automatic initiation of backup when I plugin/mount my external Firefox drive?

[mykmelez]

I just purchased SuperDuper! as a replacement for BounceBack Pro, which came with my CMS Products external Firefox drive. Kudos to Shirt Pocket for making software which is a breeze to understand and use. SuperDuper! is a breath of fresh air compared to the misery of trying to get BounceBack Pro to work for me.

BounceBack Pro does have one very useful feature that SuperDuper! seems to be missing, however: the ability to kick off a backup the moment I plug in my external Firewire drive. The docs and posts on this forum talk about scheduling backups using an Applescript and cron, but I haven't seen mention of an Applescript for starting a backup upon mount.

I store my external drive off site and back up irregularly, so scheduling a backup doesn't work for me. But since I only use my external drive as a backup drive, when I plug it into my Powerbook, it always means I'm about to initiate a backup. Could SuperDuper! be made to watch for my drive's mount event and kick off a backup when it occurs?

[dnanian]

To do that, we'd need an "agent" process, which we don't have. But, fortunately, there are some good applications out there that act as exactly this kind of agent.

I recommend a very nice program called Peripheral Vision, from Granted Software. It's really useful, and notifies you whenever peripherals are attached and detached.

You can perform "actions" when these events occur, one of which can be running an AppleScript. So, just set up the scheduled backup as described in the User's Guide, except don't do the Cron part. Instead, set up an event in Peripheral Vision that runs the little script application.

Bingo! You've got backup-on-attach!

[mykmelez]

Originally Posted by dnanian

To do that, we'd need an "agent" process, which we don't have. But, fortunately, there are some good applications out there that act as exactly this kind of agent.

Thanks for the tip! I'll try PV. But please consider adding such a feature in a future version of SuperDuper!, since I expect it to be a common need amongst users backing up to external drives (a number of such drives have this, or similar, functionality).

[dnanian]

We'll certainly consider it as it is, occasionally, asked for. Thanks.