One step User folder backup

Dec 18, '01 06:17:47PM

Contributed by: xchanyazy

This is just a couple of tips from the MacOS X Solutions Guidebook combined together in a way that some friends and I have found rather useful to quickly backup our home folder (requires Developer Tools Installation).

Read the rest of the article for the how-to...

1. If neccessary, make the ~/Library/init/tcsh directory:

mkdir ~/Library/init

mkdir ~/Library/init/tcsh
Then, change to that directory
cd ~/Library/init/tcsh
2. Using Pico, open "aliases.mine"
pico aliases.mine
3. Type in (with quotation marks)
alias backup "sudo ditto -v -rsrcFork ~ blah"
... where "blah" is the location you would like to store the backup. On my computer, it's:
alias backup "sudo ditto -v -rsrcFork ~ /Volumes/Storage Space/Backup"
4. Ctrl-x to exit Pico, save the buffer when prompted.

5. Open a new terminal window, type "backup" (without quotes) at the prompt. It will copy your user folder to the specified place, invisible files and all. It will overwrite stuff, so exercise the appropriate caution.

Now, anytime you want to make a backup of your user folder, just open up a terminal window and type backup.

Comments (20)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20011218181747247