iOS device backup methods

[T-Bob]

I have two 256GB iOS devices, large amounts of local network available storage and already pay for other cloud storage.

Want to start backing up these devices regularly, so it seems I will need to keep iTunes open on MBP and make sure the devices are charging when using it (or install iTunes on windows server).

If done locally I could use a tool like ChronoSync to sync over changes to the backups (assuming it can see that an extra few encrypted blobs are in there and xfer them over) and then I could use a backup solution like duplicacity to backup those files to the cloud for safe keeping.

Is there a way to reduce the size of local iOS backups? Tried the phone yesterday and it is already 10GB with no photos (photos & videos are the only thing I really want anyway) and I suspect a lot of this is audio and video I imported into documents and plex, which already exists on the server and I don't want backed up. It's annoying as the iCloud backup makes it easy to exclude data.

Anyone got better ideas? I'm sure a lot of people have automated local solutions and don't want to use iCloud subs.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Unless you want iTunes running all the time...check out some alternatives.

This looks promising, but I have not used it. Free limited version, paid for the backup feature.

 

[T-Bob]

Thanks for those tips, I did actually briefly try Syncmate but it was more to try it as a general synching tool, did not consider this. It's important that the backup/sync is done wirelessly as well, at the moment that doesn't seem to be working here with iTunes anyway.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Seem to be lots of cloud-based options....but many don't want the on-going fee, nor the lack of physical possession. I have been using iTunes on an always-on Win10 media server, but it less than ideal. May have to try this out too.

Surprisingly few traditional backup tools seem to support iOS devices.

Also bumped into imazing, probably worth a look too. Seems to be a free mini version...

 

[T-Bob]

Great tip on iMazing, exactly the type of tool I was looking for. I don't even need a sync tool as it can backup directly to network share. There is also a sale now on for it here: https://shop.macworld.com/sales/imazing-2-universal-license-for-mac-windows-2