iPad backup in iTunes takes for... wait for it... ever!

[Mriley1058]

Lately when I sync my iPad with iTunes the backup takes a very long time. I started a sync this morning before getting ready for work and it still wasnt done by the time I was ready to leave. 30mins + just for the backup portion of the sync is ridiculous.

Any ideas what might be causing this? I read that some apps are causing it but I don't know if there is a list somewhere that would tell me which ones are the culprits.

 

[west3man]

Lately when I sync my iPad with iTunes the backup takes a very long time. I started a sync this morning before getting ready for work and it still wasnt done by the time I was ready to leave. 30mins + just for the backup portion of the sync is ridiculous.

Any ideas what might be causing this? I read that some apps are causing it but I don't know if there is a list somewhere that would tell me which ones are the culprits.

I know a comic-reading app causes this on my iPad. It takes over 30 minutes to back-up.

Now, I skip the back-up portion of syncing by clicking the "x" near where iTunes says it is backing up. Works like a charm.

 

[frodo]

This happened to me a few times. One way to correct that (if it is systematically doing that all of the times right now on your system) would be to delete the current iPad backup files on you computer, then sync again. After that, the (new) initial backup will take quite a while depending on how much info you have, but the following backups will be fast. It seems like the backup structure may be too complex at some point and iTunes has problem with it.

So, go to iTunes, Preferences, Devices, highlight your iPad backup(s) and click delete. Sync again.

Have in mind to never stop a backup sync because that could place your iPad in recovery mode and you would have to restore from the last backup or reinstall everything as a new device. So be patient and wait till it finishes. Don't forget that if you deleted the backup files, you have none to go back to if something goes wrong: that new fresh backup is very important and must not be interrupted.

 

[west3man]

I see no reason that cancelling a back-up would place the iPad in recovery mode. It never has for me.

I also see no more risk in cancelling a backup than in deleting backup data. At least I still have backups to fall back on.

 

[Mriley1058]

@west3man I have a few comic apps on my iPad so I went in and deleted some of the free comics I had downloaded and the backup seemed much quicker. We'll see if that was really the issue next time I try it.

 

[Garz]

My iPad has been taking forever to back up since I loaded OS 3.2.1