Rsync and ditto

This may be a moot point in an age of time machine, but I've been reading man pages and am a bit confused on a point.
The unix programs rsync and ditto sound similar, and the distinction between them seems to be mainly that ditto is geared toward local backup, where rsync is geared toward network use.
Can anyone give me a firm distinction between the two, and whether either is even a good idea with time machine just sitting there waiting to be used? Just curious.
thanks

You're in the Time Machine forum. You'll do better in the Unix forum, under Mac OSX Technologies, at: http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=735

Similar Messages

Trouble with rsync and launchd

I'm new to rsync and launchd. That being said, I have a computer at work that I would like to back up. I only need to back up a couple of folders, and I won't be connected to any external drives except for an 8GB usb stick. I don't want to use chronosync, time machine, or any other third party software. I'm not that kind of guy.
I have had reasonable success with this using rsync and launchd. But there are a few quirks. For instance, the following launch agent spawns TWO rsync processes that run continuously and eat up around 30% of my CPU. Does anybody know why there are two processes, why they run continuously, or why they eat up so much power when they SHOULD be copying nothing?
It seems to be copying all the files over and over again every ten minutes, despite the fact that they haven't changed. My entire reason for using rsync was to get avoid this.
----plist---
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>USB backup</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/rsync</string>
<string>-a</string>
<string>/Users/alan/Documents/school/</string>
<string>/Volumes/ALAN8G/backUp/school</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
</code>
----/plist----
On a related note, I tried doing something very similar to this to backup my firefox profile data. No success. I think the space in /Application Support/ is messing with launchd. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys. The first part works now. Here is the final plist, for future reference:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>USB Backup School</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/rsync</string>
<string>-av</string>
<string>/Users/alan/Documents/school/</string>
<string>/Volumes/ALAN8G/backUp/school/</string>
<string>--log-file=/Users/alan/Documents/backUpLogs/schoolBackUp.log</string>
</array>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
Now on to my second problem, doing the same thing when the source path has a space in one of the directory names. Unfortunately, renaming the directory is right out because it's in Application Support. Here is what I have so far
Trying to run the command:
/usr/bin/rsync -a /Users/alan/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles/9va0cbyb.default/ /Volumes/ALAN8G/backUp/9va0cbyb.default/ --log-file=/Users/alan/Documents/backUpLogs/firefoxBackUp.log
That works just fine in a terminal, so I'm having another formatting issue in my plist. Here's what I have for that:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>USB Backup Firefox</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/rsync</string>
<string>-av</string>
<string>'/Users/alan/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/9va0cbyb.default/'</string>
<string>/Volumes/ALAN8G/backUp/9va0cbyb.default/</string>
<string>--log-file=/Users/alan/Documents/backUpLogs/firefoxBackUp.log</string>
</array>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>600</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
Which gives me these console messages:
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM USB Backup Firefox[666] building file list ... rsync: link_stat "/'/Users/alan/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/9va0cbyb.default/'" failed: No such file or directory (2)
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM USB Backup Firefox[666] done
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM USB Backup Firefox[666] sent 29 bytes received 20 bytes 98.00 bytes/sec
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM USB Backup Firefox[666] total size is 0 speedup is 0.00
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM USB Backup Firefox[666] rsync error: some files could not be transferred (code 23) at /SourceCache/rsync/rsync-37.3/rsync/main.c(992) [sender=2.6.9]
12/15/09 2:20:52 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[83] (USB Backup Firefox[666]) Exited with exit code: 23
I'm reasonably certain the problem is on this line
<string>'/Users/alan/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/9va0cbyb.default/'</string>
I've tried using single quotes and escaping the space with a backslash. Neither worked and both gave similar console messages, ie "no such file or directory". So what's the problem?
Again, thanks for the help.

