[Full Guide] How to Change iTunes Backup Location on PC/Mac

If your primary drive is running low on free space, it might be wise to learn how to change iTunes backup location. So can you move iTunes backup to another drive? Whether you use a PC or a Mac, you can move iTunes backups to a custom location to optimize storage.

Next, this guide provides detailed steps to find the iTunes backup on Windows and Mac systems, and tell you how to set iTunes backup location. In addition, it also provides a better option (full backup and selective backup) to backup your iPhone.

How to Change iTunes Backup Location on Windows PC

On your Windows, just follow a few simple steps to learn how to change backup location of iTunes. iTunes backs up your data to a default directory, so you can move this backup to another drive or folder to change it.

Where Is iTunes Backup on Windows 11/Windows 10?

Where is iPhone backup stored on PC? By default, iTunes stores backups in the following location on your C drive:

Windows 11/10: C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

You can navigate to the Start Menu or Taskbar on your Windows 10/11 PC, and then enter your storage path in Search Box.

Simple Steps to Change the Location of iTunes Backup on Windows

If you're running out of space, or you want to better organize your files, you can follow the steps below to learn how to change the iTunes backup location.

Step 1. Create a new folder on the drive where you want to store the iTunes backup. For example, create a folder called "iTunes Backup" on your D drive.

Step 2. Now, need the Command Prompt to change the backup location. Press Win + X and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Step 3. Type the following command to create a symbolic link that points the iTunes backup folder to the new location.

mklink /J "C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\iTunes Backup"

Replace D:\iTunes Backup with the location of your new backup folder.

Step 4. Once the command is executed, restart your computer and iTunes will store all future backups in the new folder you specified.

How to Move iTunes Backup Location on Mac

On a Mac, you can also move the iTunes backup location to move your backups to another drive.

Where is iPhone Backup on Mac?

Before you learn how to change the location of iTunes backup, you need to know where is the backup stored on your computer.

On macOS, iTunes (or Finder on macOS Catalina and later) stores backups in the following directory:

/Users/[Your Username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Guide to Set iTunes Backup Location on Mac

Now, learn how to move iTunes backup location to another drive or folder to manage your space more efficiently.

Step 1. Create a new folder on your external drive. For example, you can create a folder named "iTunes Backups" on the location where you want.

Step 2. Open Finder > Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal > Open the Terminal window.

Step 3. Then enter the following command to the window. It can redirect iTunes backup files to the new folder.

ln -s /Volumes/[Your External Drive]/iTunes Backup /Users/[Your Username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Replace [New Backup Location] with the location of the new backup folder.

Step 4. After that, press Enter key and type your admin password if you view a prompt.

Step 5. Finally, restart your Mac and verify that the symbolic link was applied correctly. After running the command, all iTunes backups will be saved to the new location you specified.

Better Choice: Backup iPhone to PC and Custom Save Path

Obviously, while you can change the backup location of iTunes, the steps to change the location on Windows are a bit cumbersome. Here, we recommend a better way to manage your iPhone backups - using FoneTool.

Why do you choose FoneTool to backup iPhone to Windows PC?
► Supports backup iPhone to a custom location, including external hard drives, SSD, USB, NAS drive.
► Easy to modify the custom location without complicated procedures.
► User-friendly interface, with just a few simple clicks to backup iPhone data to computer.
► Allows to selectively backup data, such as backup photos, contacts, videos, messages, music, instead of backing up everything like iTunes.
► Fully backup iPhone data to computer without storage limit.

This free backup software is designed for Windows PC users. If you want to back up your iPhone or want to customize the backup location, FoneTool is the perfect choice for you! Check out the steps below to easily backup iPhone without iTunes!

Step 1. Free download and run FoneTool > Connect your iPhone to the computer with USB cable.

Step 2. Navigate to Phone Backup from the left panel > Choose Selective Backup. If you want to create a full backup, you can pick Full Backup > Click Get Started.

Step 3. Tap the file icon to preview and choose data you want to backup > We take backup photos as an example > After you selected files, tap OK to continue.

Step 4. On the page, tap Backup Storage Path to set a backup storage location as you like > Click Start Backup to begin.

FoenTool will backup your data at a superfast speed, for example, you can backup 100+ photos within 3 seconds. When you need to view or restore the iPhone backup, just go to My Backup.

Conclusion

That's all about how to change iTunes backup location. With some steps, you can change the iTunes backup location on Windows or Mac. But it requires some technical steps, such as creating symbolic links. If you are looking for a more user-friendly solution, FoneTool, a professional iOS data backup tool, provides a better choice.

It not only supports you to customize the backup location, but also supports you to transfer iPhone data to computer, or from computer to iPhone, iPhone to iPhone. Download FoneTool and try it now!