Dátà Vu
Wait, Haven’t I Seen This Before?
Coming Soon
The Dátà Vu widget is an easy way to create a backup of your files. It allows you to quickly synchronize your data from any folder to any location: an external drive, a different partition, another folder on the same drive, even across the network to a remote server!
By default the Dátà Vu widget chooses your home directory (excluding your Trash) as the source and let’s you choose the destination. If you want to change the source, simply drag & drop a new directory onto your widget.
Features of Interest
- Extremely fast mirroring operation by updating only the differences between two sets of files using an efficient checksum-search algorithm
- Completely native and self contained
- Uses tools already built into the solid OS X platform
- Free!
FAQ
Why doesn’t the destination include my source folder after a sync?
Many people are accustomed to creating a copy of a folder by the “copy & paste” operation. However, it is important to note that the Dátà Vu widget does not simply copy the source to the destination; it is much more sophisticated than that. By defining a source directory, the Dátà Vu widget will synchronize the contents of that directory with the contents of your destination directory. It is important to realize the distinction between copying a folder and syncronizing its contents.
If you're still confused, use the following reasoning and you’ll never forget: If you want to create a bootable clone of your Hard Drive (let’s say it is called “My HD”), you’d set the source in your Dátà Vu widget to “My HD” and the destination to the root of you’re removable Hard Drive (we’ll call it “Backup HD”). After the synchronization is complete and you open your external drive, you wouldn’t expect to see a folder called “My HD” but rather exactly what you’d see if you opened your Hard Drive.
Does the Dátà Vu widget handle OS X’s resource forks?
Totally! The Dátà Vu widget uses the rsync command which as of OS X v10.4 (Tiger) handles resource forks.
If I have Time Machine, Apple’s automatic back up utility, I have no use for this tool, right?
Wrong! Although Time Machine allows you to exclude certain folders from the backup (so that you can control what is backed up), it keeps copies of things you’ve deleted (to enable restoration of different versions). Although this feature can be useful, you’re backup will also be loaded with data that you don’t need—or worse, that you don’t want anybody to ever see. The Dátà Vu widget creates an exact mirror of your source so that your destination contains no less & more importantly, no more data than you expect.
Release Notes
- 1.0 — Initial release
The Dátà Vu widget is provided as is. By downloading the Dátà Vu widget, you agree that there is no warranty associated with its functionality or impact it may have on your system.