Applescript and ditto

Hey all at the moment I am using this script to invoke the ditto command
I use this method because I can at least see the progress
but I would like something a bit better
like a display dialog at least that counts the amount of files and starts from 1 to what ever it is or some sort of percentage.
the bottom script does not open terminal and I would like to use the display dialog in the bottom script. is this possible.
I tried using 3rd party progress bars with no luck.
I am not very smart on coding. I only no a bit of applescript and unix.
Have been playing with xcode and interface builder but can never get the progress indicator to actually work for me.
set source to (choose folder with prompt "Select the Source folder")
set destination to (choose folder with prompt "Select the Destination folder")
set source_unix to quoted form of POSIX path of source
set destination_unix to quoted form of POSIX path of destination
tell application "Terminal"
activate
delay 2
do script ("ditto -V -rsrc " & (source_unix) & space & (destination_unix))
end tell
But.......
I rather use
set source to choose folder
set destination to choose folder
set source_unix to quoted form of POSIX path of source
set destination_unix to quoted form of POSIX path of destination
do shell script "ditto -V -rsrc " & source_unix & space & destination_unix
any help on this would be great
like I said I would like a loading bar but a display dialog giving me some indication on time -- percentage -- or file count would be great

the bottom script does not open terminal and I would like to use the display dialog in the bottom script. is this possible.
It can be done, but it takes a bit of extra work.
The issue is that when you invoke do shell script, AppleScript hands control over to the script and does not do anything else until that script returns control back to AppleScript. Therefore there's no way to display your progress dialog - AppleScript doesn't get a look-in until the script completes.
That's largely because in most cases you want your script to react to the results of the shell command and you can't do that if the command hasn't finished.
The exception to this rule is that you can tell the shell command to return control immediately to your script. This will let you run other AppleScript commands while the shell command executes in the background.
You do this by appending " > /dev/null 2>&1 &" to the end of the command. This redirects the output of the command to /dev/null and sends it to the background so that AppleScript can continue.
The trick now is in getting AppleScript to know the shell command's status.
For that the typical solution involves outputting the shell command's result to a temporary file (rather than /dev/null) which you can then read in via AppleScript. What you need now is knowing when the shell command is done which relies on another shell trick (hack?) that tells you the PID of the most recently launched command - you can use that to query if the process is still running.
So your command should end up like:
-- do your shell command:
do shell script "ditto -V -rsrc " & source_unix & space & destination_unix & " > /var/tmp/my.log 2>&1 & echo $!"
-- 'echo $!' allows you to capture the PID of that process
set thePID to the result
try
repeat
-- does the PID exist?
do shell script "ps -p" & thePID
-- so show progress
display dialog (do shell script "tail -1 /var/tmp/my.log") giving up after 2
end repeat
on error
-- we're done, so clean up
do shell script "rm /var/tmp/my.log
end try
The revised do shell script command writes ditto's output to /var/tmp/my.log and returns the PID of that process. The repeat loop then repeatedly checks that PID's status (via ps -p). If the process is running that command succeeds so the script progresses to the 'display dialog' command where it shows you the last line of the log file (you can change this to show anything you like).
If the ps -p command fails because the process is no longer running, that trips the on error clause in the try block which cleans up the temp file.

Rsync and --exclude

I have a directory 'TestDir' as follows:
ls TestDir/
subdir test1 test2 test3
When I do:
rsync -a -e ssh /Users/user1/TestDir /Volumes/LocalBackups --exclude "/Users/user1/TestDir/subdir"
The subdirectory 'subdir and its enclosed files get transferred too - i was expecting it to be excluded.
What am I doing wrong?

For one you are posting in the Tiger 10.4 forum area. The Leopard 10.5 experts hang out here:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=235
For second I would be a bit more clear and explain what is it you are doing.

Rsync and Finder metadata

I just noticed that rsync is not updating my Finder metadata to the backup disk. Finder comments and window styles do not get transferred. Does anyone know anything about that? OSX 10.5 here.

You didn't post he rsync command you used.
Have you turned on -E?
-E --extended-attributes copy extended attributes, resource forks
See the manpage for more details about -E.
HTH
Regards
Martin

Rsync and cron

ok so i have followed this little tutorial in the past when i used ubuntu and it worked fine, however now trying it on arch and i get a permission error
/bin/bash: /root/home-bachup.sh: Permission denied
any idea what i might be doing wrong..
i only see the error because i can try to manually run the cron using KDE's Task Scheduler

did you chmodded +x /root/home-bachup.sh

How do I move my home directory to another disk?

