iPad Can an iPad be backed up to an external HDD?

[Kyle76]

Can I choose an external drive on my MBP for iPad backups? My internal HDD is getting pretty full.

 

[krspkbl]

i don't think you can save full system back ups to anything other than iCloud but you can back up files/folders to an external drive.

that's what i'm gonna be doing. getting a 256GB iPad and will be using a USB C to A dongle for my SD cards, flash drives, and external HDDs.

 

[NoBoMac]

In theory (have not tried), if talking backup via Mac.

On Mac, rename the following: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Create a "Backup" symbolic link in MobileSync to the external location.

Once you verify everything is working correctly, can then delete old Backups folder.

 

[dafastlane]

In /Users/browno/Library/Application Support/MobileSync Create a link "Backup" to point to your external drive

You'll need to move your Current "Backup" folder. I moved mine to the external drive as "Backup.ios"

Here the link in my /Users/user/Library/Application Support/MobileSync

lrwxr-xr-x 1 user staff 33 Jan 11 13:40 Backup -> /Volumes/EXTERNAL-5TB/Backup.ios/


I found a few examples online also:

How to move your iPhone or iPad backups to an external hard drive

Give me some space.

www.imore.com

I've been doing this for years and it saves a lot of space.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Take a look at imazing- it’s great for automating this.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Can I choose an external drive on my MBP for iPad backups? My internal HDD is getting pretty full.

You can, but you're better off backing up to iCloud.

 

[Apple_Robert]

As CC said, iMazing is able to backup the iPad to an external drive.