Backup software for backing up specific files only

Question

I need some backup software for just backing up files of a particular type or a smart folder. In this case I need to backup all my video. Is there a free backup software available that will accomplish this for me?

Answer 1

http://www.crashplan.com/ is free for offline usage and can backup folders to an external drive or over LAN. Maybe this helps!

Answer 2

Your Mac has batteries already included. The only drawback (for some people) than it is command line (Terminal.app) solution.

The following shell script can do the job

case $# in
    (2) SRC="$1"; DEST="$2";;
    (*) echo "Usage: $0 source destination"; exit 1;;
esac

cd "$SRC" || exit 2
find . -type f -print0 | grep -ziv 'cpan' | grep -ziE '.(avi|mov|mp4)$' | rsync -n -av0 --files-from=- ./ "$DEST"

Save it into some file (e.g. mybackup.sh) and run from the terminal: sh ./mybackup.sh /path/to/the/source /path/to/the/dest, e.g.:

sh ./mybackup.sh ~/Downloads /Volumes/your_usb_hdd_name/path

Run the scipt and if you satisfiled with the result (will print out what will backing up), remove the '-n'. (The '-n' mean dry run)

rsync can do network backup to, or is possible emulate the TimeMachne functionality too, (incremental backup), etc - rsync is extremely powerful.

If you interested, can learn more with man rsync from the Terminal.

Ps: Or, it is not enough simply select in finder's search "All Movies" and simple drag&drop to result into the destination?