iPhone Backup

the iphone backup is really starting to get to me. each time i attach my phone to my laptop and sync, the iphone needs to back up everything. what for? no idea but it's really frustrating. so some research and a few tweaks later, here i am syncing directly without having to back things up. i hear that this won't work all the time but on my laptop, i've had no problems so far. basically, here are steps to disable the backup from your windows iTunes. mac has their own procedure which i hear is much easier but until someone makes a single click patch, this is the only way to go for PC users.

1. Find the iTunesPrefs.xml file. If you install into default directories, you will find this in c:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes or you might find it in c:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes. If you can't see the file make sure that you make hidden files visible in your Windows Explorer.

2. Backup the iTunesPrefs.xml file (a.k.a. make a copy of it and store it somewhere else on your PC:p)

3. Open the iTunesPrefs.xml file using a text editor. You might have to find a text editor aside from MS Notepad.

4. In the code, you will have to look for a section called User Preferences. The copy and paste the following snippet into the User Preferences section right after the first tag:

DeviceBackupsDisabled

dHJ1ZQ==

5. Save the file when you are done and then restart your iTunes program. Your next sync should exclude the unnecessary backup done on your iPhone. If you want to enable backing up of your iPhone image again, simply erase the XML snippet that you included earlier.

Voila!

Hope this helps!