Can't find a backup program to suit - Solved

[Rizaria]

I'm looking for an app that will allow me to specify which folders I want to copy to my external drive, updating existing files within it and copying new ones.

I don't want to backup settings, my whole harddrive nor make a bootable backup. Just something to backup what I want to backup and where.

Not sure if Time Machine can do that, but it wants me to reformat my external before I can even find out..and considering how much is on there, I really don't want to have to remove that all elsewhere while doing so. [Don't think I could anyway, none of my internal drives have that much space.]

So, does anyone know of a relatively painless backup app that could do simply what I want? Doesn't sound all that complicated in comparison to some of the more convoluted backup apps I keep finding.

 

[ziggyonice]

Well, in the Time Machine preferences, you can set what folders or items NOT to backup, and so that would sort-of work. Granted, yes, you'll need to reformat your drive -- so if you have anything already on there, you'll want to take it off first.

As an alternative, you could also checkout Backup, which Apple makes for MobileMe subscribers. Or iBackup is another alternative.

 

[Rizaria]

Well, in the Time Machine preferences, you can set what folders or items NOT to backup, and so that would sort-of work. Granted, yes, you'll need to reformat your drive -- so if you have anything already on there, you'll want to take it off first.

As an alternative, you could also checkout Backup, which Apple makes for MobileMe subscribers. Or iBackup is another alternative.

iBackup seemed like a good idea..but it seems to backup the folder oddly. For instance, if I want to backup a folder called 'I like waffles' from my desktop to my external, it does so, but within a sort of 'Desktop>I like waffles' structure. Not just the folder, which is a tad useless. Couldn't find an option to change it, otherwise that app would probably be fine.

 

[miles01110]

Well, in the Time Machine preferences, you can set what folders or items NOT to backup, and so that would sort-of work.

No, this would be one of the most annoying and tedious ways to do this. Just use Carbon Copy Cloner; it gives you a list of directories/files that you can check off whether or not you want to back them up.

 

[Rizaria]

No, this would be one of the most annoying and tedious ways to do this. Just use Carbon Copy Cloner; it gives you a list of directories/files that you can check off whether or not you want to back them up.

Seems like it might do the job, although it says it can do bootable backups, I assume that's just an option.

However, it shows my drive as greyed out in the options. So I can't backup to it for some reason. Bit of a step backwards there.

EDIT: This would be why:

How annoying. If a Mac can read/write to it, why can't a backup program do the same...

 

[miles01110]

Seems like it might do the job, although it says it can do bootable backups, I assume that's just an option.

Yeah. For example if you don't backup your System folder, it's not going to boot.

EDIT: This would be why:

How annoying. If a Mac can read/write to it, why can't a backup program do the same...

Most Mac backup programs can only write to HFS+.

 

[Rizaria]

Most Mac backup programs can only write to HFS+.

*sighs* Well that's stupid. That means I'd have to remove everything, reformat then put everything back on. I don't have the drive space to do that, even if I could be arsed. Guess I'm stuck manually backing things up. Rarely. When I can be bothered.