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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > iPod backup/sync software

iPod backup/sync software
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Fellow2000
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Sep 12, 2004, 08:24 PM
 
I am looking for the best software to use my iPod as a backup drive. I have found some good ones, such as Synk, but I am really looking for one that can sync my files just whenever I connect my iPod, instead of being limited to scheduling at a certain time. This would be exactly how iSync works, just with files also instead of just contacts and calendars. So does anyone have one to recommend?
     
wataru
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Sep 12, 2004, 09:01 PM
 
First, do a search. Second, iPodBackup.
     
Fellow2000  (op)
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Sep 12, 2004, 10:53 PM
 
Any other suggestions?
     
wataru
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Sep 12, 2004, 11:35 PM
 
Do a search!
     
Fellow2000  (op)
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Sep 13, 2004, 12:34 AM
 
What the hell? I already have. I am looking for fresh opinions and experience. If I wanted to search the internet, I would have contacted google, instead I wanted answers, that is why I came to a FORUM!

Amazes me how rude people can be on here. I'd love to walk into a business sometime, ask them for their phone number and have the clerk throw a phone book at my face.

Besides wataru, does anyone have any recent suggestions?
     
Mr. Blur
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Sep 13, 2004, 01:05 AM
 
you will find that when someone replies in a thread to "do a search" they are referring to searching these forums, probably because you are asking something that has been asked/answered countless times already. there is nothing wrong with asking for help, but you should also be able to take a bit of initiative yourself as well and and make a bit of an effort to see if your particular issue has been covered already.

many people here (myself included) find it somewhat annoying when people ask the same question(s) over and over...not only does it waste people's time responding to the same things time and again, but if people took the time to search the forum, they would in many cases have the answer they want in seconds instead of waiting for someone to reply.

sorry this has not helped you more....i am just trying to explain the other replies as it seems you did not understand them.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity...
     
Fellow2000  (op)
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Sep 13, 2004, 02:25 AM
 
No worries Mr. Blur

I am a moderator at a popular online forum so I know the ropes. The problem is, I have searched the forum more than I post questions, as my post count indicates. My first task when seeking help is to always search. However, being that I am around Macs/Technology all day, in general, most topics covered on a forum such as this I am already well aware of. When I come and ask a question, it is usually a highly specific question that has not been clearly answered in a previous thread.

I understand your annoyance, but I as well as others are also annoyed at the fact that many people now days just reply "search it" instead of taking that same amount of time and answering someone's question. Why anyone would ask a question first instead of searching is beyond me considering with searching you are bound to get the answer much quicker.

Here are the search terms I used >
ipod backup
ipod sync
backup sync
backup home
sync to volume on connect

Each one of those turned up useful threads but none of them seemed to answer my question to the fullest and they definitely did not contain sufficient user feedback on any useful applications.

So, now that I have searched and still come up with nothing, may I ask the question again?

Here is what I am looking for...
Backup home dir - music to iPod ON CONNECT of ipod to computer
The two apps that have been recommended are ipodbackup and chronosync. IPodBackup seems to still be beta and pretty rough around the edges, i.e. no UI. ChronoSync looks awesome, however it is 30 dollars, so anything cheaper would be welcome, even though the 30 dollars is well worth it if nothing more attractive presents itself.

So are these the only two out there with the functionality or does anyone else have any recommendations?
     
wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 02:36 AM
 
I am the author of iPodBackup.

Why don't you try it before deciding that it's still rough around the edges? It's done. There never will be any more of a UI.

If you read the info page for iPodBackup, you'll find that it, in conjunction with a program called Peripheral Vision, does exactly what you want, and for only $7 (the cost of Peripheral Vision).
     
Turnpike
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Sep 13, 2004, 02:47 AM
 
Originally posted by Fellow2000:
Amazes me how rude people can be on here. I'd love to walk into a business sometime, ask them for their phone number and have the clerk throw a phone book at my face.
I'd love it if we got paid for answering questions on here, but alas, we don't, and the business metaphor breaks down.



As for your question, I was going to suggest writing a shell script. Looks like you don't have to, though, because that is essentially what iPodBackup is: a shell script wrapped in a double-clickable .app package.

Other than that, I don't know. I remember when I first got my iPod, I searched for iPod on version tracker and it brought back 5 or 6 pages of results. I think some of those were various levels of syncing software.

Generally, my automatic backup needs are fairly specific, so it is easy enough to just customize my own. However, there is a program called iPod launcher that would make it easy to launch a backup app when you dock your 'Pod.



EDIT: btw, nice work wataru.. didn't know that was yours. cool
further EDIT: and congrats on post number 5000
     
wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 03:14 AM
 
Originally posted by Turnpike:
EDIT: btw, nice work wataru.. didn't know that was yours. cool
further EDIT: and congrats on post number 5000
Thanks and thanks.

By the way, iPodBackup is no longer beta, so there. You'll see the listing on MacUpdate and VersionTracker soon.
     
Fellow2000  (op)
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Sep 13, 2004, 11:36 AM
 
Wataru -

I have tried it. And a couple of questions if you don't mind me asking.

Will there ever be a UI for add exlusions, etc...?
How do I get this to automatically run when my iPod connects, so far that is not working for me?

And yes, it is very amazing, especially that it is free!
     
