As we rely more and more on our smartphones, it’s crucial to take steps to protect the data they contain from damage or loss. This can be done when back up your iPhone to iCloud, your Mac or PC, and an external hard drive, which will keep the data safe and secure in case you need to access it in the future. The following guide shows you how to back up your iPhone with each of these options, so you can always keep your data safe no matter what happens to your phone.
How to back up your iPhone to iCloud
To back up your iPhone with iCloud,
- Launch your phone’s Settings app and click on your name located at the top of the screen.
- Click on iCloud in the Apple ID menu.
- Next, click on iCloud Backup.
- Toggle on the iCloud Backup switch so your phone will regularly back up at night when on charge and connected to the internet.
- To back up immediately and manually, click on Back Up Now.
If you run out of storage, you can easily buy more storage space for iCloud.
How to back up your iPhone to Mac or PC
You can back up your iPhone to your Mac’s Finder app, or use iTunes on PC if you don’t want to make use of cloud storage. To do that,
- Launch your computer’s iTunes or Finder and connect your iPhone to it using a charging cable. Select Trust on your iPhone when asked if you trust the computer.
- Select your iPhone in iTunes or Finder.
- Click Back Up Now to back up your data to your computer.
Your computer will begin to back up your files. You can disconnect your iPhone when it’s done.
Where to locate your backups
If you are interested in moving your backups to an external hard drive, then you need to locate the files to move them.
On Mac,
Press the Command +Shift + G buttons, or click the Spotlight search button. A Finder window will open, copy and paste in the following text: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/. You will find the folder where your computer saved your backups.
On Windows PC,
Launch your Search bar and type in: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\. Type in your profile name instead of your username in the bracket, and you will be directed to the folder where your backups are stored.
How to Copy and move your backups to an external drive
After locating your backups, you might want to copy them and save them somewhere else, like an external hard drive.
To preserve the data from getting corrupted, it is recommended by Apple that you copy the entire folder. So copy the folder, or compress it into a ZIP file, then drag it over to your external hard drive, and you are done.
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