Two Ways to Change the iTunes Backup Location on a Mac

Yes, you can change the iTunes backup location on your Mac to an external hard drive. Here's how: 1. Connect your external hard drive to your Mac and make sure it's mounted properly. 2. Open iTunes on your Mac. 3. Click on your Apple ID at the top right corner of the iTunes window, then select "Account Info" from the dropdown menu. 4. Enter your Apple ID password when prompted. 5. In the Account Info window, scroll down to the "Backup" section. 6. If you have "This Mac" selected as the backup destination, click on the "Change" button next to it. 7. In the file selection dialog, navigate to your external hard drive's location and choose a folder where you want to store the backups (you can create a new folder if needed). 8. Click "Select Folder" to confirm the new backup location. Now, your future iTunes backups will be stored on the external hard drive instead of your Mac's internal storage. Keep in mind that having backups on an external drive might slow down the backup process compared to using the internal drive. Also, ensure the external hard drive is connected whenever you need to back up your device.

"Hello everyone, do you know how to move an iTunes backup to an external hard drive, or even change the iTunes backup location on a Mac? I'm thinking of changing the storage location of my iTunes backups on my Mac to an external hard drive or USB drive."

"iTunes backups take up too much space on my Mac. But I don't know how to change the iTunes backup location. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks."

If you're looking for an easy way to move and change the location of your iTunes backups on Mac, then down below, you'll find two reliable methods that can help you with that! You can choose to follow either one of them to change the iTunes backup location and now move your iTunes backups from Mac to an external storage device.

Method 1: Change the iTunes Backup Location Manually on Mac

If you prefer a free method to change your iTunes backup location, you can do so manually by following these steps:

1. Connect the external hard drive to your Mac and locate the iTunes Media folder:

2. In the Finder, choose your user name, then click iTunes to find its default location.

2. If your iTunes folder isn't in its default location, follow these instructions:

• Open iTunes > Preferences > Advanced; • Take note of the path under "iTunes Media folder location" and check "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library"; • Click "OK" to close the window.

3. Consolidate your iTunes library

• Open iTunes > File > Library > Organize Library; • Select Consolidate Files to move all of the files in your iTunes library to one location for backup purposes. • If it's available, check the box for "Reorganize files into iTunes Media folder." (You won't see this option if all your files are already organized into subfolders for music, movies, TV shows, etc.) • Click OK to confirm that you've selected the correct options.

Note: Remember to delete these files after you have backed them up, as the "Merge files" option will copy the files, not move them.

4. Drag iTunes to the external drive.

• Quit iTunes, then open Finder and locate your external drive. • Find your iTunes folder in its default location or at the “Location of iTunes Media folder:” setting & drag the iTunes folder to the external hard drive, copying your library to the drive. • When the transfer is complete, your backup is finished, and you can delete the iTunes backup from your Mac's hard drive to free up space.

Now, you have successfully moved your iTunes backup to an external hard drive and changed the iTunes backup location on your Mac.

If you find it too complicated and prefer a simpler way to change the iTunes backup location and move all your iTunes backups to an external hard drive on Mac, you can try Method 2 to fix your problem in an easier way.

Method 2: Change the iTunes Backup Location in 3 Steps
Let a Mac backup app do the work for you!

To simplify the process of changing the iTunes backup location, we recommend trying a professional Mac backup software that offers the feature. This tool allows you to back up all your Mac hard drive data evenly, archive and compress precious data, clone your Mac hard drive, and even sync important data to an external drive with just a few clicks on your Mac computer.

If you are using macOS Sierra (10.12), OS X 10.11 – 10.9, you can download a free Mac backup software to automatically move the iTunes backups and change the iTunes backup location on Mac to an external hard drive:

1. Connect a new external hard drive or USB device to your Mac; Launch Todo Backup for Mac, click the "+" button to go to Synchronize, and create a synchronization task to move and change the location of iTunes backups;

2. Set the synchronization options, and check “Never delete anything.”

3. Drag the iTunes folder you want to transfer from your Mac to the left panel, and then select the target location - the external hard drive or USB where you save the iTunes backup on the right panel; Set the Sync Mode to Left to Right, and then click the Start blue button. Now start syncing iTunes backup from Mac to external hard drive.

Wait for the sync to complete, and you'll have successfully moved your iTunes backup to an external hard drive. You can now safely delete all of your iTunes backups from your Mac's hard drive.

This way, you successfully change the iTunes backup location from Mac to an external hard drive.