RsyncUI

Snapshots

Utilizing snapshot is an effective method for restore of previous versions of data and deleted files. Snapshot utilize hardlinks and only changed and deleted files are saved as separate files in a snapshot. Files which are not changed are hardlinks to the original file. If a file.txt is saved in snapshot number one and never changed or deleted, the file file.txt in the latest snapshot is just a hardlink to the original file.

RsyncUI settings

There are a few settings to be tweaked. Settings are saved to permanent store. The settings are dividede into three parts. When the user has changed a setting it is marked with a change on the Save button. The Save button is disabled until a change has happend. Usersettings might be opened by the default ⌘, shortcut for settings. Settings - rsync and other settings Ssh - SSH settings Environment - environment settings The info tab shows which version of rsync in use and the path for storing and reading configurations to permanent store.

Quicktask

Use RsyncUI for quickly synchronize files to either local or remote storage. If synchronizing to a remote storage require setup of passwordless login. There are two types of quick tasks: synchronize - synchronize local files to remote syncremote - synchronize remote files to local If syncremote the localcatalog in the form is the remote data and remotecatalog is the local data where remote data will land when pulled. After entering data, default is a --dry-run task.

Restore data

Restore either files or complete synchronized files is easy in RsyncUI. A restore has to be executed to a temporary restore path. This is to secure not destroying any original data. A restore session might be as follows. Selecting and filtering List of files with more than 20,000 lines will be truncated. Either search for files to restore by filter or by listing all files. The string ./. will fetch all filenames from remote.

Rsync and other settings

You can any time backup the current setup, configurations and logs including all profiles by the Backup button. The backup executes a copy to your Documents catalog and postfixes the copy with a timestamp -month-day-year/hour/minute. $HOME/Documents/RsyncUIcopy-05-06-2021/08/21 When opening the catalog it might be seen as empty. The copy is a .catalog and your filebrowser might not see such catalogs. Rsync version and path It is adviced to install rsync as part of Homebrew.

SSH settings

In this view you can let RsyncUI assist in creating ssh-keys and setup global ssh keypath and identityfile, either utilizing default values or set your own. There is some more info about ssh. Local ssh keys found If on RsyncUI has found local ssh keys. Default values for ssh are ~/.ssh/id_rsa and portnumber 22. It is not required to set your own values for key path and identityfile if default values are used.

Add and update tasks

Always verify, by a --dry-run, the result of a new task before executing it. A task require minimum a local catalog and a remote catalog. After entering information about a task, select the Add button to add it to RsyncUI. Continue adding new tasks until completed and tasks are saved to permanent storage after each entry. After adding or changed a task please verify the result by executing an estimation run.

Important

If you are new to the command line tool rsync and RsyncUI please read this information. RsyncUI is a GUI only on top of the command line tool. It is rsync which does the actual work, not RsyncUI The –delete parameter and new tasks The --delete parameter is a default parameter set by RsyncUI to rsync. The parameter instructs rsync too keep the source and destination in sync. The parameter instructs rsync to delete all files in the destination which are not present in the source.

Parameters to rsync

RsyncUI implements default parameters which are working fine for simple synchronize and restore tasks. The actual parameters used in tasks are depended upon executing rsync over network connection or not. Which standard parameters to use is computed during startup of application by reading the configuration file. The user can also remove default parameters if required. Parameters to rsync is saved by task. The ssh parameter might be set global to all tasks.

Pre- and post shell scripts

You can connect shell scripts to a task. A shell script can e.g. be mounting (pre) and unmounting (post) of a remote storage. Or you can execute a shell script to encrypyt your data ahead of synchronizing the data. It is only possible to execute the shell scripts utilizing Single task and the Now button. Tasks are marked if there are shell scripts connected to the task. The shell scripts names and locations is selected by the user.