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Backing Up iPhones and iPad to External HDD

This question applies to a 2018 Mac mini operating macOS Ventura 13.2. I am also using an iPhone Xr, an iPhone 13, and an iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation), all of which are on iOS 16.3.


Instead of following the traditional way of backing up the iPhone and iPad to the interall SSD on the Mac mini (How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with your Mac - Apple Support), what is the best way to save the backups directly to an attached external HDD?


I have seen a lot of information on terminal commands, but is there an easier way to execute the backup, such as with an alias link (Create and remove aliases on Mac - Apple Support)? I tried going the alias path, but my aliases (even though they should have wroked) didn't work - they saved the backups on the internal SSD and not the external HDD.




Mac mini, macOS 13.2

Posted on Feb 14, 2023 7:05 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 15, 2023 3:37 AM

There are four reasons I am avoiding the iCloud path:


1) Cost. The monthly $US9.99 for 2 TB plan (iCloud+ plans and pricing - Apple Support) is cost prohibitive especially in consideration of the fact that I have two perfectly good 5TB external HDDs. One year's worth of iCloud fees can more than cover the cost of a decently sized external drive.


2) Even though I have seen other folks mention terminal commands, I'll be honest. Even though I am fairly technically proficient, I have had a hard time following some of these solutions.


3) The max iCloud+ plan that Apple offers is 2 TB. I am sure that there are people who need more than 2 TB.


4) Redundancy. Cloud-based backups are only one part of a backup plan. A solid disaster recovery plan incorporates external drives stored both locally and off-site in addition to cloud-based backups. Cloud availability is not 100% (e.g., Acts of God, war, weather, power surges, lousy ISPs, angry squirrels, etc., etc., ad infinitum...). OK, sorry.. that last part is bad humor. Hopefully, I can communicate the good-natured drift of the point I am trying to make - we can't count on the Cloud being there 100% of the time.


I sincerely hope the solution and our imagination are a bit more flexible than just throwing up our hands in defeat, saying "what may work is do the backup the way Apple intended". Hopefully someone on the Apple team can chime in, or I may just need to submit another piece of feedback for improvements in a future release?

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 15, 2023 3:37 AM in response to steve626

There are four reasons I am avoiding the iCloud path:


1) Cost. The monthly $US9.99 for 2 TB plan (iCloud+ plans and pricing - Apple Support) is cost prohibitive especially in consideration of the fact that I have two perfectly good 5TB external HDDs. One year's worth of iCloud fees can more than cover the cost of a decently sized external drive.


2) Even though I have seen other folks mention terminal commands, I'll be honest. Even though I am fairly technically proficient, I have had a hard time following some of these solutions.


3) The max iCloud+ plan that Apple offers is 2 TB. I am sure that there are people who need more than 2 TB.


4) Redundancy. Cloud-based backups are only one part of a backup plan. A solid disaster recovery plan incorporates external drives stored both locally and off-site in addition to cloud-based backups. Cloud availability is not 100% (e.g., Acts of God, war, weather, power surges, lousy ISPs, angry squirrels, etc., etc., ad infinitum...). OK, sorry.. that last part is bad humor. Hopefully, I can communicate the good-natured drift of the point I am trying to make - we can't count on the Cloud being there 100% of the time.


I sincerely hope the solution and our imagination are a bit more flexible than just throwing up our hands in defeat, saying "what may work is do the backup the way Apple intended". Hopefully someone on the Apple team can chime in, or I may just need to submit another piece of feedback for improvements in a future release?

Feb 15, 2023 4:57 AM in response to CTSeaDragon

Have seen on Old Time user by the name of @Old Toad use a method to backup Directly to an External Drive but have not found it nor every used it either.


I tend to agree that one can backup to the Internal Drive and then hunt down the Backup and Move it to External Drive.


The remove the Backup from Internal Drive to save Space


The caveat bing - if you need access to the backup again, it will have to moved back to Original Location ON the Internal Drive


Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support (CA)


Feb 15, 2023 7:36 AM in response to PRP_53

P.,


Yeah, thanks for posting that filtered link for Old Toad. After going through the first few pages, I haven't found any solutions yet for my quest, but I still need to work on searching back through his posts.


I think I finally found a post from Apple which tells me that my quest is going to be a "Bridge Too Far" for the foreseeable future.


<-------------------------------------------->

Find backups stored on your Mac or PC


To avoid ruining any of your backup files, here's what you should know:


The Finder and iTunes save backups to a Backup folder. The location of the Backup folder varies by operating system. Though you can copy the Backup folder, you should never move it to a different folder, external drive, or network drive.


Don't edit, relocate, rename, or extract content from your backup files. For example, to restore from a relocated backup file, you need to move the backup file back to where it was in the Backup folder or the file won't work. Backups serve as a safe copy of almost all of your device's data and settings. So while you might be able to view or access a backup file's contents, the contents usually aren't stored in a format that you can read.

(Source: Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support)

<-------------------------------------------->


I just realized that I may have to:


1) Deselect the option to automatically sync my iPhones and iPad with the Mac mini.

2) Manually backup each device as needed.

3) Manually move the backups between the external drive and the Mac mini's internal storage.

Feb 14, 2023 8:20 PM in response to CTSeaDragon

Many others (including me) have been interested in what you are trying to do, but I have not seen a reliable method for doing this that one can have confidence will continue to work across MacOS updates and upgrades.


What you really need to be certain of is: will such a backup work for restoring? If it doesn't, it does you no good.


I think what may work is do the backup the way Apple intended, then archive the backup to an external drive. To restore, one would copy back the backup from the external drive back to its exact original location on the Mac; then the restore is done from the Finder with the iPhone. I think this would work but have not personally tested it.


If you don't have room for those backups on your Mac, I would suggest using Apple's iCloud backup.

Feb 15, 2023 5:33 AM in response to PRP_53

P.,


Yes, thanks. I violently agree with everything you posted regarding the process for manual back-ups, which is something that I already implement. My rub - and my Don Quixote quest - is that we as end users should not have to suffer in silence with a substandard solution.


I noticed that macOS will automatically reach out to backup the iPhones and iPad - I see no way to turn off that automated backup unless someone give me the 411 that I am overlooking. There HAS to be a better way to manage the backups so that my internal drive memory doesn't get clobbered with backups.


There are folks out there who intentionally buy small internal drives with the strategy of keeping all data off-device. I'm sure that someone in that group who is smarter than I (which is a low bar!) has already implemented an automated process for saving those backups off-device.


I sure hope Cupertino is reading this thread!

Backing Up iPhones and iPad to External HDD

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