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App to backup specific folders between drives?

P

pjny

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 18, 2010
798
159
Hi,

I need to regularly backup new files from a specific set of folders(10-12) from one drive to another. I have Chronosync 4.6.7 but according to support I would have to create containers for each folder and then merge them in a new synchronizer document. This is tedious.

Is there a simple backup app where I can select folders from a drive and new files added to those folders and their subfolders are backed up to the second drive? It would be great if the app remembered what folders I wanted to save.

I tried to get Chronosync to only copy folders marked with "Orange" tag but Chronosync wouldn't copy all the files inside the folders unless I made a specific rule for the folder and added the rules:

"#1. Finder label: 'Orange' is ON for Folders - OR -

#2. Parent pathname: File or Folder's parent path doesn't end with "/Target_Folder"

---
I would have to make 10-15 rules with specific folder names and then muerge them into a synchronizer document.

If anyone knows a more efficient method please let me know.

Thanks.
 
I have carbon copy cloner but it seems to work with individual folders on a case by case basis. I would like to use an app where i can save a set of folders that are always backed up between drives. I tried automator and it copies hundreds of files to my desk top for some reason. I'm suprised there's nothing like this on the mac.
 
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pjny said:
I have carbon copy cloner but it seems to work with individual folders on a case by case basis. I would like to use an app where i can save a set of folders that are always backed up between drives. I tried automator and it copies hundreds of files to my desk top for some reason. I'm suprised there's nothing like this on the mac.
Click to expand...

You may try Chronosync. It needs some work to set it up the first time, but then it just works. It has a demo s you an try it out.
 
Thanks. Anyone used SyncBuddy on App store? (the app with the yellow icon). Looks good and at right price point.

I tried Decimus Synk pro and it didn't quite do what I needed at the $60 price point. I also had some issue with it not being able to synchronize multiple folders.(no subfolder entered warning). Folder Sync(app store version) doesn't seem to have been updated for years.
[doublepost=1470947136][/doublepost]Downloaded SyncBuddy but it only mirrors folders. Any files/folders on the destination folder that are not on the source folder will be deleted.

I tried Synk Pro and seem to have fixed the subfolder error warning by starting a new folder script.
 
If the folder names aren't changing why don't you just use Chronosync? In the time you have spent thinking about it and trying to find other software you could have it done by now.
 
Hi

I tried it with technical support from chronosync developer who originally said just make a synchronizer document for each folder then make a container document with all the synchonized documents. This is tedious since I have dozens of folders.

An important task I need to do is backup certain folders that are tagged(using Finder) with Orange tag. I have image files in sub folders and individually backup those folders that are tagged Orange.

I tried what support told me but chronosync doesn't copy sub folder contents.

I tried several suggestions from chronosync support but it never worked properly.

Here is their advice if I want to backup subfolders with orange tag inside a "Target Folder":

"Assuming you have chosen a pair of folders named: "Target_Folder", you can do the following:

Two Include Rules:

#1. Finder label: 'Orange' is ON for Folders - OR -

#2. Parent pathname: File or Folder's parent path doesn't end with "/Target_Folder"

What happens is that the second rule is going to fail for every file & folder at the root level of the sync but the first rule will pass for the orange labeled folders. Since they are OR'd, this allows ChronoSync to descend into the orange labeled folders. The first rule will then typically fail (unless you have orange sub-folders) but the second rule will always pass.

The loophole is that if you have a sub-folder named "Target_Folder", CS wont be allowed to descend into it. The solution is to make the parent path more precise e.g. "/Documents/Target_Folder". You can also type one of the macro strings for the parent path, ":<", ":>", ":[", ":]", which expand to "Left target path", "Right target path", "Left Volume Path" and "Right Volume Path", respectively.
-----

I don't even undestand what is going on towards the end of the support email. And I've noticed that sometimes everything doesn't get backed up due to rule you use.