I want to find out the "standard procedure" for moving my home directory to another disk. My current system disk is getting quite full, so I have purchased additional storage. The issues I am concerned about are the following:
Preserving the file permissions
I have used rsync and ditto commands to copy the file. Does rsync preserve the permissions like the ditto command?
Updating the System to use the new home directory
I have used the Ctl-Click on the accounts control panel to update the location of the home directories. Do applications use "~<username>" or /Users/<username> to find the home directory of the user (obviously this is limited to Apple Controlled software).
Understanding the /Users and /home directories
Since Apple is no longer using netinfo, I wanted to get a better understanding how these directories are set up. Is the /home directory exclusively for network mounted home directories.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

I disagree with Linc Davis on whether to move the home folder, But I think you are going about it the wrong way.
Having a Boot drive with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden unix directories including Paging/Swap on it is one of the best ways to speed up routine disk Access for all your other files. The system keeps "snacking" away loading and reloading bits and pieces of System and Applications as you work, and that System activity slows "regular" disk access way down by moving the drive heads away from the files you are processing.
Giving System files their own drive speeds up everything.
Here are two good recipes and discussions about how and why to do this, and how to make it happen without a single line of Terminal code:
http://chris.pirillo.com/how-to-move-the-home-folder-in-os-x-and-why/
http://jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/00E03B83-1ADA-406E-A940-396D39F598E A.html

Rsync used STRICTLY for "photos and video" library back-up

Hi,
I'm hoping to get some guidance from some experienced users of rsync.
I'm new to rsync, but have been learning about it.   I'm also new to Terminal.
.....**For full system back-ups, I use CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner)....clean and simple.**
However, for my large "photo & video library" (over 1 TB on an external drive), I found that CCC, while essentially doing the same as rsync, seems to take MUCH longer. Rsync, on the other hand, is very fast.
This leads me to FIVE questions.
Q1: Is this because CCC (which uses the rsync command, albeit modified), is doing a check-sum or sometime else behind the scenes?
Also, looking through the various command lines that other contributors have suggested when using rsync, I am a little confused as to which optional commands are necessary for a PURELY "photo and video" library.
For the optional commands, I think the ones that are a MUST for me are:
-a - "archive" rsync, includes ownership info and extended attributes extremely useful for moving large volumes of data and keeping AD/OD/POSIX permissions intact
-v - "verbose" gives the user more information on the rsync display
-x - prevents crossing filesystem boundaries
-t - preserves modified time
--delete
This tells rsync to delete any files on the receiving side that aren't on the sending side. Files that are excluded from transfer are excluded from being deleted
....Optionally, I could add the following to view the progress:
--stats
This tells rsync to print a verbose set of statistics on the file transfer, allowing you to tell how effective the rsync algorithm is for your data.
Q2: Is there anything else I should be adding?
Q3: Also, I saw that one contributor used "bash" at the start of the command line. Is this necessary for my specific purpose?
Q4: Snow Leopard comes with rsync version 2.6.9 version 29.   I know that version 3.1.0 is already out, but this would require an installation step (possibly using come Terminal commands, or something like "MacPort"), then adding patches, and perhaps some steps that I haven't mentioned. Is version 3.1.0 really necessary, and in what way? Much faster? Better Integrity of the back-up? Other? (o.k., that was more than one question)
Q5: Is there a command to preserve the "CREATED" time of the photo? Is this taken care of by the " -a " or the " -t "?
Thanks,
Sam

sling74 wrote:
sling74 wrote:
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your quick reply.
A few other questions:
1.     What is the -N command for? I could not see it on the rsync.samba.org website.
2.     My friend does not have CCC. She's also using Snow Leopard 10.6.8. What are the steps to properly install the newest version of rsync?
3.    For myself, what would be the disadvantage of using CCC directly rather than accessing it via Terminal? When running CCC, what are the default commands being used?
Thanks,
Sam
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your quick reply.
A few other questions:
1.     What is the -N command for? I could not see it on the rsync.samba.org website.
That's added with the crtimes patch:
     -N, --crtimes               preserve create times (newness)
2.     My friend does not have CCC. She's also using Snow Leopard 10.6.8. What are the steps to properly install the newest version of rsync?
Here's what I do:
1. Download and unarchive rsync and its patches
    a. Move patches directory to rsync-3.1.0
    b. cd rsync-3.1.0
2. Apply patches relevant to preserving Mac OS X metadata
       patch -p1 <patches/fileflags.diff
       patch -p1 <patches/crtimes.diff
3. Apply patch relevant to preserving Mac OS X hfs+compression
      patch -p1 <patches/hfs-compression.diff
4. Configure, make, install
        ./prepare-source
        ./configure
        make
        sudo make install
5. Verify your installation
      rsync --version
By default, rsync will be installed in /usr/local/bin.
If that isn't in your path, you will need to call
your new version of rsync by its absolute
path in /usr/local/bin (you will most likely need to do this
and --version will verify that you have the right version)
(from: Configuring Mac OS X for Unattended Backup Using rsync and updated for hfs+compression patch)
3.    For myself, what would be the disadvantage of using CCC directly rather than accessing it via Terminal? When running CCC, what are the default commands being used?
No disadvantages that I'm aware of.
I'm not sure what defaults that Mike is using now, but most of the the flags that I use and posted are from the link above from Mike a few years ago.

