tomzmyslo / autobackup

Launch daemon to trigger backups when Time Machine automatic backups stop working.

AutoBackup

Launch daemon to trigger backups via tmutil startbackup when Time Machine automatic backups stop working.

This daemon is setup to run a backup every hour from 6:00am to 8:00pm. This works well if you are running backups on Macs in a business environment. Feel free to fork and add backup intervals as needed.

Prerequisites

Make sure you meet these requirements before installing the daemon.

• A Mac

• An external hard drive

• The external hard drive is setup as your backup drive

Installation

1. Fork and download the repository to your Mac

2. Make any interval changes (see instructions below) to the .plist file in your favorite text editor

3. On your Mac, open a new Terminal window and type the following command:

   $ open ~/Library/LaunchAgents

4. Drag a copy of the .plist into the window you opened

5. Open System Preferences, select the Time Machine pane and disable "automatic backups"

6. Close all open applications and reboot your Mac

Interval Format

The following example would add a backup at midnight. Change the hour and minute integer according to your desired backup requirements.

<dict>
  <key>Hour</key>
  <integer>0</integer>
  <key>Minute</key>
  <integer>0</integer>
</dict>

Note: This daemon requires you to use military time for hours and minutes.

Special thanks to kainjow on the MacRumors Forum who wrote the basis for this code. It can be found here.