▶️ Watch a video of this tutorial on YouTube
If you have an external hard drive or SSD that you can connect to your iPad or iPhone, and the storage shows up in the "Files" application, then you can use that storage as a backup destination.
- Attach the external storage to your iPad or iPhone.
- Open CCC Mobile.
- Select whether to back up Photos or Files.
- Tap the Select a Destination button.
- Select External Storage.
- Select the external volume in the sidebar (you may have to scroll down).
- Navigate to a folder on that external device where you would like to store the backup (you can add a folder too). We recommend that you create a new folder for the backup, because CCC Mobile will remove anything from the selected destination that is not on the source.
- Tap Open in the top-right corner of the window to select the current folder as the destination.
- Tap Start Backup.
Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter
You can attach any USB storage device to an iPad or iPhone using a USB-to-Lighting cable. However, storage attached in that manner will not appear (e.g. in the Files application or CCC Mobile) because the iPad/iPhone does not provide enough power for external storage devices. To get an external storage device to work correctly with your iPad/iPhone, you must attach it via an Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, and in the following order:
- Attach the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera adapter to your iPad/iPhone
- Attach a Lightning cable connected to an AC power adapter to the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera adapter
- Attach your external storage to the USB port on the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter
Our testing was only successful while using an Apple Lightning to USB 3 adapter. You may have success with other configurations, but the only configuration we can recommend and support involves using Apple's Lightning to USB 3 adapter (and not the cheaper "Lightning to USB Camera Adapter" – you have to use the one that offers Lightning charging).
Closing thoughts on using locally-attached storage with CCC Mobile
Backing up to locally-attached storage is a good option, but the logistics involved with attaching external storage to your iOS device may be daunting. An adapter is required, some devices draw too much power, storage performs slower than anticipated, and we occasionally encountered "ghosting" in which old volumes continued to appear available (but empty) despite having detached the storage device.
If you already have these logistics worked out and you have storage that works reliably with iOS, then that storage will work fine with CCC Mobile. Otherwise, we recommend making backups to one of these other types of destinations instead:
Better: Backing up to network-attached storage
Best: Backing up to Mac-attached storage hosted by a CCC Diplomat