iPhone 101: Speedier iPhone backups, three ways

Since the introduction of the App Store, the iPhone and iPod touch backup procedure has become quite time-consuming. The Panama Canal was constructed in less duration. Fortunately, the impatient can speed up (or kill) the process in one of three ways.

The first is the simplest. When the backup begins, simply visit the small “x” that appears in iTunes’ main window. that will halt the backup but continue the sync, so those new podcasts you’ve downloaded will get transferred.

The second procedure is a bit more involved. Open a Terminal window and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

That will kill the backup procedure until you enable it again by typing

defaults write com.apple.iTunes

DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

Just be aware that that method plus kills SMS report backups.

Those of you uncomfortable with Terminal can use this tiny application which essentially runs the commands above at the go of a button.

Finally, you can follow the steps outlined at iPhoneFreak that involve disabling the option to send diagnostic knowledge to Apple at sync.

So there you have it — three ways to produce your backup procedure more pleasant. whether you need to recover files from a backup, you can use the mdhelper application, written by our own Erica Sadun.

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[Source] Dave Caolo