When you backup your iOS device using iTunes, the backup data is automatically saved to your local drive on your computer. Users with a limited storage space on their computer usually run into problems when backing up their iPhone or iPad as it requires several gigabytes of space to save the backup.

Depending on the size of data on your iPhone or iPad, backing up several times can take up a lot of space on your computer. For those of you who are running into storage problems, there is a workaround to solve this issue. By using an external hard drive, you can save your backups to that drive so that it doesn’t take any space on your computer. This can be done by using a software called iMazing, which is a popular iOS device manager that is capable of saving iOS backups and allows you to manage the files and data on your device.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use iMazing to backup your iPhone or iPad to an external drive on Windows. If you own a Mac, then read this guide instead.

How to Backup iPhone or iPad to an External Drive on Windows

Step 1: Download and installing iMazing on your computer from this link. Don’t miss the 25% discount on iMazing 2 exclusively for iPhoneHacks readers.

Step 2: Connect your iOS device to your computer and open iMazing.

Step 3: Once iMazing detects your device, the first thing you have to do is to change the location where the backups are stored. To do so, click on your device in the left sidebar.

Step 4: Click on the cog icon as shown below to open your device’s settings.

Step 5: Now click on the Change button next to Backup Location.

Step 6: Select a disk, or click Choose a custom location to choose a folder on the external drive where backups should be saved.

Step 7: Click on the Done button to save the new backup location.

Step 8: Again, click on the Done button to close the device settings.

Step 9: To take a backup, click on the Back Up button.

Step 10: Make any required configuration from the available backup options, then press the Back Up button in the bottom right corner.

Step 11: iMazing will now begin the backup process. It can take anywhere between a couple of minutes to half an hour or more to backup your iOS device depending on the amount of data on your device.

A folder is created on your external hard drive called “iMazing.Backups” which is where all your iOS backups are stored. Avoid deleting this folder or modifying any of its files as it can cause your backups to become corrupted.

How to Restore iPhone or iPad From a Backup Using iMazing

Step 1: The first step is to turn off Find My iPhone. Open the Settings app on your device, then tap on your name at the top. Next, go to iCloud > Find My iPhone and toggle it off.

Step 2: Connect your iOS device to your computer and open iMazing.

Step 3: Choose your device from the left sidebar, then click on Restore a Backup.

Step 4: iMazing displays a list of all the backups that have been found for your device. Click on the backup that you want to restore, then press Choose in the bottom right corner.

Step 5: If you wish to handpick the apps and data that should be restored to your device, then click on either of the Customize buttons, otherwise press Next to skip this.

Step 6: Click Next to confirm the restore. A confirmation dialog is displayed, click on Restore.

• Note: If your backup is encrypted, you will need your backup password to initiate a restore.
  Enter your password and click OK.

Step 7: iMazing will now begin the restore process and it will take a while depending on the amount of data that needs to be restored.You can safely click Close Window at any point to return to iMazing’s main view, the restore operation will continue in the background. Once the restore is done, your device will restart and you can continue using it as normal.

Please note that while you can preview many iMazing features using the trial version like backup and install apps on iPhone or iPad without iTunes, you need to buy a license to restore a backup or reinstall/update iOS. You can buy the single computer license of iMazing for Mac or PC $39.99, the Universal license for $49.99, or the Family license for 5 computers for $69.99 if you want to remove these restrictions.

Imazing 2: Download link (Don’t miss the 25% discount on iMazing 2 exclusively for iPhoneHacks readers)

Let us know how it goes.

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