Ipad Itunes Backup much smaller than Used Ipad storage

[cassiopeia]

I performed an Itunes backup of my Ipad Pro to my local PC and the resulting backup size (1.8Gb) is way smaller than the Ipad Storage used as shown in the Ipad/Settings/Ipad Storage (49.6Gb). I tried again restarting the Ipad and PC from fresh without success, the backup size is always 1.8Gb. For the record, I don't use iCloud, I have it disabled completely in Settings, and for backing it up, I have the iPad connected to the PC directly with a USB C cable. Also iPadOS version is latest 15.5 and same with iTunes (latest version). Thanks for any hints.

 

[scifan57]

If you have any iTunes Media content on your iPad, the actual media is not on the iPad backup, just the notation of the content. The iTunes Media files would be downloaded from the iTunes Store when restoring from a backup.

 

[cassiopeia]

If you have any iTunes Media content on your iPad, the actual media is not on the iPad backup, just the notation of the content. The iTunes Media files would be downloaded from the iTunes Store when restoring from a backup.

I don't have any iTunes Media content in my iPad

 

[scifan57]

Do you have lots of apps? The backup contains the app data but not the app itself. The apps are downloaded from the cloud during the restoration process.

 

[twerppoet]

Also, backups are compressed. They aren't directly readable copies of your folders and content.

 

[cassiopeia]

Hi all, thanks for your replies. Poet, yes I do know that backups are compressed, but never seen a 97% compression (49GB down to 1.8GB), so my fear is that data may be missing in the backup. Also, all the Ipad backups that I've done in the past with iTunes had a compression of about 30% .
Scifan, yes I read that from Apple Support, from the map below it seems that Apps are about 15GB, so let's say the size of data to be backed up is about 34GB (49-15), then 34 down to 1.8 is approx 95% compression, that still is a lot.I have another Ipad Pro so I may try an iTunes Restore in my other iPad Pro using this backup file. That will definitely give an answer as to the validity/health of this backup.
I'm attaching a screenshot of the Ipad storage map:

 

[twerppoet]

You can always delete the current backup and do a new one. I know iCloud backups are incremental, which means you should occasionally create a new one from scratrch to avoid potential accumulated errors. I'm not sure if that is true of iTunes these days. I haven't used iTunes for a long, long time.

You can control what gets backed up to iCloud in Settings (which apps, etc). I' sure there are similar controls for iTunes, and they should be looked over.

But as you say, the proof is in the restore. No backup system is complete until you've proven you can restore from it. Keep in mind your other iPad will probably need to be the same or newer version of iPadOS for you to restore to it.

 

[scifan57]

With an iTunes backup, only the most recent one is saved unless you choose to archive the backup.

 

[cassiopeia]

Yes, it is possible that iTunes only made an incremental backup and not a full backup, but in order to prevent this possibility I deleted the previous backup within iTunes to start from a fresh state. There is no option as far as I could see within iTunes to opt for full vs incremental backup.

 

[cassiopeia]

I can confirm that the backup file from my Ipad Pro is not a full backup. I restored to another Ipad Pro from this backup and the restored Ipad does not include the ebooks in the Books App library. I wonder what is causing iTunes to not perform a full backup

 

[twerppoet]

iBook books are not part of the backup.

Other books get saved in various ways depending on your settings. In Settings > iBooks there is a setting to turn on iCloud Drive. It only says it will save your PDF's, but I suspect it also saves non-iBook ePubs, but I'm not sure.

Under Settings > (your Apple ID) > iCloud there is a switch for each app which controls whether they get backed up. This might be what decides whether ePubs get backed up in iCloud.

On iTunes, your iBook library used to look the same as your iTunes library. You didn't back it up, you synced it just like you synced your music. I'm not sure how it works on Windows these days, but neither Music nor Books were ever a part of the backup. Same for the video library.

Basically, if it syncs, it isn't part of the backup file.

On a Mac the Books app (like Music) has become a separate app which can be synced with your iOS devices. I haven't direcly synced my iOS/iPadOS devices in a long time, so I'm not sure how it's done.

Here is an Apple article on the various ways to sync your computer and iOS devices.

iPad User Guide

Here’s everything you need to know about iPad, straight from Apple. This definitive guide helps you get started using iPad and discover all the amazing things it can do.

support.apple.com

 

[cassiopeia]

I'm used to the concept of a backup being that, all apps+data+settings, i.e., I was expecting an exact clone , but it seems Apple has its own rules leading to an incomplete backup. I never use iCoud, always like to keep my own local backups. What about passwords? I read that only when having the encrypted backup option enabled that passwords+wifi options get backed up too.

 

[twerppoet]

i believe Apple was trying for small easily restored files. At least after the iPad's started having significant storage. No one wants to deal with a 128 GB or larger restore file. Especially when it would take forever to actually restore to the iPad with it's limited port speeds.

Also, the free 5GB iCloud storage is supposed to be sufficient for backups. Most backups anyway. I'm pretty sure people would be a bit upset to find out they had to pay for extra space just to backup their iPad. Most of the synced stuff does not count against your iCloud Drive limit.