Automated Backup

[sfleming]

I run an unattended Jaguar server. Periodically (which means, "whenever I'm in the neighborhood and have the office keys in my car"), I make a Finder copy of all my data files to a spare FireWire hard disk. The data I'm worried about is less than a couple of gigabytes.

I'm feeling I need to do something a bit more organized. Until a year ago, my only option would have been a tape drive with Retrospect. Now, with external DVD-R drives under $500, that sounds tempting (I've had bad luck with tape drives in the past).

Any opinions? I want this to be "set and forget", except for coming to "harvest" tapes or discs occasionally for offsite storage. Thanks!

Stephen

[dbhill]

I think you will like PsyncX. This is from the ReadMe:

"PsyncX allows you to backup either part or all of your hard drive. You can mirror your selected folder to a FireWire drive, a disk image, or a network drive. In addition, psync will create a bootable drive if you mirror your entire harddrive. PsyncX allows you to schedule regular backups as well."

It is Cocoa, and freeware. Check Version Tracker for the latest version.

~Dennis

[sfleming]

I saw other references to psync and PsyncX here, and it looks like a nice bit of software. (Although I already own Qdea's Synchronize Pro for Mac OS X, which is good for disk mirroring and such.) I'm really more concerned about tape versus DVD-R versus just another external hard disk that I could remove and keep offsite.

Maybe I should have posted this in 'Peripherals' instead of 'Mac OS X Server'...

[Les Kern]

Personally I'm partial to FW Drives. BusLink or Maxtor 120's and Retrospect is a good solution. I havea few dozen servers running Retrospect server, and back up to the drives in an alternating fashion in 1, 3, 7 and 30 day intervals, taking drives home on a schedule. In the 2 years I have been doing this, I have yet to have any problems. Retrospect Server is in my own "top 10" list of critical apps, but took a while to master.
BTW, tape drives have the WORST record of successful backups... so you need MANY MANY tapes to assure success.
Good Luck,
LK

[mclbruce]

I like external firewire drives for backup as well. A company called CMS makes one that is bundled with automatic backup software. All you have to do is plug the drive in and it will make a complete, bootable backup of the HD. Plug it in a second time and it updates the backup. I haven't used it but I think it's pretty cool:

http://www.cmsproducts.com/products_backup.htm

If you are on a budget and don't mind doing a little extra work you can buy a generic firewire HD and use Carbon Copy Cloner software to back up your computer. That's what I do.

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

[chiccorosso]

We use 2 external firewire drives where we do alternate daily backups.

then we have other 2 fw drives, one in office and one in a security box in our bank. once a week we swap the 2 weekly disks.

to manage all the system we use 3 really simple unix scripts activated by cron:

1 for daily backup
1 for weekly backup
1 for unmount automatically the firewire drive to bring on the bank.

all the system costs really less than a tape drive backup system

if you want I can send the scripts.

[Les Kern]

Quote: to manage all the system we use 3 really simple unix scripts activated by cron:

I'm unfamiliar with scripted backup, and my question is whether the backup retains users and permissions like Retrospect so a completley funtional re-build is possible?
Thanks.

[chiccorosso]

of course you retain everything, permissions, metadata and whatsoever. the command used is "ditto" with the option "-rsrcFork"

(type "man ditto" in the terminal)

anyway the dailybackup is this one (the --------- is for beggining and end, don't type them):
---------
#!/bin/sh

giorno=0;
#this returns 0 for even, 1 for odd
# if you want to test the number of week use date +%W
testg=$((`date +%j`%2))

if [ $testg = $giorno ]; then
#even
rm -rf /volumes/Backup02/[MYFOLDER]
ditto -rsrcFork /[MYFOLDER] /volumes/Backup02/[MYFOLDER]
else
#dispari
rm -rf /volumes/Backup01/[MYFOLDER]
ditto -rsrcFork /[MYFOLDER] /volumes/Backup01/[MYFOLDER]
fi
exit
---------

where
- [MYFOLDER] is the folder containing all data you want to back
- Backup01 and Backup02 are the 2 fw disks

the script check for the day number for choosing the right disk and then

1. removes the old backup (rm -rf ecc.. ecc line)
2. copy the new one (ditto -rsrcFork ecc... ecc.. line)

if you have only 1 disk your script will be like this:

---------
#!/bin/sh

rm -rf /volumes/Backup02/[MYFOLDER]
ditto -rsrcFork /[MYFOLDER] /volumes/Backup02/[MYFOLDER]
exit
---------


then you edit the file "/etc/crontab" according (instructions are written inside the file)


seems a mess, but it's rather simple
remember ditto has the option to copy only modified contents too.

[felium]

Quote: remember ditto has the option to copy only modified contents too.

i am currently using ditto for my personal backup, but would like to just update modified files. chiccorosso, would you mind explaining the above option?

[mervTormel]

Quote: Originally posted by felium Quote: remember ditto has the option to copy only modified contents too. i am currently using ditto for my personal backup, but would like to just update modified files. chiccorosso, would you mind explaining the above option?

ditto does not have this capability. psyncx does.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/psyncx

[chiccorosso]

Sorry, I was shure ditto could do incremental backup, but I was wrong. The option U have is to install psync, a freeware unix command.

You can read more at
http://www.dan.co.jp/cases/macosx/psync.html

psync is capable of incremental back up utility.

You can also check "deja vu", a pref pane that implement psync to schedule backups. It's really simple and works, even if was a little "too simple" for our needs.

to find about deja vu look for it on www.versiontracker.com

[felium]

thought it was too good to be true!

i thought it may have something to do the -bom option, which i am having trouble finding a description for...

will check out psync [that preserves the resource fork too?]

[mervTormel]

re: bom

consult the man pages for bom, mkbom, and lsbom

[chiccorosso]

Quote: Originally posted by felium [that preserves the resource fork too?]

...should...

[felium]

i am getting 'No manual entry for bom' but have entries for lsbom and mkbom. i imagine this option will not help in my quest for incremental backups anyway...

i kinda liked the idea 'ditto' was pre-installed too.

[syzygies]

Quote: Originally Posted by mervTormel ditto does not have this capability. psyncx does.

Sure ditto does. It can restrict copying to a .bom file. The trick is to write such a file, by diff'ing two files generated at different times by mkbom. One can convert to text using lsbom. A PERL script could trivially diff these text files.

Unfortunately, Apple hasn't provided a way to write back to binary. Someone write this tiny piece of code, and a new world opens up for backup possibilities, far simpler and cleaner than the various 'sync' options.

[hayne]

Quote: Originally Posted by syzygies Sure ditto does. It can restrict copying to a .bom file. The trick is to write such a file, by diff'ing two files generated at different times by mkbom. One can convert to text using lsbom. A PERL script could trivially diff these text files. Unfortunately, Apple hasn't provided a way to write back to binary. Someone write this tiny piece of code, and a new world opens up for backup possibilities, far simpler and cleaner than the various 'sync' options.

For the sake of other readers, I note that this topic is being discussed on this other thread:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...700#post264700
It would be best to respond there instead of here in order to avoid duplication of effort.