Itunes library and backup

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

I have a very large music library and it continues to grow.

My Powerbook HD (PB-HD) capacity is 100 G. My External is aalso 100G.

I am having trouble figuring out how i could back up my Library where by i could perform the following:

  1. Incremental back up from HD to external
  2. Restoring selected playlist(s) from External to PB-HD

Do I need 2 libraries.? How can I install Itunes alone on the external.?

Thanks

Model: PB-G4, 1 G Ram, 1 G Hz
Browser: Firefox 1.5
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

#2

1
use an rsync command to backup up the library
this is a good one i came up with, the other day.
you will have to change the variable VolumeName at the top to the Name of the Drive exactly
if it contains spaces add \ before the space eg. “External Drive” would be “External\ Drive”
i use something similar to this to keep my 22gig library(on ibook) in sync with my mini and freebsd file server(as a 3rd backup).:slight_smile:
for the first time in copying the library i would use terminal to show wats going on.
1.copy this to terminal: rsync -va --modify-window ~/Music/iTunes
2. press space in terminal
3 drag your external drive to terminal
this will create a backkup.and the incremental backups will not take very long at all (unless you change a lot of id3 tags and add heaps)


set iTunesFolder to " ~/Music/iTunes "
set VolumeName to "Drive" 
set ExternalDrivePath to "/Volumes/" & VolumeName

-- check that the drive is mounted otherwise
if (list disks) contains VolumeName then
	-- -a = archive style ,copy only modified files
	-- --delete-after = delete files that  exist on your external drive that dont exist on your powerbook
	do shell script " rsync -a --modify-window --delete-after " & iTunesFolder & ExternalDrive
else
	display dialog "Connect Drive First"
end if

as for your playlist i don’t really know.

#3

like to remove your music from your power book
you could use the script.(above) , and once your confident that your music is there you could just go to your itunes folder (powerbook), and delete it (better yet rename it temp. just in case something goes wrong).
then go and make an alias of the folder on the externl drive , copy it to the Music folder, and name it iTunes.
that should do it.

#4

sorry to butt in here, but I am trying to make a basic backup script that copies two folders from my home folder to en external drive. I tried the rsync script but I just got an error saying invald syntax and invalid numeric value.

I am confident I can copy the folders over with applescript alone but it would be great if I could do it with rsync to copy only modified files. I have no experience with shell scripts at all. would you be so kind as to point me int the right direction? please do so with a PM if I should not be posting here like this.

tia,

arum