Skip to main content

Mac Backups With Rsync to Encrypted Flash Media

Backup Woes

The main advantage of using a Mac is that it defaults to idiot mode and the main annoyance with a Mac is that it defaults to idiot mode, but underneath it all there is BSD...

The Mac Time Machine backup utility is one such idiot application which is probably fine for a large number of people,  but which doesn't fit my usage scenario.  Coupled with the Disk Utility which makes it hard to format a Flash Memory Device properly, it is even worse.

I want to make backups to USB and SD memory devices, since they are small, solid state and convenient.  However, to make a proper backup, the device should be formatted with HFS+ and it must be Encrypted.  The Disk Utility defaults to the prehistoric FAT in order to support file exchange with legacy Windows machines and FAT doesn't support proper file ownership and permissions.

Also, it is rather self defeating if your HDD is encrypted, while your backups are in plain text on a FAT disk.

Format a Removable Disk with HFS+

  • Run Disk Utility
  • Select ‘1 Partition’ from the Volume Scheme menu.
  • Enter a name eg MACBACKUP1
  • Select Mac OS X Case Sensitive Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu.
  • Click the ‘Options’ button and select ‘GUID Partition Table’ 

 Enable File Ownership Data

  • Right click the flash drive and select ‘Get Info’.
  • Click the lock icon in the bottom right corner.
  • Remove the check mark from ‘Ignore ownership on this volume.’

Encrypt the Flash Disk

  • Right click the disk icon and select Encrypt.
  • Generate and save your password in KeepassX.

Backup with Rsync

Now finally, the media is ready to be used for a secure backup.  Time Machine works if the media is formatted this way, but it defaults to backing up everything and a Flash Disk is usually too small to backup everything.  Also, there is no point in backing up the whole system, since one can download a new system from Apple.  I only need to backup my Documents folder - everything else is expendable.

Make a file called /Volumes/MACBACKUP1/sync
Make a directory called /Volumes/MACBACKUP1/bak

Edit the sync script with vi:

#! /bin/bash
rsync -avz --progress --delete --max-delete=10 --max-size=20M ~/Documents /Volumes/MACBACKUP1/bak

Make it executable with chmod +x sync

By selecting a max-size of 20 Megabytes, I exclude things like large archives and ISO images.  Deletions are limited to ten files, in order to prevent a possible disastrous delete of the whole backup set, following a local delete disaster.  The result is a 51 GB backup set, which fits on a 64 GB memory schtick - nice.

Now, you can insert the backup device and click the sync script to backup whatever should be backed up to that device and thereby backup Documents to a USB schtick and backup Pictures to a SD card for example, while having it all secure and encrypted, in case the flash thingy gets lost or stolen or copied by the NSA/CSIS/GCHQ/FSB...

La voila!

Herman

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

On topic comments are welcome. Junk will be deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

Parasitic Quadrifilar Helical Antenna

This article was reprinted in OSCAR News, March 2018:  http://www.amsat-uk.org If you want to receive Satellite Weather Pictures , then you need a decent antenna, otherwise you will receive more noise than picture. For polar orbit satellites, one needs an antenna with a mushroom shaped radiation pattern .  It needs to have strong gain towards the horizon where the satellites are distant, less gain upwards where they are close and as little as possible downwards, which would be wasted and a source of noise.  Most satellites are spin stabilized and therefore the antenna also needs circular polarization, otherwise the received signal will flutter as the antennas rotate through nulls. The helical antenna, first proposed by Kraus in 1948, is the natural solution to circular polarized satellite communications.  It is a simple twisted wire - there seems to be nothing to it.  Various papers have been published on helix antennas, so the operation is pretty well ...
2 comments
Read more

To C or not to C, That is the Question

As most would know, the Kernighan and Ritchie C Programming Language is an improved version of B, which is a simplified version of BCPL, which is derived from ALGOL, which is the Ur computer language that started the whole madness, when Adam needed an operating system for his Abacus, to count Eve's apples in the garden of Eden in Iraq.  The result is that C is my favourite, most hated computer language , which I use for everything. At university, I learned FORTRAN with punch cards on a Sperry-Univac, in order to run SPICE, to simulate an operational amplifier.  Computers rapidly lost their glamour after that era! Nobody taught me C.  I bought the book and figured it out myself. Over time, I wrote a couple of assemblers, a linker-locator, various low level debuggers and schedulers and I even fixed a bug in a C compiler - not because I wanted to, but because I had to, to get the job done!   Much of my software work was down in the weeds with DSP and radio modems...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unlock CRA PDF Forms

Unlock Canada Revenue Agency PDF Forms It appears that there is a relatively new PDF feature to prevent casual copying and saving of a file and that some programs save PDF files with these foolish features active by default.  Many forms from the Canada Revenue Agency are locked in this way, which makes it difficult to do one's taxes, since one can fill the form, but cannot save it.  One can only print the form.  It should be possible to print to a file or export it to a new PDF file, but it is far better to reset the annoying anti-taxpayer flags, since the 'printed' form cannot be edited easily any more and I always manage to make a mistake or three that need to be corrected after review. If there is a Linux (virtual) machine handy, install qpdf and use it to reset the silly flags: $ su - password # dnf update # dnf install qpdf # exit $ qpdf --decrypt lockedfile.pdf unlockedfile.pdf One doesn't need a password to unlock these flags, so the fix is instant. La voila! He...
Post a Comment
Read more