SFTP and rsync crashing, and taking down the whole system with them

Hi everyone,
Never before I had to resort to the forums, but now I've got a problem I can't seem to solve, no matter how hard I try. Maybe someone on the forums can help me?
Both rsync and sftp (fish:// in konqueror) freeze my server, when I transfer a large file with them. The machine does not respond to anything, and a hardware reset is required.
I first noticed this, when my server ("bluebox") started crashing daily, always just a while after the cron'ed daily backup ran from my workstation ("caspar") (using rsync):
rsync -v -rltD -e ssh --numeric-ids --delete --exclude /proc / caspar@bluebox:/home/caspar/backups/workstation/files/
It always hung on a VirtualBox harddisk file, "WinXP Fundamentals.vdi", 3.4G in size. Sometimes 1.1G was transferred before crashing, sometimes only 700M.
I also tried copying this file with fish://bluebox in Konqueror, again a total freeze of the system after a few hundred MB. Copying with tar over ssh did work though:
tar cvf - "WinXP Fundamentals.vdi" | ssh caspar@bluebox tar xvf -
This server is completely stable apart from this problem. The network has proven to be stable as well, as it's been serving aroung 100GB of various data per day for the past 2 years. Memtest86+ also did not reveal any problems.
Do you have any idea what might cause the crashes, and how I might be able to solve it?

If you upgraded from 3.6 to 5 (you didn't indicate buying 4.4) then you will need the serial number from 3.6 in order to be able to use 5. If you did not keep a record of it there is a chance it might be available thru your Adobe account online, but if not, there is likely not much you can do except to return the upgrade and purchase a full version. Try contacting support using chat and explain your situation to see if they can help.
Serial number and activation chat support (non-CC)
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/service1.html ( http://adobe.ly/1aYjbSC )
If you did purchase 4.4 then that should be sufficient to use to activate 5.
I can never be sure what goes on with Lightroom, and the Adobe site (even when it works properly) makes finding information about products difficult these days so I am at a loss to confirm anything I say.

Cp and rsync cannot find system directory

Hello,
I am working on a script to copy a custom user profile over to the default. Part of the script uses rsync to copy the contents of the customized profile, named "profile" to the default profile located in: /System/Library/User Template/English.lproj. Each time I run the command interactively, it fails indicating "No such file or directory." I can browse to the directory in the Finder. I can navigate to the directory via the terminal. Why can't rsync find it? Here is the command:
rsync -av /Users/profile/* /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj
I tried a similar approach using "cp -R" instead of rsync and got a whole bunch of file not found error messages. Using the "cd" command to that same path also fails. I can step through each individual directory and arrive at English.lproj but I can't do it in one command. Any ideas where I am going wrong with my command?
Thanks
Jason

Hello and welcome to the forums!
I took a look in our knowledge base for this error and found this article. Did you happen to update your BlackBerry Desktop Manager recently ("did the upgrade trick")?
I think you'll find that article helpful
-tg
Come follow your BlackBerry Technical Team on twitter! @BlackBerryHelp
Be sure to click Kudos! for those who have helped you.
Click Solution? for posts that have solved your issue(s)!

Cp and rsync -- when are they done?

