I'm trying to transfer my iPhone's encrypted backup to a USB drive for my new MacBook, but I'm a bit suspicious about the size of the backup. It seems small, and I want to confirm whether my photos are included in that backup or if they are stored separately in the Photos library. I also need to make sure that the backup I transfer is fully functional without any hidden files missing. After checking, it looks like there's an issue with my current backup, which is only around 9 GB, while my iPhone shows almost 50 GB of storage used. I'm planning to back up the older backup I have, which is 32 GB, before creating a new one. Any advice on this process?
2 Answers
It’s possible that your photos might not be in the backup if the system has them stored elsewhere. Have you thought about transferring your entire user folder from your old computer to the new one?
Your iPhone backup won't include anything that's synced with iCloud. So if you're using iCloud Photos, those won't be in your backup at all. Make sure to check how you are managing your photos!
I'm not using iCloud at all, but I still found the size of the backup concerning. I need to figure out what's happening because there's a big discrepancy between the backup size and my iPhone storage.
With that said, if you haven't checked, make sure all your photos are actually stored on your device and aren’t just referenced from iCloud.
I can't do that right now since I'm traveling without my computer, and the user folder is too big for a USB drive. I'm switching phones, and I'm worried about needing my passcode for the transfer. I haven't used it in ages since I rely on Face ID, so I want to have a local backup just in case.