Bandit Design

HowTo: Automatic Custom Daily Backup on OSX

Just wrote an OSX script to automate my daily backups on OSX. I simply backup all of the important files and settings that I have at 11am and 4pm each day to a folder called Backup, which I then back up to S3 using the epic Arq;

1. Open a Terminal window - don’t worry if you’re not used to it, neither am I!
2. Create and edit a file called osx-backup-script.sh somewhere; sudo nano ~/osx-backup-script.sh
3. Add the following code to it (be sure to change USER to your OSX username!):
   

   
   #!/bin/sh
   
   # YOUR USERNAME
   USER=bandit
   
   # PHOTOSHOP
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings/WorkSpaces/" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Adobe Photoshop/"
   
   # APACHE
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/etc/apache2/" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Apache/"
   
   # CODA
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/Applications/Coda.app" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Coda/"
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* --exclude=**/* --include="*panic.Coda*.plist" "/Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Coda/Library/Preferences/"
   
   # GOOGLE CHROME
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/Applications/Google Chrome.app" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Google Chrome/"
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* --exclude=**/* --include="*google.Chrome*.plist" "/Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Google Chrome/Library/Preferences/"
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/Users/$USER/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/" "/Users/$USER/Backup/Google Chrome/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/"
   
   # MYSQL Physical Data
   sudo rsync -axS --delete $* "/usr/local/mysql/data/cyclenow" "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/data"
   sudo chmod +r+x "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/data/cyclenow"
   #sudo chown $USER:staff "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/data/cyclenow"
   
   # MYSQL Dump
   sudo mysqldump --user=root --all-databases > "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/mysql_dump.sql" | tar -cvf "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/mysql_dump.sql.tar" "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/mysql_dump.sql" | gzip -f "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/mysql_dump.sql.tar"
   sudo rm "/Users/$USER/Backup/MySQL/mysql_dump.sql"
   

4. Feel free to add more stuff to backup - that’s just what I use
5. Change its access permissions; chmod u+x ~/osx-backup-script.sh;
6. Time to automate! Type export EDITOR=nano;
7. Enter crontab -e; (if you have problems later try entering sudo crontab -e; at this step)
8. Once the crontab loads up, type in: * 11,16 * * * sudo /Users/bandit/Documents/Work/osx-backup-script.sh on its own line, and don’t forget to put in your own username instead of “bandit”!
9. You’re done! Your files should now backup at 11am and 4pm each day to a folder called Backup in your home folder :-)
10. Now you can use Arq to back that folder up to S3 which costs you like $0.50/month!