. There are two ways to backup iPhone content to external hard drive: Backup iPhone data through software Apple iTunes or via Finder if you are working on a device that uses mac OS 10.15 then move the saved file to external hard drive or use third party software to backup iPhone directly to external hard drive.

Back up iPhone data to external hard drive using iTunes or Finder

To save the content of your smartphone developed by the Apple brand on an external hard drive, iPhone users should opt for data backup via the iTunes software. The latter is software designed and distributed free by Apple since January 9, 2001. It is officially available on macOS and Windows, but can also run on Linux. It allows you to read and manage the digital media library of different devices Apple. However, if you use macOS Catalina 10.15 open Finder. There are two steps to follow:

Step one: backup to iTunes or Finder

Connect your phone or iPad to your computer using a USB key then search and select “your iPhone” in itunes where the Finder.

Make sure that the save location is “This computer ‘and not iCloud.

Then click on the “back up now” button on iTunes or via the Finder.

Wait for the backup to take place and do not unplug the USB cable. Note that a first backup may take a while, subsequent backups will be faster.

Logo Finder

Second step: backup to an external hard drive

Before backing up your data to an external hard drive, be sure to exit itunes and follow the next steps to free up space on your computer. You must also ensure that you have constantly connected your external hard drive otherwise you will lose data:

Connect the external hard drive to your Mac;

Create and name a new folder;

Open the “Finder” then click on “Go”;

Click on “Go to folder”.

Type the command:

~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync / Backup

Then click on “Go”

Copy and paste the folder Backup in the previously created folder

From there, you can create a symbolic link:

Open Terminal and type the command:

In -s / Volumes / MobileSync / Backup ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync / Backup

Close the entrance to the Terminal

Check that the link has been created. To do this, Go to the “Finder” then click on “Go” then “Go to folder”

Type the command:

~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync / Backup

The symbolic link is created between the Backup file and the chosen location on the external hard drive.

To find the iTunes backup folder of your iPhone, just follow the following steps: Go to “Library” then “Application Support” then “MobileSync”;

Delete the “Backup” folder, you can rename it if you want to keep it;

On the terminal, type the following command:

In -s / Volumes / MobileSync / Backup ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync / Backup

Create a backup via Time Machine:

If you want to create a backup via Time machine, you need an external storage medium. Once this external storage device is plugged in and selected as the backup drive, Time machine automatically and systematically creates regular backups. If the backup disk is full, be aware that the oldest data is deleted.

Connect an external storage device

Select your storage device as the backup drive

Open in “Time Machine Preferences” from the Time Machine menu.

Choose Apple Menu then> System Preferences, then click on Time Machine.

Click on: Choose a backup disk.

Good to know : If you accidentally modify or delete a file, you can recover it using Time Machine.

Backup iPhone Data to Hard Drive Using Third Party Software

There are several software programs on the market that are easy to use and free that allow you to the backup of an iPhone to an external hard drive such as:

iPhone Backup Extractor

Downloadable for free, the iPhone Backup Extractor allows you to recover data stored on iPhone such as photos, videos, contacts, messages… How does it work? Download and install the software iPhone Backup Extractor on the Mac or PC computer;

Connect the iPhone to the computer using the USB cable;

Select the smartphone in the left menu;

Click on “Backup” then “Start”. The software will ask you to create a password in order to protect your saved data.

CopyTrans Shelbee

CopyTrans Shelbee is free software that backs up and restores iPhone data. Perfectly compatible with itunes, it allows the user to free up space on his smartphone by making full backups. This software has other advantages such as the choice of the location of the backup folder, convenient for backing up an iPhone to an external hard drive. The process is as follows:

Download and install the CopyTrans Shelbee software for free;

Once installed, open the software and connect it to your iPhone;

Click on “backup” and choose “Full backup”;

Select your external storage equipment (USB key, external hard drive, etc.);

Click on “Start” to start the backup then wait for the data to be transferred to the external device.

Anytrans

Anytrans is a tool of management and of content synchronization. It allows you to manage your accounts Cloud from your Anytrans account. It is a tool that allows you to to transfer easily your files from your devices to your Anytrans account but also from one account to another. The different services offered are available on Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows. With Anytrans you can manage all of your accounts: Google drive, Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, Box, etc

You will no longer have to open every application for every file and folder. You will get all of what you need in one single interface. Your access to Anytrans on your Cloud accounts is completely secure.

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