there seems to be a choice between “dissect” where Chronosync presumably copies files that have changed inside the source devonthink package, vs “standard” where everything inside the the package is copied.
The 17gb backup, vs 5 files changed, is quite a difference, 5-6 minutes vs 30 min. So if I knew how to be safe about the “dissect” option, I can try and take those precautions. So for example, if Devonthink needs to be quit before the Chronosync backup is done, can do that by a pre-backup script.
But if quitting Devonthink is needed, for backup integrity to be maintained, then I presume it will be needed for “dissect” as well as “standard”.
@BLUEFROG do share your comments on backup integrity and how it relates to
the two options (dissect vs standard)
Devonthink left running and possibly causing changes on the drive while the backup is happening (in either mode - dissect or standard)
Yes, I have a scheduled AppleScript I picked up somewhere. Backups whatever database is open. I tend to have all the important databases open during the work-day. Scheduled via “cron” to run twice a week. See below.
My Primary is TimeMachine (supplemented with Backblaze offsite copy) which backup everything, including DEVONthink database packages and the zip files. Chronsync copies of zip are “icing on the cake”. Ensure that working before messing with secondary backups.
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
tell application "DEVONthink 3"
set theDatabases to every database
show progress indicator "Running Backup" steps (count of theDatabases)
repeat with thisDatabase in theDatabases
set this_database to thisDatabase
step progress indicator (name of this_database as string)
set this_date to do shell script "date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S"
set this_path to path of this_database
set {od, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, "/"}
set this_name to the last text item of this_path
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
if this_name ends with ".dtBase2" then set this_name to (characters 1 thru -9 of this_name) as string
set this_archive to "~/SynologyMyDrive/MyDrive/backups/Backups DEVONthink/" & this_name & " " & this_date & ".dtBase2.zip"
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to od
with timeout of 1200 seconds
set thisMsg to "Verified: " & the name of thisDatabase & " with result "
set thisResultV to verify database this_database
set thisLog to log message (thisMsg & thisResultV & " errors and/or missing files")
if thisResultV = 0 then
set thisMsg to "Optimized: " & the name of thisDatabase & " with result "
set thisResultO to optimize database this_database
if not thisResultO then
set thisLog to log message (thisMsg & " Optimization of database failed.")
else
set thisLog to log message (thisMsg & " Optimization of database success.")
end if
if thisResultO then
set thisMsg to "Zipped: " & the name of thisDatabase & " with result "
set thisResultC to (compress database this_database to this_archive)
if not thisResultC then
set thisLog to log message (thisMsg & " zipped of database failed.")
else
set thisLog to log message (thisMsg & " zipped of database success.")
end if
end if
end if
end timeout
end repeat
hide progress indicator
display notification "DT backup finished."
end tell
@rmschne thank you for sharing the AppleScript. that looks good. I will set up the apple script to run once a day. and then once a day backup of my documents should meet the backup needs.
may be I should also use time machine, I do have a drive that I can connect directly to the MacBook. however, that means that every time I disconnect the computer from the hub, I need to first unmount the drive.
Because as of now, I do not have any USB drives connected to my MacBook, and when I need to take the MacBook somewhere, my muscle memory is simply to pull the USB cable out.
But, I need to start working on my muscle memory is what I hear from you. Will do. Thank you again for the replies!
I forgot to mention that I used to use my USB SSD drive for bootable backups and therefore did not use spotlight. However, I believe bootable backups are not possible any more with Monterey. May be CCC offers it still, although I could not tell from their website. CCC v6 appears very capable.
@BLUEFROG before I switch to Time Machine on my USB SSD drive, wanted to ask you as to the reasons why you are transitioning to Carbon Copy Cloner?
Though infrequent, over the years I have had some stalled Time Machine backups with no warning it had a problem. It wasn’t common and twice were due to failing Seagate externals (which I gave up on for Western Digital several years ago too).
Also, I tried CCC as an alternative I could potentially suggest to our clientele. Testing with my own system and data is the only way to feel comfortable making that suggestion.
Speed is fantastic with CCC too. I’m impressed and its reputation is well-deserved.
We also do not generally recommend that users attempt to make their backups bootable — you can restore all of your documents, compatible applications, and settings from a standard CCC backup without the extra effort involved in establishing and maintaining a bootable device.
I decided, some time ago when still using macOS Big Sur, to abandon bootable backups following that advice. Personally, I have not lost sleep worrying about that.
Sounds like you use CCC and use their standard backup as one backup. Am I right?
In that case, does CCC copy the whole Devonthink Database package when it backs up or does CCC only copy files that are changed from inside the package?
