Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Understanding the backup structure
When the iPhone is backed up to a computer, the backup files are stored in a backup direct-
ory, which exists as a 40-character hexadecimal string, and corresponds to the Unique
Device Identifier ( UDID ) of the device. The backup process may take a considerable
amount of time depending on the size of the data stored on the iPhone during the first
backup. The location of the backup directory where your backup data is stored depends on
the computer's operating system. The following table displays a list of the common operat-
ing systems and the default location of the iTunes backup directory:
Operating sys-
tem
Backup directory location
\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Application Data\Apple Com-
puter\MobileSync\Backup\
Windows XP
Windows Vista/
7/8
\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Mac OS X
( ~ represents your Home folder)
During the first sync, iTunes creates a backup directory and takes a complete backup of the
device. On subsequent syncs, iTunes only backs up the files that are modified on the device
and updates the existing backup directory. Also, when a device is updated or restored,
iTunes automatically initiates a backup and takes a differential backup . A differential
backup has the same name as the backup directory, but appended with a dash ( - ), the ISO
date of the backup, a dash ( - ), and the time in a 24-hour format with seconds ( [UDID]+
'-' + [Date]+'-'+[Time stamp] ).
The iTunes backup makes a copy of everything on the device to include contacts, SMSes,
photos, the calendar, music, call logs, configuration files, documents, the keychain, net-
work settings, offline web application cache, bookmarks, cookies and application data, and
so on. The backup also contains device details such as the serial number, UDID, SIM de-
tails, and phone number. This information can also be used to prove a relationship between
the desktop and the mobile device.
The backup directory contains four standard files along with the individual data files,
which may exist in various formats depending on the version of iTunes. Older versions will
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