If you can figure this out let me know.
Thanks.



steve23094 said:
If the folder names aren't changing why don't you just use Chronosync? In the time you have spent thinking about it and trying to find other software you could have it done by now.
Click to expand...
 
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Decimus, the maker of Synk, seems to have abandoned this app. The last update was supposed to be around Feb 2012. Their store is down and you can't even purchase the app if you want to. Not a good sign and wonder if it will work on Sierra.

mpainesyd said:
I have used Synk for many years, mainly to ensure certain folders on my iMac and Macbook are synchronised.
Click to expand...
 
pjny said:
Decimus, the maker of Synk, seems to have abandoned this app. The last update was supposed to be around Feb 2012. Their store is down and you can't even purchase the app if you want to. Not a good sign and wonder if it will work on Sierra.
Click to expand...
I tried to contact the developer recently and got a reply that he was on vacation. If I hear back I will update this post.
 
I tried out Goodsync and like it. Is there a way to exclude/include files or folders based on finder color tag like Synk does?


bdct said:
How about Goodsync from siber system?
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1471126005][/doublepost]Is Synk abandonware? Will the current version work in Sierra? I don't want to invest in an app that seemingly hasn't been updated in 4.5 years.

The developer's last tweet was in Feb 2012:

"7.0.13 should be coming soon. Currently also working on 7.1, which focuses on improving performance"

I looked at demo of Synk and it's version 7.0.12. That's a looooong vacation.

mpainesyd said:
I tried to contact the developer recently and got a reply that he was on vacation. If I hear back I will update this post.
Click to expand...
 
pjny said:
Is Synk abandonware? Will the current version work in Sierra? I don't want to invest in an app that seemingly hasn't been updated in 4.5 years.
Click to expand...

I understand and have similar concerns about Synk and Sierra, mainly because Synk does exactly what I want - maintain a backup copy on an external drive and update it whenever the original file is change. That, coupled with ForeverSave, has saved me when I've accidentally overwritten a file and needed an earlier version of deleted one in error.

I emailed date developer early this year and he said he is still actively developing Synk. It may simply be at the current version works fine so there is no need to update it.
 
BTW, regarding Synk. Anyway to make it not load up on startup. I checked users and groups and Synk is not a login item. Yet it setup an icon in my taskbar as well as a popup when I booted up asking if it could accept incoming connections(synk manager or something).

Is the only way to uninstall the program? I am on a Macbook 12 and do not want anything running in the background that can slow this machine down.
 
Did you click the question mark when you ran the setup?

pjny said:
How is it running in the background when I did not choose Synk to load at startup? How is it loading up? I am curious …
Click to expand...

Synk 7 Help should satisfy much of your curiosity. Begin at Initial Setup.

Technically, you'll find a launch agent at
/Library/LaunchAgents

– and so on.

… running in the background …
Click to expand...

I monitored activity of Synk Agent over a period of more than ten minutes. It used no CPU time.
 
I installed SyncBuddy today and am very pleased with it. I had been messing with rsync to backup specific folders on my iMac to external drives, but kept running into complications. SyncBuddy appears to be a GUI on top of rsync and does a great job, it's a bargain, very fast and efficient.
 
Decimus Support have replied to my email and provided useful advice. The app actually has a troubleshooting button that generates an email to Decimus with diagnostics.
Synk is clearly still alive and kicking!
BTw - my issue was with edits to Keynote files that gives a Synk error message. It seems that OSX is making subtle changes to these files after they have been closed. This fools Synk but the issue vanishes after a few minutes.
 
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This problem is fairly complex and not easy to solve algorithmically (although we have plans to address it in future versions). The ChronoSync rule-base allows you to specify criteria that determines whether or not a file or folder should be scanned. So the rule-base doesn’t select files and folders for synchronization, but whether or not the file or folder is evaluated by the sync criteria (known as Sync Triggers in ChronoSync). It’s easy enough to specify a rule that scans ‘orange’ folders, but once the criteria is violated (i.e. not an ‘orange’ folder), ChronoSync stops scanning and that folder branch is not visited. Thus sub-folders labelled ‘orange’ will never be scanned.