I'm trying to copy all my Applications from an ext. drive, to my startup drive. I navigate to the root of the ext. drive, then run either cp or rsync.
I can't seem to find a way to get any feedback from either. I tried -vr as options for rsync, and still only get a ">" which just sits there. As well, when I go to check what copying is completed by looking in the Finder, I see no folder there.
Here are the commands I'm trying, from the root of the ext. drive:
sudo cp -Rf Applications Users/home/desktop/'my backup folder'/Applications
and
sudo rsync -vr Applications Users/home/desktop/'my backup folder'/Applications
Is there any way to tell what these things are doing?

from an admin privileged account, at any directory level, try
sudo cp -pvR /Volumes/NameOfExtDrive/Applications /Users/jeffreyellis/Desktop/my\ backup\ folder/
Note the use of the backslash character to "escape" the white space in the filename. Or put the whole target path (/Users/jeffrey.....) inside single quotes ('). Also note that by not including "Applications" in the target, the copied directory will take on the same name in the backup folder. Also note the trailing slash after "my\ backup\ folder/". And of course, this is all on one line.
Or try
sudo rsync -vvauE --delete --progress --stats /Volumes/NameOfExtDrive/Applications /Users/jeffreyellis/Desktop/my\ backup\ folder/
for an incremental update, to include deleting stuff removed in the source
do a man rsync to see what all the options do.

How should I backup a hfs drive with rsync from ubuntu?

Hi
I have to backup a hfs+ drive from a ubuntu machine using rsync on ubuntu (i.e., NOT the mac-rsync).
Issues: Apparently ubuntu can handle hfs+ devices only if journaling is disabled. My target device will then be a hfs+ device with journaling disabled.
The source hfs+ device on the mac however has journaling enabled: It hosts the iphoto-library among other things.
Questions: Can I backup the contents of the source device onto the target even if this one has journaling enabled? The goal of course is to be able
                        to copy back the iphoto-library in usable form, in case of problems with the source disk.
                 Is is mandatory that the target is hfs+ (journaled or not) only for the purpose of backup of iphoto-library?
                 If the above is possible, what should I tell to rsync so that the journaling files are not transferred from source to target? Any other files
                 that I should avoid transferring?

No time machine won't backup a fat32 drive.
Chronosync will:
http://www.econtechnologies.com/
Disk Utility can back a fat32 drive up to a disk image.
The command line utility rsync will do it (so will other
Terminal based utilities, such as cp and ditto).
the Mac backup utility for windows "WinClone win do it.
You can create a sparse image, format it fat32 and use it to backup windows data on.

Data Backup 2.1 and Mac Memory Management?

I'm trialing a backup program called Data Backup 2.1. It keeps versions of my programs, which I need, as often I've had corruptions and have not notice this till a few days after the fact. I've been using Retrospect but read a review that praised Data Backup. The thing I've noticed with it is that although it is very fast, like SuperDuper, it seems to affect my free memory dramatically. I've noticed that it will finish and instead of having say 250 megs of Active memory in use I'll have 700 megs of active memory. Inactive will be low whereas normally its high. Free memory during its backup can drop to 20 megs (I have 1.5 gigs). The free memory, once you start to use your computer seems to recover to around 500 - 700 megs. The one thing I have noticed of concern is that while its running I get pageouts, which I never get and my reading about Mac memory management is you want to avoid pageouts and if you get them you need more memory (for what I'm doing 1.5 gigs should be plenty). I've asked the Data Backup people what's going on and they don't think its something to be concerned about but they said it is probably something to do with the way they are caching.
I'm just wondering - do you think this is something to be concerned about. I'd like to switch from Retrospect as although I know it I'm not sure how committed they are to the Mac market any longer and it is way slower in terms of activities but it does manage memory well. However I don't want to get Data Backup if it is affecting RAM inappropriately.
Kerry

