If an old Windows PC or its hard drive still holds an iPhone backup, you can usually get the text messages out without the old phone and without restoring anything. Find the backup folder under the old user profile, copy it to your current PC, and open the copy with a backup reader. BackupPaper, a Windows app from Automata Labs, opens the backup folder read-only, lists every conversation, and saves the one you pick as a PDF or CSV, with no iPhone connected and nothing uploaded.
This guide covers where the backup lives on an old drive, how to copy it without damaging it, what can stop it opening, and what to expect inside.
Open the old backup and save the conversation you need as a PDF or CSV.
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Is there likely to be a backup on the old PC?
There is if someone backed up the iPhone to that computer with iTunes or the Apple Devices app. Two things decide whether it holds texts:
- When it was made. A backup holds what was on the phone that day. Texts sent after it are not there.
- Messages in iCloud. Apple’s backup methods page says a backup from a computer doesn’t include “data already synced and stored in iCloud, like iCloud Photos, iMessages, and SMS and MMS messages.” If Messages in iCloud was on at the time, the backup may hold few or no conversations. Our guide on whether an iPhone backup includes text messages covers this in detail.
You will not know for sure until you open it, so copy it first and look.
Where is the iPhone backup on an old drive?
Apple’s page on locating backups gives two locations on a PC, depending on which Apple software made the backup:
| Software on the old PC | Backup folder |
|---|---|
| Apple Devices, or iTunes from the Microsoft Store | %USERPROFILE%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup |
| iTunes downloaded from Apple’s website | %AppData%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup |
Those variables point at the current user on the current PC. On an old drive, you navigate to the same places by hand. If the old drive shows up as E: on your new PC and the old account was named Sam, the two paths are:
- E:\Users\Sam\Apple\MobileSync\Backup
- E:\Users\Sam\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
Inside Backup, each backup is a folder named with the iPhone’s long device ID. If you see more than one, each is a separate backup, possibly of different phones. Our guide to the iPhone backup location on Windows explains the folder structure.
AppData is hidden by default. In File Explorer, choose View, then Show, then Hidden items, or paste the full path into the address bar.
How do you get at the old drive?
Pick whichever is easiest and least risky:
| Situation | Approach |
|---|---|
| The old PC still starts | Sign in, copy the backup folder to a USB drive, and move it to the new PC |
| The old PC is dead but the drive is fine | Put the drive in a USB enclosure or adapter and connect it to the new PC |
| A shop or IT person pulled the drive | Ask for a copy of the whole Users folder, or of the two paths above |
| The drive is encrypted with BitLocker | You need the recovery key for that drive before any files can be read |
When you open another account’s folders from a connected drive, Windows may ask for administrator permission. Grant it only if you are entitled to the data on that drive.
How do you copy the backup safely?
A backup is easy to damage by tidying it up, so treat it as read-only: do not rename, edit or reorganise anything inside a backup folder.
- Copy, do not move. Copy the whole device-ID folder to a new location on your current PC, such as C:\Recovered\iPhone-backup-2023. Leave the original where it is.
- Copy the entire folder. A backup is hundreds or thousands of small files. A partial copy will not open.
- Check the size. Compare the size of the copy with the original in Properties. If they differ, copy again.
- Keep the original drive unchanged until you have what you need.
Read a copied backup folder without the old phone or the old PC.
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How do you read the texts on the new PC?
- Open BackupPaper and choose the backup folder, the copy with the long device ID name. BackupPaper shows the device name and backup date once it opens.
- Type the backup password if asked. If the backup is encrypted, BackupPaper needs the password that was set when encryption was turned on. It is used on that PC only and is not saved. BackupPaper cannot recover or bypass a forgotten password.
- Pick a conversation. Conversations are listed with message counts and last dates. Read it in the app: time, sender, text, reactions, replies and attachment names.
- Export. Choose Export PDF for a readable record with a header naming the device, participants, service and date range, or Export CSV for a spreadsheet with UTC and local times on every row.
- Note the hash. BackupPaper shows the SHA-256 of each export, which you can check later with certutil. Our SHA-256 guide shows how.
The backup is opened read-only, and BackupPaper refuses to save an export inside the backup folder.
What will you not find in an old backup?
Set expectations before you start:
- Messages newer than the backup. Check the backup date first.
- Messages already synced to iCloud, as Apple describes above.
- Deleted messages. BackupPaper shows the messages the backup holds; it does not recover deleted ones.
- Other chat apps. BackupPaper reads the Messages app only: iMessage and SMS, not WhatsApp or others.
- Photos inside the PDF. Attachments are listed by name; photos and videos are not placed in the PDF.
If you need the texts for a legal matter, our guide to exporting iPhone texts to PDF for court covers what to keep with the export. BackupPaper makes no claim about how a court will treat an export, and this is not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the old iPhone?
No. BackupPaper reads the backup folder on the PC. The phone does not need to be connected, and there is no iCloud sign-in.
Can I read the backup directly from the USB drive?
Copying it to your PC first is safer and faster, and it protects the original if the old drive is failing.
The backup folder is empty or missing. What now?
Check both paths above, for every user account on the old drive. If neither has a device-ID folder, that PC never held a backup, or it was deleted.
Will connecting my current iPhone overwrite the old backup?
The copy you made is a separate folder, so Apple software on the new PC will not touch it. Keep it outside the MobileSync folder to be safe.
Try BackupPaper
BackupPaper is a one-time purchase in the Microsoft Store with a free trial, so you can check what an old backup holds before you buy. It makes no network connections and has no account. More detail is on the BackupPaper product page.
Turn an old backup into a PDF you can keep, print or send.
Get it from Microsoft
iPhone, iMessage and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc. BackupPaper is not affiliated with Apple.
Last updated 22 October 2026. Published by Automata Labs, a software company in Canada.