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making archives of complete iPhone backups
is it possible to make a copy of a iPhone backup that is generated via iTunes? I would like to keep archives so that I can wipe out text messages and voicemails and phone log entries periodically but still be able to retrieve the information via iExplorer?
I tried just copying the backup file that iTnes generated, but only 1 backup shows for my device in iExplorer.
thanks.
Dan
iTunes for Mac does include an “Archive” backup feature where you can keep multiple backups for a single device, but the PC version of iTunes does not have that feature. You can rename the backup folders in the MobileSync folder that iTunes uses which will fool iTunes into keeping more than one backup for a device, and many people will manually append the date and time to the UDID (device ID) folder name for each device (which is also how the iTunes for Mac Archive feature does it). However, on a PC, if you manually rename the folders that way, it won’t work well with iExplorer. All of those backups for a device will be listed in iExplorer, but iExplorer will only show the data from the backup for that device that has not been renamed for all of those backups. We plan to update iExplorer to support the ability to keep multiple backups on a PC and be able to browse the data in all of them, but currently the only way to do this is with iTunes on a Mac since it has that built-in Archive feature which does work well with iExplorer.
There is a workaround to just rename any renamed backup folder back to its original name in the MobileSync folder if you would like to view that backup. By renaming a backup, you at least will have an extra backup for restoring in iTunes if needed. I assume Apple decided to only keep one backup for a device to avoid filling up your hard drive with several backups for the same device.
Is it acceptable to name that archive to anything? For example, my file is named "3722ddf7366a44c4678c1c4d679a65900412345" could I name it "MyiPhoneBackup20140812"?
I believe you need to keep the UDID (that long number) in the folder name for it to work, so most people (and iTunes for Mac) will append the date and time after it with a dash between the UDID, date, and time like below:
3722ddf7366a44c4678c1c4d679a65900412345-20140812-105627
Thank you.