Backing up iPad data to an external hard drive is a great way to avoid data loss. This post will guide you on how to backup iPad, iPad pro, including the iPad 10, iPad mini to an external hard drive with 3 methods.
Can I back up an iPad to an external hard drive?
Today, I got the latest 2021 iPad Pro, and I noticed that I've got too much iPad data that never backed up. So I bought a Samsung external drive to back up my iPad? Is there any way to backup data fast?
- Question from forums.macrumors.com
Lots of people bought the latest iPad Pro because of its better display and better processor. After a period of use, you may want to backup the iPad to an external hard drive to avoid data loss and unexpected situations.
When it comes to backing up iPad, some users may turn to the iCloud service provided by Apple to automatically upload data to cloud-based storage. there are still some reasons making users want to backup iPad data to an external disk instead iCloud, such as.
So can you backup iPhone to an external hard drive? Yes, you can! It is not different to perform this. Refer to the following content, it will guide you on how to backup iPad to external hard drive in 2024 with 4 methods.
If you have a computer at hand, there are 2 common and simple methods to back up your iPad to an external hard drive. Let's check it!
To backup iPad to external hard drive, one of the easiest ways is to use a professional iOS backup software named FoneTool. It can help you directly back up your iPad to an external hard drive, computer, flash drive, or other storage devices.
Next, connect the external hard drive and iPad with a computer via USB cables and trust the PC. Just download this software to see how this tool works:
Step 1. Run FoneTool, and click Phone Backup on the interface. Go to Full Backup and click Get Started. (If you need to selectively back up iPad data, please skip to the next part to make it.)
Step 2. If you need to back up some private information, like Health data, please encrypt the backup > Change the storage location from the Backup Storage Path option to back up iPad to external hard drive > Click Start Backup to begin the task.
Step 1. Download, install, and launch FoneTool.
Step 2. Choose Phone Backup on the main interface > Go to Selective Backup and click Get Started.
Step 3. You can choose an icon to decide what you want to back up > Click OK to continue.
Step 4. Click the Backup Storage Path option to change the storage path to the external hard drive. Then click Start Backup.
Waiting for the process to get finished. From the My Backups page, you can browse, delete and restore the backup files.
iTunes for Windows can help you to back up iPad on Windows. But iTunes does not allow you to change the backup storage path in its interface. If you want to do so, you can first change the iTunes backup location and then follow the steps below:
Step 1. Connect the iPad and the external drive with a Windows computer. You may need to trust the computer if it is the first time your iPad connected to the PC.
Step 2. Press “Win” + “R” to on Run box, and type “cmd” on it to open Command Prompt > Execute the command:
mklink /J “C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup” “E:\”
Step 3. Now you can install iTunes for Windows. Click the iPhone icon in the top corner.
Step 4. Choose the “Summary” section. And ensure “This computer” is where your backup data will be stored. And click “Backup Now” beneath the “Manually Back Up and Restore”.
Apparently, iTunes is not easy for most people, especially for people who are not familiar with Command Prompt. And sometimes, you may encounter an iTunes backup session failed issue.
If you don’t have a computer, you can use a USB-to-lightning adapter to connect your iPad with your external hard drive. It is a great way to move several photos, files, videos on an iPad to an external hard drive. Here we take backing up iPad photos as an example to demonstrate how to perform it.
Step 1. Connect your iPad with your external drive with a USB-to-lightning adapter.
Step 2. Open the “Photos” app or other application that contains your data needed to be transferred. And select photos you want to save on your computer.
Step 3. Tap the share icon, and choose “Save”.
Step 4. Choose the external hard drive, which is usually named “ThumbDrive”.
Then you will have a backup of the pictures on the external hard drive without a computer.
For Mac users, iTunes has one limitation - it is only compatible with devices running macOS Mojave or earlier. If you’re using macOS Catalina or later, iTunes won’t be able to accomplish this. That's where the Finder comes in! With the Finder, you can backup iPad to external hard drive by first copying them to your computer and then moving the backup to the external drive.
Here are 3 common questions and answers about how to backup iPad to external hard drive:
Q1: Can I back up my iPad to an external hard drive without using iTunes?
Yes! If you don’t want to create a virtual link between the system storage, you can make use of a third-party tool FoneTool to directly back up your iPad to an external hard drive.
Q2: Is it possible to back up an iPad to an external hard drive on a Windows PC?
Yes, you can connect your iPad and external hard drive to a Windows PC via USB and use File Explorer to transfer the files to the external hard drive.
Q3: Can I back up specific data like photos and videos from my iPad to an external hard drive?
Yes, most backup tools like FoneTool allow you to select specific files or types of data to back up to an external hard drive, but iTunes cannot help you do that.
Hope the 3 backup methods can really help you to backup Pad to an external hard drive. You can choose iTunes, FoneTool, and an adapter to backup data. By contrast, FoneTool is suitable for most situations. It works well whether you are backing up data to another disk, or flash drive, SSD, and so on.
Besides, it even supports backing up iPhone to NAS if you have a bunch of data you don't want to lose on your iOS devices.