Disabling iPhone Backups

I use two PCs to sync with my iPhone: my home PC for media and application syncing, and my work PC for contacts and calendar syncing. Understandably, it didn't make sense to me to back up my iPhone on two separate PCs - especially as the roaming profile on my work PC had a capacity of 30MB.

Apple in their infinite wisdom obviously didn't consider people syncing with multiple PCs, so didn't give us an option to disable backups. Therefore, I had to do my own investigations into how I could disable the backups running on my work PC. I did find a solution in the end - unfortunately I can't remember where I located this so I can't give out props for it. This solution involves editing the XML file containing your iTunes preferences...

• Search your computer for the iTunesPrefs.xml file. This is located in a hidden folder within your user profile in the Documents and Settings directory. For example, Vista users can locate this in C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes.
• Take a backup copy of the file (e.g. copy and paste).
• Open the original file in a text editor which shows formatting (i.e. WordPad rather than Notepad). This makes it a bit easier to see what you're doing.
• Search for the string <key>User Preferences</key>. Directly after the <dict> tag, enter the following text:

<key>DeviceBackupsDisabled</key>

<data>

dHJ1ZQ==

</data>

• Save and close the file. Your backups are now disabled on this PC.

Example Final Code:

<key>User Preferences</key>

<dict>

<key>DeviceBackupsDisabled</key>

<data>

dHJ1ZQ==

</data>