Turnpike
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Sep 13, 2004, 11:50 AM
 
look on version tracker for a program called "iPod Launcher"

it will launch any program you specify when it detects an iPod docking/connecting
     
wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 11:56 AM
 
Originally posted by Fellow2000:
Wataru -

I have tried it. And a couple of questions if you don't mind me asking.

Will there ever be a UI for add exlusions, etc...?
How do I get this to automatically run when my iPod connects, so far that is not working for me?

And yes, it is very amazing, especially that it is free!
As is discussed in the product info page, you use a program called Peripheral Vision for the automation part. You could probably use iPod Launcher, too. I haven't tried it, though.

And no, there will never be a UI for exclusions/inclusions. The rules are too complicated, and the way iPodBackup is made (with Platypus) is pretty limited. It would be hard to make the program as hands-free as it is (which is the whole point) and add more UI. I'll keep that in mind, but I don't plan on adding anything at this point.
     
Turnpike
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Sep 13, 2004, 12:26 PM
 
you could submit it to one of the UI programmers here to see if they'd write up a quick interface for it.

however, wouldn't it be possible (easy?) to make a script to do this?

a) bash. make a program called "ipbexclude" that took one argument - a file or directory - and added it to the exclusion list. this would be very easy to implement, but it doesn't help too much for interface unless you are already friends with the CLI

b) applescript. I don't know enough about applescript, but IIRC it can handle very basic UI widgets, no? perhaps a dialog box that pops up with a "Browse..." button to select a file and a radio button to choose to either include/exclude it. or maybe a droplet... the user could drag a file/directory to the app icon and drop it (there'd have to be two apps -- one for include, one for exclude). This is assuming AppleScript is powerful enough to write to a file... but you could always call sed from within AppleScript...


Just an idea
     
Randman
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Sep 13, 2004, 12:55 PM
 
Fine, two other offerings. Backup and CCC. I've used both and they work fine for what they do. Basically you can think of your iPod as an external hard drive when it comes to backups so whatever is good for backing up an external is good for backing up on an iPod.

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wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 01:06 PM
 
Neither of those can be easily automated to run upon mounting the iPod.
     
Randman
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Sep 13, 2004, 01:14 PM
 
Originally posted by wataru:
Neither of those can be easily automated to run upon mounting the iPod.
Didn't say they were, just wanted to throw them out for further consideration. Btw, I think your app is quite solid as well.
( Last edited by Randman; Sep 13, 2004 at 01:19 PM. )

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Turnpike
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Sep 13, 2004, 01:19 PM
 
I've never used Backup... is that .Mac only?

CCC seems like a much more "complete" solution. Overkill for my needs and the needs of many others, but if you need it, it's an awesome tool.
     
wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 07:38 PM
 
Originally posted by Turnpike:
you could submit it to one of the UI programmers here to see if they'd write up a quick interface for it.

however, wouldn't it be possible (easy?) to make a script to do this?
I suppose it could be done, but the main issue is this: If I'm going to add such a UI, it should be accessible on demand, correct? If it only appears once (like the initial setting dialogs) then it really won't serve its purpose. It took me a good hour of testing to figure out the appropriate inclusions/exclusions as it is. I doubt anyone will get everything right on the first try.

The ideal solution is to have something like a hold-on-launch key that would bring up the dialog. But I don't think that's possible with Platypus as-is, and I'm really not enough of a programmer to add in functionality like that.

No matter what, my main goal for the app is for it to open, run, and quit without any interaction (except when absolutely necessary, like when requesting a password for an encrypted disk image). Can you think of an easy way to implement a rule editor dialog and retain this level of automation?
Originally posted by Turnpike:
I've never used Backup... is that .Mac only?
Yes. It's not a bad app, but it does have its weaknesses. I describe my beef with it in the iPodBackup webpage.
     
Fellow2000  (op)
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Sep 13, 2004, 09:05 PM
 
Originally posted by wataru:
I suppose it could be done, but the main issue is this: If I'm going to add such a UI, it should be accessible on demand, correct? If it only appears once (like the initial setting dialogs) then it really won't serve its purpose. It took me a good hour of testing to figure out the appropriate inclusions/exclusions as it is. I doubt anyone will get everything right on the first try.

The ideal solution is to have something like a hold-on-launch key that would bring up the dialog. But I don't think that's possible with Platypus as-is, and I'm really not enough of a programmer to add in functionality like that.

No matter what, my main goal for the app is for it to open, run, and quit without any interaction (except when absolutely necessary, like when requesting a password for an encrypted disk image). Can you think of an easy way to implement a rule editor dialog and retain this level of automation?

Yes. It's not a bad app, but it does have its weaknesses. I describe my beef with it in the iPodBackup webpage.
Sorry, I might be waaaaaay to simplistic in my thinking, but what about just making it the same as iSync. iPod connects, program starts up and syncs. Then you can go to the program menu>preferences to change the options?
     
wataru
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Sep 13, 2004, 09:15 PM
 
Originally posted by Fellow2000:
Sorry, I might be waaaaaay to simplistic in my thinking, but what about just making it the same as iSync. iPod connects, program starts up and syncs. Then you can go to the program menu>preferences to change the options?
Your thinking isn't simplistic; you just aren't familiar with how I made the program. It's just a script that I turned into an application with another app called Platypus. I did not create any of the GUI at all. Platypus-created apps are very simple; they open, they execute, and they close. That is all. I can't add anything more to it without actually learning how to program.
     
   
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