I dont know if its really a program, because its a batch file and some command line stuff, but it backs up my files, and I wrote it. Basically, the program looks at what was changed today in my MyDocs folder, copies those files to a folder named with the date in another location on the drive, then Tars and FTPs them to a folder on my server. Once there, the TarBall is unpacked (by some automated SSH commands) and new files overwrite any old ones.
This isnt a version control system, and isnt meant to be. Thats too much for me, but to start having a backup of my computer work online isnt a bad idea, really. Theres no check for filesize, so when I edit video, Im going to break the system, but thats okay – maybe Ill figure out a way around that once it becomes a problem.
The impetus for this was two-fold: first, Drew was talking about his data portability needs and desire for a backup. My first thought was “man, the internet is a perfect place to store that stuff…” but then I was sidetracked by the obnoxious trouble of remembering to do it all the time, etc. Second, MWS needs a reliable backup for their important files, and its my job to give them one. Im not 100% sure that online backup is practical for 1+GB files, but Im going to give it a try.
Thats it for now. Most of the day, I spent working on the T-Shirt site, but the morning was all backup, all the time. Once Ive changed a few minor things in the scripts, Ill make it available to anyone that wants it. Id certainly love input/ideas on this little thing. I bet if I knew a little bit about programming, I could write an installer that did all the hard work for you, even.
