I've seen many posts about backups taking no time at all, and some saying they are taking a long time. I know why some are fast and some are not, it's a setting you chose when you first set up your iphone which does not normally pop up again. Here is my step by step guide to undoing what most of you with slow backups did and making your backups take about 90 seconds on average.
That's right, the actual backup only takes 90 seconds (if you haven't installed anything new since your last sync), the thing that's making everyone's backup take an hour plus is that your sending your crash reports to apple everytime you backup and apples servers are so inundated that you're having to wait for the crash reports to upload and it's taking forever. This is an option that you clicked on your very first sync that you will now undo.
Plug your iphone in so it shows up under "devices" on the left side of itunes. If it starts to sync stop it right away by clicking the x (top middle of itunes). Then go to devices click your iphone so the middle window displays the iphone info and uncheck the "automatically sync when this iphone is connected" you'll find it under the summary tab of your iphone if you're not already there.
Then unplug and re-plug your phone back in.
Now when the phone shows up under devices right click on it and a context menu will pop up, go to the bottom of this list and select "reset warnings"
Now click sync and a warning window will pop up which you probably flew by the first time you set up your phone. It is the source of your backup woes. It is the one saying apple would like to get your crash reports. Also it will have checked by default "don't show this warning again" which is why you never got a chance to undo your mistake of clicking yes last time.
UNCHECK the don't show this again, you want to see this warning window everytime you plug your phone in because you'll always want to click "DO NOT ALLOW." If you want to see why the backup takes so long then click the button where it says to show you the reports. I'll bet if your backups are taking a while this folder is just chock full of crash reports. Go ahead and empty it.
Now everytime you plug your phone in just keep selecting DO NOT SEND THE INFO TO APPLE. (please note the window will only show up if there are crash reports to be sent, so if you empty the crash report folder above then you won't see the warning window again until a new report is generated) I'll bet your backups go way faster from now on.
Also note, if you have a butload of new apps that you installed on your last sync the next backup will indeed take several minutes since this is all new data. (Remember itunes does a backup first then an install incase any of the new apps cause a major problem you'll have a backup from before you installed them. But this means the next time you plug your phone in is the first time your backup will include any apps from the last sync). For example if you sync now and you get a 90 second backup but then you install Brain Challenge (an almost 100 meg app) the your next backup will probably go up to 5 or 10 minutes since none of this is in the last backup. But that's still a far cry less than what many of you have been experiencing.
And when no new apps are installed the backup takes about 90 seconds now.
enjoy.
That's right, the actual backup only takes 90 seconds (if you haven't installed anything new since your last sync), the thing that's making everyone's backup take an hour plus is that your sending your crash reports to apple everytime you backup and apples servers are so inundated that you're having to wait for the crash reports to upload and it's taking forever. This is an option that you clicked on your very first sync that you will now undo.
Plug your iphone in so it shows up under "devices" on the left side of itunes. If it starts to sync stop it right away by clicking the x (top middle of itunes). Then go to devices click your iphone so the middle window displays the iphone info and uncheck the "automatically sync when this iphone is connected" you'll find it under the summary tab of your iphone if you're not already there.
Then unplug and re-plug your phone back in.
Now when the phone shows up under devices right click on it and a context menu will pop up, go to the bottom of this list and select "reset warnings"
Now click sync and a warning window will pop up which you probably flew by the first time you set up your phone. It is the source of your backup woes. It is the one saying apple would like to get your crash reports. Also it will have checked by default "don't show this warning again" which is why you never got a chance to undo your mistake of clicking yes last time.
UNCHECK the don't show this again, you want to see this warning window everytime you plug your phone in because you'll always want to click "DO NOT ALLOW." If you want to see why the backup takes so long then click the button where it says to show you the reports. I'll bet if your backups are taking a while this folder is just chock full of crash reports. Go ahead and empty it.
Now everytime you plug your phone in just keep selecting DO NOT SEND THE INFO TO APPLE. (please note the window will only show up if there are crash reports to be sent, so if you empty the crash report folder above then you won't see the warning window again until a new report is generated) I'll bet your backups go way faster from now on.
Also note, if you have a butload of new apps that you installed on your last sync the next backup will indeed take several minutes since this is all new data. (Remember itunes does a backup first then an install incase any of the new apps cause a major problem you'll have a backup from before you installed them. But this means the next time you plug your phone in is the first time your backup will include any apps from the last sync). For example if you sync now and you get a 90 second backup but then you install Brain Challenge (an almost 100 meg app) the your next backup will probably go up to 5 or 10 minutes since none of this is in the last backup. But that's still a far cry less than what many of you have been experiencing.
And when no new apps are installed the backup takes about 90 seconds now.
enjoy.
