KVR Audio

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:25 am

Hi

Does anybody know how to set up an automatic backup (of folders, drives, etc.) on system shutdown?

I'd like to run a backup as soon as I click "Shutdown", and after the backup the system powers off automatically.

PS: I'm looking for a solution for Mac.

Cheers

tremolounge · Post by **tremolounge** » Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:01 pm

You could set up your backup in Super Duper, and select the Shutdown on Completion option.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:11 pm

tremolounge wrote:You could set up your backup in Super Duper, and select the Shutdown on Completion option.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

A lot of backup apps do that already. What I'd like to do is just click 'Shutdown Computer' and all the rest is done automatically.

I know, it's easy to start the backup app first and run the backup process. The app will then shut down automatically.

I just wondered if apps and computers are not capable of doing that for you without having to think about it.

camsr · Post by **camsr** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:05 pm

Unhelpful note, it would be possible on windows.

NystagmusE · Post by **NystagmusE** » Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:32 pm

There are "shutdown timer" types of freeware that can be configured to shut down the computer after a set amount of time has passed AND cpu use has gone to a low enough idle size.

But be careful with those. If they shutdown too early it will corrupt your backups.

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:11 am

NystagmusE wrote:There are "shutdown timer" types of freeware that can be configured to shut down the computer after a set amount of time has passed AND cpu use has gone to a low enough idle size.

But be careful with those. If they shutdown too early it will corrupt your backups.

Thanks. Seems not a fool-proof solution to me. I guess there is no easy way around of starting the backup solution manually, that shuts down the computer itself. It's not a biggie.

Redukt · Post by **Redukt** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:54 am

Great, reliable and FREE one:

http://personal-backup.rathlev-home.de/index-e.html

Setup is in german, but as soon as the app is started, you can change to english via the tab "Programmeinstellungen" - "Sprache".

It lets you choose what and what not to backup and when the backup process should start - always on logoff, only on logoff after a certain time or a certain day of the week, pretty much everything you can think of.

It's pretty ugly (looks like something from the mid-90's), but after you've set up your backup task, you'll never have to see it anyway.

I've been using it for years, highly recommended.

khanyz · Post by **khanyz** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:41 am

The easiest way would be to write a script which does the backup and then shuts down the Mac. Put a link/icon to it on your desktop and call it instead of the regular shutdown.

To make it automatic, you can use launchd to have a script detect a shutdown and run the backup, but it would need to run constantly in the background. The problem may be that processes usually have a limited time to run/close during the shutdown process and if they run beyond this they can cancel the shutdown or be forced to quit.

There are also some init runlevel 0 ways but they are more complicted.

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:37 am

Redukt wrote:Great, reliable and FREE one:

http://personal-backup.rathlev-home.de/index-e.html

Setup is in german, but as soon as the app is started, you can change to english via the tab "Programmeinstellungen" - "Sprache".

It lets you choose what and what not to backup and when the backup process should start - always on logoff, only on logoff after a certain time or a certain day of the week, pretty much everything you can think of.

It's pretty ugly (looks like something from the mid-90's), but after you've set up your backup task, you'll never have to see it anyway.

I've been using it for years, highly recommended.

Thanks. Now we need that for Mac

PS: I think should change the topic title. How can I do that?

stardustmedia · Post by **stardustmedia** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:39 am

khanyz wrote:The easiest way would be to write a script which does the backup and then shuts down the Mac. Put a link/icon to it on your desktop and call it instead of the regular shutdown.

To make it automatic, you can use launchd to have a script detect a shutdown and run the backup, but it would need to run constantly in the background. The problem may be that processes usually have a limited time to run/close during the shutdown process and if they run beyond this they can cancel the shutdown or be forced to quit.

There are also some init runlevel 0 ways but they are more complicted.

I don't know scripts. Just a little HTML. So I'm no developer. Is it hard to create such a script?

khanyz · Post by **khanyz** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:47 am

stardustmedia wrote:I don't know scripts. Just a little HTML. So I'm no developer. Is it hard to create such a script?

They are not difficult, just text files containing a list of commands and simple program structure and control statements. You will easily find tutorials and examples on the web, but only get them from reliable sources.

There are a few different types. Shell scripts are the most basic but there is also Automator and AppleScript.

Automatic computer backup on system shutdown