Simple backup on OSX...locally?
February 5, 2008 5:11 PM Subscribe
Can someone please find me a backup solution for OSX...that fit some VERY specific requirements.
Ok, here's what I'm looking for: a program that will allow me to set specific folders or external drives to copy to OTHER folders or external drives on a regular schedule. I thought I had found what I wanted in SuperDuper, but it won't use a FAT32 volume as a source.
I run Mozy for document backup...what I'm looking for is something that will take a given folder that changes on a daily basis, and move it to another local disk. If it matters, I'm trying to locally mirror my Music collection. On my XP box I use SyncBack, but I can't find anything that straightforward on OSX. TimeMachine is no help for this particular issue either...
Help me, Mefi!
Ok, here's what I'm looking for: a program that will allow me to set specific folders or external drives to copy to OTHER folders or external drives on a regular schedule. I thought I had found what I wanted in SuperDuper, but it won't use a FAT32 volume as a source.
I run Mozy for document backup...what I'm looking for is something that will take a given folder that changes on a daily basis, and move it to another local disk. If it matters, I'm trying to locally mirror my Music collection. On my XP box I use SyncBack, but I can't find anything that straightforward on OSX. TimeMachine is no help for this particular issue either...
Help me, Mefi!
err you'd need the -r flag to make sure it traversed subdirs
posted by mce at 5:22 PM on February 5, 2008
posted by mce at 5:22 PM on February 5, 2008
If you go the rsync route, I'd recommend:
This set of flags means:
-r — recursive, traverse into subdirectories
-l — treat symlinks as symlinks; don't follow them
-t — preserve creation and modification dates on items
-e — enables additional commands, like:
--delete-after — removes files in the DESTINATION that do not exist in the SOURCE (e.g., if you delete songXYZ.mp3 from your ~/Music folder, the next time you run rsync, it will make sure the backup doesn't have songXYZ.mp3 in the same place -- it makes the destination a mirror of the source)
Note that --delete-after is different that --delete in that the former waits until rsync finishes copying successfully before deleting, where --delete does not.
There are also many other flags that may or may not be appropriate for your desires, like preserving file permissions and such. You can see them by running this command in Terminal:
posted by secret about box at 5:54 PM on February 5, 2008
rsync -rlpte --delete-after --stats [source] [destination]This set of flags means:
-r — recursive, traverse into subdirectories
-l — treat symlinks as symlinks; don't follow them
-t — preserve creation and modification dates on items
-e — enables additional commands, like:
--delete-after — removes files in the DESTINATION that do not exist in the SOURCE (e.g., if you delete songXYZ.mp3 from your ~/Music folder, the next time you run rsync, it will make sure the backup doesn't have songXYZ.mp3 in the same place -- it makes the destination a mirror of the source)
Note that --delete-after is different that --delete in that the former waits until rsync finishes copying successfully before deleting, where --delete does not.
There are also many other flags that may or may not be appropriate for your desires, like preserving file permissions and such. You can see them by running this command in Terminal:
man rsyncposted by secret about box at 5:54 PM on February 5, 2008
(Oh, and --stats will give you basic transfer/copy info when you're done. You can add --progress to get constant copy progress feedback, but it will slow down your copy.)
posted by secret about box at 5:55 PM on February 5, 2008
posted by secret about box at 5:55 PM on February 5, 2008
Goddammit, I love rsync.
posted by secret about box at 5:56 PM on February 5, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by secret about box at 5:56 PM on February 5, 2008 [2 favorites]
command line? Pah, this is the Mac! You want Deja Vu.
How are you going to keep the library files in sync, though? (assuming iTunes)
posted by bonaldi at 6:24 PM on February 5, 2008
How are you going to keep the library files in sync, though? (assuming iTunes)
posted by bonaldi at 6:24 PM on February 5, 2008
Nthing the
posted by Brian Puccio at 6:34 PM on February 5, 2008
rsync suggestion, though if you're not a fan of the command line, there's arRsync, just a frontend to it.posted by Brian Puccio at 6:34 PM on February 5, 2008
Good thread so far, I'm watching closely. Can you guys help clarify whether these are file level or block level solutions? For example, how about I update the MP3 tags on a bunch, causing a relatively minor change to a potentially sizeable file. Do I then have to copy over the entire file, or just the updated blocks?
posted by ZakDaddy at 6:40 PM on February 5, 2008
posted by ZakDaddy at 6:40 PM on February 5, 2008
Everything you ever wanted to know about the rsync implementation but were afraid to ask. (Okay, not completely. But you get the idea.)
posted by secret about box at 7:41 PM on February 5, 2008
posted by secret about box at 7:41 PM on February 5, 2008
rsync is great, but you'll probably find Chronosync to be far more intuitive for what you are looking to do.
At my video production studio, where we run external RAID0 eSATA arrays on all our workstations, I have Chronosync configured to automatically backup critical project folders that live on the RAID0 stripsets, every 15 minutes. It backs up to both an external firewire drive, as well as to a folder onb a seperate internal SATA drive inside the Mac Pro enclosure. It's not a diff based backup solution, but it will poll the destination folder before doing each backup, to make sure that it doesn't back up something that hasn't changed since the last backup.
Chronosync will also automatically execute a backup ruleset whenever you mount an external drive or network share. It's pretty much the best desktop backup solution for "normal" users that's available on OS X.
posted by melorama at 8:59 PM on February 5, 2008
At my video production studio, where we run external RAID0 eSATA arrays on all our workstations, I have Chronosync configured to automatically backup critical project folders that live on the RAID0 stripsets, every 15 minutes. It backs up to both an external firewire drive, as well as to a folder onb a seperate internal SATA drive inside the Mac Pro enclosure. It's not a diff based backup solution, but it will poll the destination folder before doing each backup, to make sure that it doesn't back up something that hasn't changed since the last backup.
Chronosync will also automatically execute a backup ruleset whenever you mount an external drive or network share. It's pretty much the best desktop backup solution for "normal" users that's available on OS X.
posted by melorama at 8:59 PM on February 5, 2008
I use imSafe from http://homepage.mac.com/sweetcocoa/imsafe/ for that purpose. Easy to setup and just works.
posted by KimG at 5:02 AM on February 6, 2008
posted by KimG at 5:02 AM on February 6, 2008
as mentioned rsync is really cool stuff. In a similar vein you may also want to see unison
posted by mce at 3:31 PM on February 7, 2008
posted by mce at 3:31 PM on February 7, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
rsync ~/Music /Volumes/backup_device/
posted by mce at 5:21 PM on February 5, 2008