Synchronize! Pro X will maintain versioned archives, perform full, incremental, and bootable backups both to local and to network devices. I have found that SPX is just about as full-featured as Retrospect with certain limitations. It cannot backup across multiple media (CDs, DVDs, tape), no extensive browser windows like Retrospect, no backups without scanning (as SuperDuper does for its "fast" updating backup.
SPX supports schedules, multiple-item backups (can select individual files and/or folders), extensive backup/synchronize customizations, can run as "root", can auto-mount devices (including network drives), and it's a universal binary.
It's also nearly as expensive as Retrospect but in my opinion it's worth it.
If you want a less costly backup solution without all the features of SPX, but with all the features of SuperDuper (and in my opinion better than SD) then try Deja Vu. Also a universal binary, it supports incremental archives, full, incremental, and bootable backups to local or network drives, supports scheduling and runs as a preference pane.
Finally, for the the truly cheap there are PsyncX and RsyncX - both freeware. They are GUI wrappers around the basic backup and synchronizing tools that are part of Unix (ditto, rsync, and psync.)
Download mentioned software from www.versiontracker.com or www.macupdate.com.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Please HELP!!!! Folder Sync and System Back Up.

Folder Sync and System Back Up, please help !!!
Posted: 25-Apr-2006 21:06
Reply Email
Right, there are the two things I can do with my Windows XP machines and can't find a valid solution on Mac OS X yet:
1. Folder Sync
I use 5 computers everyday, 2xMacs+1PCs at home, 1xMac at school and 1xPC in my office (part-time sys admin). It is obvious that i will need the folder sync feature so that I can keep working on one project on different computers. For windows there's a very neat feature called Briefcase, it bascially allows me to create two folders in different locations ( one in PC1, one memory stick for example ) and will automatically make sure these two folders sync with each other once connected . Just wondering if there's any software that allow me to do this on a Mac? and if it allow multiple sync (i.e. keep folders stored in 3+ locations up to date with each other, via network or portable storage device) that'll be even better.
2. Backup.
Since WInNT microsoft provides a Backup facility that allows me to perform regular backups of the entire system. except for the first backup which will copy my entire partition / harddrive content, the later ones will only add changed/newly created files to the existing backups (to save space and speed up the process). Carbon Disk Copy etc are merely GHOST-like utilities in Windows terms and does not have any advance features nor do they provide supports to exterenal hard drives (USB2, say). So, is there a good back up utility that I can use for my Mac OS X. ( i don't want to burn my 100G hard drive on 50 dvds every week )
thanks.

There are various solutions for both items. Smart Folders coupled with an Automator action or a Folder Action can be used to mirror folder contents. You can also sync contents using various backup or sync software such as Deja Vu, Synchronize! Pro X, Super Duper, Retrospect, or one of dozens of other similar utilities. They can be found at www.versiontracker.com or www.macupdate.com. These utilities can be used both for individual folder syncing as well as complete backup solutions. Some will work only on connected drives and others will also work across network drives.
If you can't find a satisfactory solution for OS X you just haven't looked hard enough because there are literally dozens of alternative solutions available including Unix commands that run from the command line such as rsync, psync, and ditto. Use the Terminal (Utilities folder) and explore the man pages for these commands to learn their usage. There are also freeware GUI wrappers for rsync and psync - RSyncX and PSyncX.
Also check out http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html for the FAQ on backup and restore. Other useful articles are: http://www.egg-tech.com/mac_backup/ and http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106941.

Rsync mod times

OSX 10.4.5
I'm trying out rsync on a single machine with two drives. It seems to copy files OK, except that the modification times on the copy are set to now. This means I can't use rsync as a sync, because it always sees the target file dates as different from the source file dates.
What's the solution? Why are the target file mod dates not the same as the sources?

And CCC also has a similar problem, because it uses ditto under the hood to do the cloning, and ditto has always had a problem similar to this one. It happens to files with resource forks.
I reported it to Apple back in the Panther days and it was acknowledged as a duplicate bug report, so it's been a known problem for a long time now. Actually, I reported it in the CCC forum first because that's where I discovered it. I was trying to warn users of CCC that they might be unknowingly losing timestamp information on their files and all I got there was stupid answers from a forum moderator that should have known better.
Back to the OP's question, this is all old news. That Apple's rsync is broken has been discussed extensively in many places, just Google for it. Now, if you want a solution, (you do want it, don't you? :-)), here is a better implementation that provides the same functionality and syntax extensions as Apple's one, but with most of the issues (although not all) fixed. In particular, it does preserve timestamp information, although you may still see the resource forks of some files being recopied every time (apparently, this problem isn't easy to fix because of the metadata-unaware origins of rsync).
iMac G5 17" (iSight) Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Rsync and ditto

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for