Article:		Automated Backups with Existing Tools
Subject:		Interesting Article
Date:		2004-03-22 11:08:12
From:		duckfoo
But couldn't you save yourself some time and create a sparse disk image? A sparse disk image, if I understand correctly, can dynamically increase in size as needed, and should make your shell script easier.

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• Interesting Article
  2004-03-24 13:31:04  peterhickman [Reply | View]
  
  
  There is a simpler solution that has the image file built up as it goes.
  
  hdiutil create -srcfolder $SOURCE -fs HFS+ -format UDRW -volname $VOLUMENAME $IMAGENAME
  
  This does not create a compressed image but avoids the whole 'create a blank image' thing. It makes the script shorter and more portable, however the whole backup process actually takes longer (1 hour 6 minutes versus 52 minutes for my 10 Gb backup).
  
  For small amounts of data, say 10 to 40 Gb, it doesn't take too long, up to 4 and a half hours. But when the amount of data gets passed 70 Gb it becomes the difference between 6 hours and nearly 8 hours.
  
  Did I really just say that 40 Gb was a small amount of data?