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Backup to Server

Introduction

Preparations

Instructions

Tips & Tricks

Notes


CED Help Desk
 412-D Poe Hall
CED_Help@ncsu.edu
 515-1760
 
College of Education
NCSU

last updated
8/23/2006
  
About Back Ups
Backup -- (v) To copy files to a second medium (a disk or tape) as a precaution in case the first medium fails. One of the cardinal rules in using computers is Back up your files regularly.
from Webopedia    

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who have lost data to a hardware failure, and those who will. Given the number of backup solutions available for Mac OS X -- iBackup, Psyncx, iMSafe, Rsyncx, Folder Synchronizer X, Tri-BACKUP, Impression, Intego Personal Backup, SilverKeeper, and Apple's dotMac Backup utility, to name just a few -- there's really no excuse not to backup your work. (Go to VersionTracker or MacUpdate and search on "backup" to find even more freeware and shareware backup utilities to choose from.)

Folks who have large multimedia collections (MP3s, image collections, iMovie projects, etc) should explore backing up these files to a local high capacity storage device, like DVD-R, Firewire drive or iPod. But for those of us whose work consists mainly of office documents and web pages, another option is available: backing your files up to your Home folder on the college's file server, CED3.

When backing up to a server, the trick lays in knowing what you should backup. Applications and system software can be re-installed from CD after a disk crash, and music files can be 're-ripped.' Only the truly irreplaceable files -- your documents, bookmarks, etc -- should be backed up to a network server. Also, backing up your files is much simpler when you keep them all in one or two central locations, like the Documents folder and your Desktop, rather than letting them scatter throughout every directory on your computer.

Although this document demonstrates how to back your work up to CED3 using the utility SynkX, you can use any backup app that you like -- the concepts are the same. Synk was chosen for the demonstration because: 1) it's free, and 2) its use of "Run Documents" gives you a lot of control in precisely specifying which directories you wish to backup. Although there appear to be a lot of steps in initially configuring Synk, the procedure is fairly easy and only takes a few minutes.

Please note that because of how CED3 "talks Mac," your file and folder names will need to abide by certain guidelines for them to backup to the server properly.
Preparations

