Recently I noticed the Windows partition on my Windows Home Server was running critically low on space. Given that I store most of my data on separate drives and partitions, I thought this was a curious problem to suddenly run into.
One use of my Windows Home Server is to use it as an always-on iTunes server that stores all my content, and serves it on-demand to my Apple TVs, iPhone, iPad and computers. All of my iOS devices sync to the iTunes server. It was when I connected my iPad to the Windows Home Server and it complained that it was unable to save my iPad backup to the computer that I suddenly realised where all my C: partition space had gone. iOS device backups.
iTunes automatically chooses to save data to your User directory in Applications Data (AppData on WHS)\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backups.
While you can change where your iTunes library and content are stored, you have no control over the device backups storage location. My solution was to move “MobileSync” to my i: Drive (iTunes data drive) and then setup a Directory Junction from my Users directory to I:\MobileSync. A Directory Junction is a hard link to a directory. It in essence fools iTunes into thinking it’s storing data on C:\ when in fact it’s saving out to I:\. If you want to symlink to a directory using a hard link, then you should use the “/J” option.
1. I closed iTunes.
2. I moved my MobileSync directory (containing Backups folder) to my I:\ drive.
3. I then made sure MobileSync was removed from the old location.
4. I opened Command Prompt and issued the following command (replacing <username> with my own Windows login):
mklink /J “c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync” i:\MobileSync
5. A message was returning confirming:
Junction created for c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync <<===>> i:\MobileSync
6. I opened Windows Explorer and then browsed to the old MobileSync location and verified it was now linking to i:\MobileSync.
7. Finally I restarted iTunes, connected an iOS device and ensured it backed up data successfully to the new storage location.
Job done, C: partition rescued.
Nick Benson
July 30, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Hello.
I’m entering the following:
c:\>mklink /J “c:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync” f:\MobileSync
But I am receiving this error:
The syntax of the command is incorrect.
Any ideas? Thanks
Alex Maynard
August 12, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Try also putting the second file path in speech marks, i.e.
c:\>mklink /J “c:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync” “f:\MobileSync”
mafj
August 13, 2012 at 9:34 pm
For me this worked:
cd /d “c:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\”
mklink /J MobileSync f:\MobileSync
mlink neither seem to like spaces nor qutoes in parameters.
Wookiee
November 29, 2012 at 11:48 am
This worked fantastically for me on Win7, thanks very much! Breaking it up into two steps as mklink did not like spaces, so thanks
Hollie
February 3, 2013 at 9:24 pm
Neither of these are working for me and I cant understand why. Any time i put any ‘mklink’ command in, it fails saying things like ‘parameter format is not correct’. I am on Windows 7, I use hard Punctuation Marks, i have spelt everything right. I tried splitting it in two and this did not work either. Help?
Maksym Mukhin
April 15, 2013 at 6:32 pm
thanks!
Some Guy
August 19, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Instructions worked perfectly. Thanks Richie.
try4best
August 23, 2012 at 12:50 pm
if i want to go back to default then what should we insert in to the command prompt???
Holland
September 11, 2012 at 9:01 am
Thx, this worked perfect.
Gelli
September 12, 2012 at 10:19 am
I got error message in cmd like “Cannot create a file when that file already exists.”
luke
September 19, 2012 at 9:01 pm
thanks, this worked for me
C:\>mklink /j “c:\Users\luke\Appdata\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync” h:\MobileSync
iphone user
September 21, 2012 at 12:45 am
Thank you, an easy solution that worked perfectly.
ycchen
October 12, 2012 at 9:56 am
@Gelli
I had the same problem. Make sure the source directory doesn’t exist. I.e. actually move it, or delete it. It’s not sufficient if the source folder is empty. It must not exist.
Source: http://superuser.com/questions/402390/why-cant-i-make-a-symbolic-link-mklink-even-when-im-an-administrator
I.KROUSS
October 30, 2012 at 4:02 pm
For me this worked when Backup on C:\ is moved or deleted = non-existing!:
cd Desktop
junction “C:\Documents and Settings\Ivan\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “Z:\Apple MobileSync\Backup”
I.KROUSS
October 30, 2012 at 4:04 pm
As a resut I get in cmd:
C:\>junction “C:\Documents and Settings\Ivan\Application Data\Apple Computer\Mob
ileSync\Backup” “Z:\Apple MobileSync\Backup”
Junction v1.06 – Windows junction creator and reparse point viewer
Copyright (C) 2000-2010 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals – http://www.sysinternals.com
Created: C:\Documents and Settings\Ivan\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSy
nc\Backup
Targetted at: Z:\Apple MobileSync\Backup
oguz deliktas
November 25, 2012 at 8:05 pm
There’s no command @ xp such as “mklink”. Any solution for xp users?
Stas
December 9, 2012 at 6:43 am
Thank you so much, it works great!
Nag
December 24, 2012 at 4:58 pm
Very useful solution. Thank you
Mike Richards
December 29, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Thanks for the solution, simply excellent.
FYI the /j would not work for me, maybe because I was backing up to a mirrored NAS, changed it to a /d and it worked fine
cm
February 9, 2013 at 5:13 pm
how to do put a ” symbol in command prompt??? it wont work when i do it usually any ideas?
Prateek
February 17, 2013 at 11:39 am
Hello…it also worked for me….
Now i hv a MobileSync folder in C:\Users\intel pc\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer WITH A LITTLE ARROW ON IT….
Bt it is still showing the same memory size in Properties…..or is it just showing but using the memory of OTHER Drive and not using C Drive memory…???
Plz reply asap…
thnx in advance….
zapoklu
February 17, 2013 at 11:48 am
Guys you can use the variable %appdata% in place of the most of it.
For example, I ran the below
mklink /J “%appdata%\apple computer\mobilesync” D:\mobilesync
This removes any spelling errors and cuts down the path significantly as well as auto resolving the username that is entered.
EG> My output was
Junction created for C:\Users\chris\AppData\Roaming\apple computer\mobilesync <> D:\mobilesync
Hope this helps
nikola
February 20, 2013 at 2:11 pm
how to put f-cking “““““““““““““““““““““ ““““““““““““““““““““““ in cmd :@@@@@@
Adam
March 10, 2013 at 10:31 am
when you are pressing your default ” key is something else coming up like @ or ^?? If nothing is coming up highlight 1 ” and rightclick in cmd and click paste (CTRL+V doesnt work you have to right click).
-Chalkie
samurai
March 5, 2013 at 10:25 pm
Thanks! It worked!!
Steve
March 17, 2013 at 10:39 am
Works perfect, well done
…
Russ
April 9, 2013 at 6:10 pm
This worked perfectly, but now I’m getting itunes backup saving in both the old and new location
Sicrates
May 12, 2013 at 10:54 am
This was driving me bananas, as none of the suggestions were working. All came up with “syntax is incorrect” or similar. Finally found that this worked if I just moved the Backup folder, rather than the mobilesync folder:
mklink /J “C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “A:\Backup”