BackuPy 1.4.0

A simple backup program in python with an emphasis on data integrity and transparent behaviour

BackuPy

Quick Start

pip install backupy
backupy -h

Installation

• Install the latest version from PyPI

pip install backupy --upgrade

• Or install the python package from the GitHub release page
• Or run the python file directly, all you need is backupy.py
• Or run it with the GUI, in which case you run backupy_gui.py from the same directory as backupy.py
• Or you can run BackuPy-Setup.exe from the GitHub release page to install it with the GUI for Windows

Features

• Backup, Mirror, and Sync Modes
• Compare files using attributes or CRCs
• Detection and alerts of corrupted files
• JSON formatted database for tracking files (human readable and easy to parse)
• Detection and alerts of unexpected file modifications on destination outside of backups and mirrors, or sync conflicts (a file was modified on both sides since the last sync)
• Files are always copied to an identically structured archive directory before being deleted or overwritten by default
• Easy to read logs as csv files
• Save and load your configuration
• Perform a dry run to test your configuration
• Works on both new and existing backup directories
• Filter file paths with regular expressions

Under the Hood

• Easy to use in scripts (see backupy_batch.py for an example)
• Clear and easy to verify code, the only functions that touch your files are: copyFile(), moveFile(), and removeFile()
• OS independent and console version only uses the Python standard library
• GUI available through Gooey and PySimpleGUI

Usage Description

• Source and destination directories can be any accessible directory
• Destination can be empty or contain files from a previous backup, matching files on both sides will be skipped
• Main modes (how to handle new and deleted files)
  • Backup mode: copies files that are only in source to destination
  • Mirror mode: copies files that are only in source to destination and deletes files that are only in destination
  • Sync mode: copies files that are only in source to destination and copies files that are only in destination to source
• Selection modes (which file to select in cases where different versions exist on both sides)
  • Source mode: copy source files to destination
  • Destination mode: copy destination files to source
  • Newer mode: copy newer files based on last modified time
  • None mode: don't copy either, differing files will only be logged for manual intervention
• Compare modes (how to detect which files have changed)
  • Attribute mode: compare file attributes (size and last modified time)
  • Attribute+ mode: compare file attributes and calculate CRCs only for new and changed files for future verification
  • CRC mode: compare file attributes and CRC for every file, and checks previously stored CRCs to detect corruption
• Test your settings first with the 'norun' flag

Example Usage

• Just type backupy followed by your source and destination directories, and any combination of options
• If you're unsure how something works, include "--norun" to see what would happen without actually doing anything

backupy "path/to/your/source directory/" "path/to/destination/" --norun

Command Line Interface

usage: backupy [options] -- <source> <dest>
       backupy <source> <dest> [options]
       backupy <source> --load [--norun]
       backupy -h | --help

BackuPy: A simple backup program in python with an emphasis on data integrity
and transparent behaviour

positional arguments:
  source       Path of source
  dest         Path of destination

optional arguments:
  -h, --help   show this help message and exit
  -m mode      Main mode:
               How to handle files that exist only on one side?
                 MIRROR (default)
                   [source-only -> destination, delete destination-only]
                 BACKUP
                   [source-only -> destination, keep destination-only]
                 SYNC
                   [source-only -> destination, destination-only -> source]
  -s mode      Selection mode:
               How to handle files that exist on both sides but differ?
                 SOURCE (default)
                   [copy source to destination]
                 DEST
                   [copy destination to source]
                 NEW
                   [copy newer to opposite side]
                 NO
                   [do nothing]
  -c mode      Compare mode:
               How to detect files that exist on both sides but differ?
                 ATTR (default)
                   [compare file attributes: mod-time and size]
                 ATTR+
                   [compare file attributes and only store new CRC data]
                 CRC
                   [compare file attributes and CRC for every file]
  -f regex [regex ...]
               Filter: Only include files matching the regular expression(s)
               (include all by default)
  -ff regex [regex ...]
               Filter False: Exclude files matching the regular expression(s)
               (exclude has priority over include)
  --noarchive  Disable archiving files before overwriting/deleting to:
                 <source|dest>/.backupy/Archives/yymmdd-HHMM/
                 <source|dest>/.backupy/Trash/yymmdd-HHMM/
  --nolog      Disable writing to:
                 <source>/.backupy/Logs/log-yymmdd-HHMM.csv
                 <source|dest>/.backupy/database.json
  --nomoves    Do not detect when files are moved or renamed
  --noprompt   Complete run without prompting for confirmation
  --norun      Perform a dry run according to your configuration
  --save       Save configuration to <source>/.backupy/config.json
  --load       Load configuration from <source>/.backupy/config.json

Extra Configuration Options

• Some options can only be set from the config file
  • archive_dir
    • can be any subdirectory, default = ".backupy/Archive"
  • config_dir
    • can't be changed under normal operation, default = ".backupy"
  • log_dir
    • can be any subdirectory, default = ".backupy/Logs"
  • trash_dir
    • can be any subdirectory, default = ".backupy/Trash"
  • cleanup_empty_dirs
    • delete directories when they become empty, default = True
  • root_alias_log
    • replace source and dest paths with "<source>" and "<dest>" in logs, default = True
  • stdout_status_bar
    • show progress status bar, default = True
  • verbose
    • print more updates to stdout, default = True
  • force_posix_path_sep
    • always use a forward slash in paths, useful for keeping the same database on a drive shared between multiple operating systems, default = False
  • set_blank_crc_on_copy
    • normally database entries are copied along with files, this removes the CRC from the copied entry forcing BackuPy to calculate and check the CRC on the next run (with ATTR+) to ensure the copy was successful (CRC mode would calculate and check it regardless, but takes much longer since it would also recheck every file), default = False
  • quit_on_db_conflict
    • causes the run to automatically abort if there is any unexpected file modifications, sync conflicts, or file corruption detected, recommended if running with noprompt, default = False

Building From Source

• Run tests with

python setup.py test

• Building a python package

python setup.py sdist

• Building an executable with the GUI

pyinstaller build.spec

• You can package the executable on Windows by running setup.iss with Inno Setup

Links

• https://github.com/elesiuta/backupy
• https://pypi.org/project/BackuPy/