Showing posts with label Dropbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dropbox. Show all posts

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Storing Mac primary data storage folders within cloud storage folders

One of my favorite methods of backup is redirecting the primary data storage folders to a cloud service (like Dropbox or Google Drive).  On a Mac, the process is not intuitive.  Here's my process.

You need to perform the steps once for each folder you want to move.  So if you want to move three folders (desktop, documents, pictures), you'll need to perform the steps three times.  The steps involved two commends.

First, you move the data to the new location.  Then you create a symbolic link to the new location.  In the examples below are a series of commands for desktop, documents, pictures, music, and movies.  The commands with %username% and %Company% would be altered to match the real world situation.

iMac:~ username$ sudo mv ~/Documents "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Documents"
iMac:~ username$ sudo rm -rf ~/Documents/
iMac:~ username$ ln -s "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Documents" ~
iMac:~ username$ sudo mv ~/Desktop "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Desktop"
iMac:~ username$ sudo rm -rf ~/Desktop/
iMac:~ username$ ln -s "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Desktop" ~
iMac:~ username$ sudo mv ~/Movies "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Movies"
iMac:~ username$ sudo rm -rf ~/Movies/
iMac:~ username$ ln -s "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Movies" ~
iMac:~ username$ sudo mv ~/Pictures "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Pictures"
iMac:~ username$ sudo rm -rf ~/Pictures/
iMac:~ username$ ln -s "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Pictures" ~
iMac:~ username$ sudo mv ~/Music "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Music"
iMac:~ username$ sudo rm -rf ~/Music/
iMac:~ username$ ln -s "/Users/%username%/Dropbox (%Company%)/laptopdata/Music" ~

Friday, July 7, 2017

Storing Mac data storage folders (desktop, documents, etc) in a cloud syncing folder (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc)

This page talks about methods for moving data storage locations to cloud syncing folders which allows for real time backup of those data storage locations.  I use this process often for smaller clients who need/want backup on the cheap.  This is particularly easy if they're already using Dropbox or Google Drive or have an Office365 account with OneDrive storage.

https://www.howtogeek.com/204595/how-to-move-special-folders-on-os-x-to-cloud-storage/