Macro based on file change

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hi All,

I imagine this is simple, but I can’t seem to find the correct trigger. I want to copy (backup actually) my iMovie library and Photos library to a my time capsule whenever the file changes.

I use time Machine and while this backs up the whole machine, I want to backup some individual files automatically for quick access. Since the backup is wireless, nothing is connected to the computer hence this types of triggers don’t work.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thank You!

Marc

2

Actually, TM does a backup of only the files that have changed, and it does it once an hour.
Is there some reason that would not work for you?

3

I may be outthinking myself. I have 2 machines in the same house. A Laptop and an MacMini. My iTunes, photos, movies etc are on the Mac min not the Laptop.

I upgraded the Laptop and am moving those files to my laptop. I want the Mac mini to be able to use those libraries. I am thinking if a copy is on the Time capsule, but not buried on the backup, I can access those libraries from my Mac mini. Make sense?

In short, the file on the laptop gets copies (back-up) to the time capsule and the Mac mini always points to the time capsule for its library.

4

I don’t know about that, but I think you are now asking a different question.
So, as I understand you, you really have two questions:

  1. How to backup iMovie and Photos libraries
  2. How to share the same with other Macs.

IMO, you need to keep these separate, at least for now.
I also think they should be separate KM Forum topics.

So which question do you want to pursue in this topic?

5

Not quite, I don’t think. I have the sharing part down. I just want to see if it possible to have a macro that would copy a library file to my time capsule, but not be part of a backup, any time it changes on my laptop.

6

Here’s a major issue I see in the “copy” approach:

  • Even though you just changed one photo, and probably only one actual file was changed, the Photo app stores its data in a complicated package, that includes both actual databases and files.
  • The entire Photos package can be quite large
  • So when you only changed one photo, you don’t really want to copy the entire package.

The way I have resolved this issue is to have the Photos app on each Mac point to the same physical file on the server (Time Capsule in your case).

The only caveat with this is that you don’t want to have Photos open on more than one Mac at a time. For sure you don’t want more than one Mac trying to update. I have NOT tried this, but one idea is to give only one Mac write permission to the Photos package, and the other would have ReadOnly permission.

Would that work for you?

7

That is good advice. Thank You! I think I’m going to keep the library on my laptop so I can access it anytime and then when at home, if a need arises to access it from another computer, just use network sharing. Thanks for the input!

1 Like
8

@Motive8, you are quite welcome. If this turns out to not solve your problem, please feel free to come back with your questions.