 Before performing your first backup, you will need to do the following:
  1. If you've never logged in to the CED3 server from a Mac before, you will need to send in a request to have an NFA password created for your CED account.
  2. Look through your hard drive and make sure all your documents are located either in your Documents folder (located at Macintosh HD\Users\yourloginname\Documents) or on your desktop.
  3. (Optional) If you want to avoid backing up your browser cache files (which can slow down the backup process) create a folder on the root of your hard drive called InternetCache. Then launch your web browser(s), empty the cache and repoint the cache to the new InternetCache folder.
    • Internet Explorer
      1. Under the Explorer menu, select Preferences
      2. In the preferences window, select Advanced under the Web Browser settings
      3. Click Empty Now
      4. Click Change Location... and browse to your new InternetCache folder
    • Netscape/Mozilla
      1. Under the Mozilla menu, select Preferences
      2. In the preferences window, select Cache under the Advanced settings
      3. Click Clear Cache
      4. Click Choose Folder... and browse to your new InternetCache folder
    • Safari
      1. Go to Macintosh HD\Users\yourloginname\Library\Caches and drag the Safari folder to your new InternetCache folder
      2. Create an alias of the Safari folder back in its original location by holding down Option + Command (the Apple key) and dragging the Safari folder into Caches
  4. Connect to CED3. After entering your name and password, click Options. Select the option Add Password to Keychain (this will allow Synk to log in to CED3 by itself) and de-select the option Allow Clear Text Password. Then click Save Preferences and finish connecting.
Synk Instructions
Create a backup location in your CED3 Home space:
    1. Log in to CED3 and open your Home folder. Create a folder called Backups, and inside backups create three more folders, called Docs, Prefs, and DesktopStuff.
Setup Synk to backup your Documents folder
  1. Download a copy of Synk, and put it in your Applications folder.
  2. Launch Synk. Upon launch, it should automatically open an untitled document; if it doesn't, select New Document from the File menu.
  3. In the Folders tab of the Synk document, select Backup from the pull-down menu.
  4. On your computer, go to Home (the icon in the Finder navigation bar that looks like a house) and drag your Documents folder onto the top Undefined Folder on the Synk document. It should now say Documents and display the path to your local Documents folder.
  5. Drag the Docs folder in your CED Backups folder onto the lower Undefined Folder on the Synk document. Again, the name and path should change. (Example)
  6. Click on the Settings tab of the untitled Synk document. Check the box labeled Remove items no longer in source. (Example)
  7. Go to the File menu and select Save As .... Name the document BackupDocs and save it to your local Documents folder. Close the document when you're done.
Setup Synk to backup your Preferences folder
  1. Go to the File menu and select New Document.
  2. In the Folders tab of the Synk document, select Backup from the pull-down menu.
  3. On your computer, go to Home (the icon in the Finder navigation bar that looks like a house). Open the Library folder and drag the Preferences folder onto the top Undefined Folder on the Synk document. It should now say Preferences and display the path to your local preferences folder.
  4. Drag the Prefs folder in your CED Backups folder onto the lower Undefined Folder on the Synk document. Again, the name and path should change.
  5. Click on the Settings tab of the untitled Synk document. Check the box labeled Remove items no longer in source.
  6. Go to the File menu and select Save As .... Name the document BackupPrefs and save it to your local Documents folder. Close the document when you're done.
Setup Synk to backup your Desktop items
  1. Go to the File menu and select New Document.
  2. In the Folders tab of the Synk document, select Backup from the pull-down menu.
  3. On your computer, go to Home (the icon in the Finder navigation bar that looks like a house). Drag the Desktop folder onto the top Undefined Folder on the Synk document. It should now say Desktop and display the path to your local preferences folder.
  4. Drag the DesktopStuff folder in your CED Backups folder onto the lower Undefined Folder on the Synk document. Again, the name and path should change.
  5. Click on the Settings tab of the untitled Synk document. Check the box labeled Remove items no longer in source.
  6. Go to the File menu and select Save As .... Name the document BackupDesktop and save it to your local Documents folder. Close the document when you're done.
Create a Run Document to execute your 3 backups
  1. Go to the File menu and select New Run Document.
  2. Drag the three Synk documents you just created -- BackupDocs, BackupPrefs, & BackupDesktop -- onto the open area of the untitled run document. (Example)
  3. Select Run all documents and quit in the Run document options.
  4. Go to Synk menu and select Preferences. Uncheck the option Ask before mounting volumes, then close the preferences window. (This will let Synk mount your CED3 Home space whenever a backup is started.)
  5. In the File menu, select Save As .... Name the document RunAllBackups and save it to your local Documents folder. This is the file you will launch when you want to run a backup, so you may want to make a shortcut to it on the desktop or in the Dock for easy access. Drag it to the left of the Trash icon to add it to the Dock.
Test your settings
    1. Drag CED3 to the Trash to disconnect from the server
    2. Quit Synk
    3. Launch RunAllBackups from you shortcut
    4. The first time you run it, you may see a message asking about allowing keychain access. Select Always allow so that Synk can connect to the server when it runs its backups
    5. Synk will open several windows: the RunAllBackups document, the 3 Synk documents you created, and an Activity Queue that displays the backup progress. (Example) Synk will quit when the backup is complete. The initial backup may take several minutes, depending upon the number of files you have. Subsequent backups will only copy those files that have changed since the previous backup.
If everything runs OK, you're ready to go. Just remember to launch RunAllBackups occasionally (daily, weekly, whatever you're comfortable with) or see below for automating a periodic backup.

Tips and Tricks

Scheduling Automatic Backups with CRON

CRON is a Unix process that runs in the background of OS X, used for scheduling periodic system tasks. If you'd prefer to automate your backups rather than launching RunAllBackups manually from your Dock:
  1. Download the freeware utility CronniX, with which you can edit your crontab (CRON schedule). Copy it into your Applications folder.
  2. Launch Cronnix. The CronniX window will list all scheduled tasks. (Example)
  3. Click the New icon to bring up a new task.
  4. In the Schedule portion of the window you can set the day(s) and time(s) you want to run your backup by filling in the Minute (0 - 59), Hour (0 - 23), Day of month, Month, and Day of week. For example, this CRON job is scheduled to run at 4:30 PM, every day (Mon - Fri) of every month. 
  5. In the Command portion of the window, check the box Prepend "/usr/bin/open" and then Browse... to the RunAllBackups file in your Documents folder. Enclose the path in single quotes, so the command looks something like /usr/bin/open '/Users/yourname/Documents/RunAllBackups.snkr'.
  6. Click Apply at the bottom of the window and then click Save in CronniX's main window.
Please note: Backups CRON'ed like this example can only run when you are logged in to your computer, so do not schedule backups to run at 3:00 AM if you regularly shutdown or log out of your computer at night.

Note for Mozilla Users

Mozilla-based applications do not store user profiles (mail, bookmarks, preferences) in your Documents or Preferences folders. Mozilla and Thunderbird profiles are located in /Users/yourloginname/Library and Sunbird profiles are located in /Users/yourloginname/Library/Application Support. Adding the Library folder in your local home space to the backup instructions above will ensure these files are backed up, too.