![]() ![]() Windows' command prompt doesn't handle hard links and will, therefore, also display inaccurate information. Once there, type the following command: du -h Windows: Open a terminal window and go to your backup location. There are a few things you can do to verify the true size of iMazing backups. The advantage of using hard links, therefore, is the fact that virtually no extra space is being used on your computer. This means that it is possible to create a number of different names that all refer to the same data. Hard links are directory entries that associate a name with a file on a file system. Shallow copies are made possible thanks to a file system feature called hard links. With iTunes, you would need to manually archive every backup version, which would, in turn, take huge amounts of space because iTunes does not track changes and will simply perform a new full backup after you archive the previous one. ![]() In fact, it is the same size, and even better, subsequent backups take up very little space. The result of this miscalculation is that the first backup of each device you make in iMazing will appear to be twice as large as an equivalent iTunes backup. But this is incorrect - it is, in fact, a shallow copy which barely eats up any space at all. So, it's the corresponding snapshot in the iMazing.Versions folder looks like an exact copy and is counted by the Finder and Windows Explorer's size evaluation routines as such. ![]() Now, the first backup is entirely made of new files. This is where iMazing stores incremental snapshots of your backups, each snapshot containing only new and modified files. You'll also find a subfolder named iMazing.Versions. This folder contains the latest backup of each device. Each folder name refers to the UDID (Unique Device Identifier) of the device you are backing up. Your backup location is comprised of a single folder for each device you are backing up. If you ever explore your iMazing backup location, you'll notice the following file structure: This makes your data much safer, protecting your backups against data loss caused by overwrites. In contrast to iTunes, which by default maintains a single backup of a device, iMazing keeps track of changes between backups. Otherwise, trust us: the size iMazing reports is the correct one. ![]() Interested in the technicalities? Keep reading. Basically, many files end up getting counted twice. The short answer is because hard links are not accounted for by the Finder or Windows Explorer. To put it simply, both the Finder and Windows' File Explorer are reporting the size wrong. The true size occupied by iMazing backups is, in fact, close to half of that reported size. Bear in mind, this only changes where iMazing stores the backups it collects nothing about iTunes is changed.When browsing through iMazing backups using Windows' File Explorer and macOS' Finder, iMazing's backup folder appears to take up a lot of disk space, much more than the iTunes backup folder would for similar backups. So, without further ado, on to a video that will demonstrate how to change your iOS device backup location using iMazing. I’m a strong believer in “show, don’t tell,” when it makes sense. Yes, you can change your iOS device backup location, even though iTunes says you can’t Best Shown Rather Than Told You aren’t able to change where iTunes saves your data, but you can configure the backup location for iMazing backups. That includes being able to configure where the software stores your iOS device backups. Where iTunes fails, iMazing often succeeds. In fact, iMazing is precisely what iTunes really should have been, as far as managing your iOS devices is concerned. You hear us talk about iMazing quite a bit here at The Mac Observer, and not because it’s a frequent sponsor of the site and our podcasts. Here’s a way you can change your iOS device backup location, particularly useful if you’re trying to be safe before upgrading to iOS 11. ![]()
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