The compound rule posted by pjny is one that we hand out to users in this situation. It works for many cases but one flaw is that it will only scan files that reside below an ‘orange’ folder at the root level. Any ‘orange’ folders that exist deep in the hierarchy will not be scanned unless their root parent is ‘orange’. We find that what many users really want is for ChronoSync to scan an entire folder tree and sync nothing until it comes to an ‘orange’ folder. Then, once encountered, it synchronizes every file & sub-folder below the ‘orange’ folder. The compound rule we supply will not do that.

Another solution is to take advantage of the fact that ChronoSync can execute an AppleScript or shell script to function as a rule. An enterprising script writer could craft a script that would solve this problem. The script would function like this: given a reference to a file, test all ancestor folders of that file. If any one of them is ‘orange’, then the script returns ‘true’. Otherwise, return ‘false’. The key is to make sure ChronoSync only runs this script for files, not folders - you need to make sure ChronoSync scans every folder in the hierarchy. Just enable the ‘Don’t create empty folders’ on the Options Panel so it doesn’t leave a bunch of empty folders laying around

Beyond rules, there are a variety of ways to customize what files and folders get synced, and we discuss many of those techniques in a guide at: http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/guide-backup-multiple-folders.html
 
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I checked out Synk, OneWaySync, Goodskync, Dropsync3, etc and I wish I found a solution to folder backup based on certain criteria. I wish the workarounds weren't so complicated on Chronosync. Not sure why it is so hard to see if a subfolder is tagged a certain color or meets certain criteria, copy all that subfolder data to the destination drive.

Many of the backup apps I tested allowed selection of folders to be backed up to a destination folder. Can Chronosync just have a test of a folder and then copy it if it meets the criteria?

It would also be nice to be able to select several folders to backup instead of having to create a rule for each folder.

Thanks.


EconTech said:
This problem is fairly complex and not easy to solve algorithmically (although we have plans to address it in future versions). The ChronoSync rule-base allows you to specify criteria that determines whether or not a file or folder should be scanned. So the rule-base doesn’t select files and folders for synchronization, but whether or not the file or folder is evaluated by the sync criteria (known as Sync Triggers in ChronoSync). It’s easy enough to specify a rule that scans ‘orange’ folders, but once the criteria is violated (i.e. not an ‘orange’ folder), ChronoSync stops scanning and that folder branch is not visited. Thus sub-folders labelled ‘orange’ will never be scanned.

The compound rule posted by pjny is one that we hand out to users in this situation. It works for many cases but one flaw is that it will only scan files that reside below an ‘orange’ folder at the root level. Any ‘orange’ folders that exist deep in the hierarchy will not be scanned unless their root parent is ‘orange’. We find that what many users really want is for ChronoSync to scan an entire folder tree and sync nothing until it comes to an ‘orange’ folder. Then, once encountered, it synchronizes every file & sub-folder below the ‘orange’ folder. The compound rule we supply will not do that.

Another solution is to take advantage of the fact that ChronoSync can execute an AppleScript or shell script to function as a rule. An enterprising script writer could craft a script that would solve this problem. The script would function like this: given a reference to a file, test all ancestor folders of that file. If any one of them is ‘orange’, then the script returns ‘true’. Otherwise, return ‘false’. The key is to make sure ChronoSync only runs this script for files, not folders - you need to make sure ChronoSync scans every folder in the hierarchy. Just enable the ‘Don’t create empty folders’ on the Options Panel so it doesn’t leave a bunch of empty folders laying around

Beyond rules, there are a variety of ways to customize what files and folders get synced, and we discuss many of those techniques in a guide at: http://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/guide-backup-multiple-folders.html
Click to expand...
 
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