Storing iPod software updates

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Storing iPod software updates

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Q: I have an iPod touch and an Asus netbook. Like many people I have difficulty
keeping to the very small C drive on the netbook, so I have moved my iTunes library to the D drive. Thanks for the article on how to use consolidate to do this. However, the iPod touch software updates themselves are very large, and they appear to end up in ‘application dataapple computeriTunesiPod software updates’ on C. Is there any way to get the ‘application dataapple computer’ tree to be on my D drive? If not, at least the iPod software updates folder to D?

- JFG

A: Although there is no way to relocate the actual iPod Software updates folder that iTunes uses, you can save space by moving the update packages out of this folder to any other location that you prefer. iTunes does not need to access the iPod Software updates during normal operation; they’re only used when restoring your iPod back to factory settings. Further, when performing a restore on your device iTunes will download the latest iPod firmware package from Apple if it cannot find a local copy of it in the iPod Software folder.

You may notice that iTunes keeps older firmware packages in this folder as well. There are not used by iTunes at all, and can be either deleted or copied to another folder for backup purposes. Retaining a couple of recent firmware versions may be useful should you find that you ever need to go back to an older firmware version, but these are otherwise completely unnecessary.

Note that you can also choose a specific package to restore by holding down the SHIFT key (Windows) or OPT key (Mac) when clicking the “Restore” button in iTunes. This will bring up a file selection dialog box, and you can browse to your iPod software update package regardless of which folder it is located in.

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