SimpleBackupAndRestore - an ultra-simple back-up utility for a frugal install, save-file/folder OR personal data...

[mikewalsh]

Evening, gang.

As mentioned in one of the other recent threads on Puppy backups, I've been developing this wee utility with much-appreciated assistance from @greengeek. Say hello to

SimpleBackupAndRestore

.....which is now at v4.7.

I'll state this quite clearly, right from the outset. In complete contrast to other Puppy back-up utilities, this one does not even pretend to deal with any kind of compression, NOR with multiple time- and date-stamped files. As indicated by the title, I wanted to make this as "simple" as possible.....both for me - for coding purposes - and for any potential users. So it's no good posting in with demands for additional features to be added, OR with criticism, because on this occasion - certainly for the forseeable future - any such requests/complaints will fall on deaf ears.

(I have no problems with sensible, 'constructive' criticism about its existing operation. That's entirely to be expected, and if anyone can see ways the utility can be made even more functional AS IT IS, I'm happy to take such on board. But NO 'feature requests'; those are not even "on the radar" for now.)

This is intended purely as a super-basic, no-frills, very easy-to-use GUI utility for noobs and casual users.

It uses the 'cp' command, and merely makes one single, "current", direct, 1-to-1 back-up copy of either a complete 'frugal' install, a save-file or save-folder, or an archive of personal data, AS-IS. I've wrapped this ability in an easy-to-use YAD-powered GUI, for simple ease-of-use.

It will 'restore' said backups in the other direction, as well.

It took me a bit longer than I thought it would, because I suffered a brain-fart during development & was making an incredibly basic mistake with the way in which 'cp' is used! It also took me a wee while to figure out the correct Bash syntax for dealing with spaces in file/directory names.....with the help of a link to a StackOverflow thread from Ian, I eventually sussed that one out. I develop my understanding of shell-scripting at my own pace; I'm not one of these folks that produce their best work under pressure, because that just throws up a mental block in my case. And THEN I get nothing done at all..!

It's "no-arch", because both arches of YAD are included - for the GUIs - and are auto-selected at launch, depending on the distro arch that is found.

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I accept that this will probably be not much use for those who either have limited resources, OR for those who wish to maintain a collection of system 'snapshots', and want detailed information to help them decide what they want to use in a given situation. For many of us, our current available resources will be considerably greater than what we would have been using, say, 10 years ago, largely due to the way in which improved technology steadily trickles down into the second-hand market at very reasonable prices.

In my own case, mine is a very atypical 'Puppy' system. A modern, fast quad-core processor with a ton of RAM and terabytes of storage capacity is hardly the type of setup 'our Pup' was originally envisaged for, I know, but even though I could run anything I wanted to I stick with what I know, understand & love for its almost infinite versatility (and ability to make users of more 'advanced' - read complex/heavy - distros snap their eyes and think twice about their own set-ups!)

I make no apologies for keeping this incredibly 'basic' in scope. I've long been an adherent of the K.I.S.S mantra - "Keep it simple, stupid!" - and will usually, wherever possible, revert to that viewpoint. If 'simple' will do the job with the minimum of fuss (and coding), I'm all FOR that.

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So; having "shot myself in the foot" with some of my above statements (!) , IF anyone would like to take a look at this ultra-simple & 'basic' utility you'll find it attached to this post, below.

Packed in my now-familiar 'portable' format, all you do is:-

• Download

• Unzip

• Move the extracted portable directory LITERALLY anywhere you like (this one's so small it honestly doesn't matter where it goes).

• Since it's packaged as a ROX-app, a single click on the directory launches it.

The usual MenuAdd/Remove scripts are included, as always, should a Menu entry be required (rt-clk -> Look Inside).....or leave it as, and click on it to run it. If using a Menu entry, you'll find it under Menu -> Filesystem.

Perhaps it'll be of use to somebody!

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

Afternoon, gang.

Now then:-

This is the final, 'production-ready' release of SimpleBackupAnd Restore - v4.6. I'm not going to add anything else, since it does everything I want, in a neat, tidy way.....all via GUIs, and during testing others have expressed satisfaction with its operation, too.

@wizard has contributed some code for the "progress bars" that now keep the user informed as to what is happening (cheers, mate!)

During copying, a progress bar now counts up time for the copy operation in one-second increments:-

If the operation takes a while, once it reaches the top the bar will 'loop' back to the beginning while the count continues to increment. Which is VERY neat.

Once the copy operation has "finished" (according to the system, that is), the script then runs the 'sync' command to flush the cache buffers and ensure that the operation HAS in fact completely finished, prior to displaying the "Success!" message box at the end. This is to try & address a long-standing issue that many members have noticed AND commented upon over the years.....that, even though ROX-filer says a copy operation has finished, any system monitor tool will show that it's still ongoing (some flash drives have an 'activity' LED on them, and this will still be flashing merrily away) for maybe quite a while before finally quitting.

So, I've employed a modified version of the looping "progress bar" for this part of the process.....smaller (no numbers are necessary here) and running faster, JUST to show something is still happening and that the operation hasn't yet reached its conclusion:-

I like 'em. They're a really neat way of showing the user that stuff is actually happening while things are going on in the background, and finish an app/utility off nicely.....make it look more 'professional'!

I've uploaded & attached the newest build to post #1.

Mike.

[mikewalsh]

Ah.....famous "last words".

v4.7 really WILL be the final version, guys. I had to make just a few modifications, because Bill (rcrsn51) has re-jigged some of wizard's code.....and instead of the copy 'progress' bar showing the time elapsed in just seconds, it NOW shows it in both MINUTES and seconds.....along with each loop of the bar now lasting exactly 60 seconds, instead of 100 seconds as previously.

New, 'final' version v4.7 attached to post #1, above. Enjoy.

Mike.

[vektor_alian]

Hey Mike

Just tried it on my SL15 and it works great.

Thanks,

Vektor

[simfann]

Hello mikewalsh, thank you for this little but most effective program. I was eagerly looking for a tool, to save my fatdog save directory to external hdd or usb stick, because I didn't find anything for this task in fatdog. Now I have the solution. It works really very fine.

[mikewalsh]

@simfann :-

You're very welcome, m'man. It's not my usual area of expertise, but it's something I needed for myself, so.....since it works OK, I "shared".

Cp is a bog-standard, basic command across all Linux distros, as is 'sync', so in theory, at least, it SHOULD work anywhere. Anyway; hope it proves useful!

Mike.