Backing up files with Deja Vu - and solution to dissapearing files.
By: Josh Knight
First, I have to say that I think Deja Vu is one of the best ways to keep your stuff backed up on a network. If you\'re on a mac using 10.5...I don\'t remember what cat name we\'re on anymore, have we all had enough of that cat names? Can\'t we just use numbers? And Adobe, same goes for you...
Where was I? Oh, if you\'re on 10.5 or greater and you want to back up to an external hard drive, I suppose Apple\'s Time Machine will work fine, but it\'s user interface is just a little too similar to an LSD overdose for me. Now, if you\'re backing up to a network, like at work or something, I\'m pretty sure Time Machine won\'t work for you.
So, try Deja Vu. It has a couple of features which I think you\'ll like:
1. Mirroring: This basically means that the directories you back up are identical to the directories on your local machine. So, if you\'re frequently (or, in my case constantly) reorganizing or deleting files, the file structures will match perfectly.
2. Safety Net: This works nicely with mirroring. It keeps back ups of the past state of your directories, so if you delete a file accidentally, and then use mirroring (which will delete it in the back up directory) you can just go back a few days or weeks and find the file before you deleted it.
3. Auto Connect: Again, if you\'re backing up to a network, you may need to connect first. This will let you do it automatically.
4. It only backs up files that have changed or been deleted. So, if you have 200 GB worth of stuff to back-up, it\'ll only back up the 5 MB worth data that\'s been changed. The rest is already there, and doesn\'t need to be touched. (If that didn\'t make sense, trust me, it\'s a good thing.)
........
Ok, with all that said, I have been experincing something very frustrating for the last few weeks. Deja Vu was skipping seemingly random folders on back-up. The reason is because I was in something called restore mode. It\'s an easy fix, but it does require the terminal. Here\'s the text from their help file:
SYMPTOM
After performing a backup with the \'Remote backup\' option checked, you find that not all of your files have been copied to the destination folder as expected. Additionally, you notice a line resembling this one near the beginning of the backup log:
Using /Users/you/Documents/.psync.db to retrieve extra attributes.
REASON
The above line indicates that Deja Vu is operating in \"remote restore mode\". If you ever swap (reverse) the source and destination folders in Deja Vu, this problem can arise.
SOLUTION
Delete the file which is keeping you in restore mode. Enter the following command in a Terminal window (changing the path as appropriate):
rm \"/Users/you/Documents/.psync.db\"
After doing this, always backup in the same direction (unless you are specifically restoring files to an empty destination). Understand that Deja Vu considers the destination folder to be a backup of the source folder, and nothing more. In other words, it expects that changes will only be made within the source folder, and not within the destination folder.
If you are not backing up over a network, then \'Remote backup\' should not be checked, and the above no longer applies.
Josh
Just a note. It looks like I\'m having a problem with quotes in the database. If you see a \\ before a quote ignore it. Especially in the code for the terminal.