WOW.

I've been copying photographs and documents onto both DVDs and an external hard drive... to free up space on my aging (Windows 7) computer... (a few thousand items btw)...

and then I wondered about the iPhone backups...and how many there were and how big a file each one was and if each one kept a separate set of photographs...

Oh wow. I just found 30 GIGABYTES of updates in storage on my computer. (I refuse to use the cloud).

The early backups from 2011 were not even 200 mb each. Then, as 2014 rolled in, there were backups into the 700 mb area.

I copied all to both areas and deleted them.
However, the ones from 2015 are each 7 GB in size!!! My DVDs only hold 4.7 gb. So I guess, once my brain has a chance to rest, I can go into those through iTunes and delete photographs and apps I have elsewhere or don't use...and then copy them (move) them off my computer.

No one I had asked IRL even considered the size of the backups.

Now my computer will run much better...and maybe I'll win a few more games in the arcade?

Just thought you'd like to check your own computers.

PS you can find them this way: type in APPDATA in the search window on your start menu.

Don't use the right hand window area where you would normally access a file folder...use the menu listing on the left...

click on Roaming
Click on Apple Computing
Click on Mobile Sync
Click on Backup

You do need to have your files visible (not hidden) so you may need to go into the appdata folder and into advanced and make sure the box for hidden files is empty.