Is there a Shutdown Items folder in Mac OS X 10.6?

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Level 1

18 points

Is there a Shutdown Items folder in Mac OS X 10.6?

I'm running OS X 10.6 on a Mac Pro, and trying to get a back-up program (Synk Professional) to launch at shutdown, copy files which have changed throughout the day and then shut the computer down.

I'm sure I used to be able to do this easily on an iMac running an earlier version of OS X. Whilst I can see the StartupItems folder in the System/Library, there doesn't seem to be anywhere I can drag an alias of my back-up program to in order to get that to launch at the correct time.

Any ideas? Is this still possible?

MacPro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 8, 2011 1:07 AM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Apr 8, 2011 3:21 AM in response to Ham1000

You can't launch something at shutdown, since doing so would cancel shutdown. The more appropriate way to manage this would be to create an AppleScript that would start up Synk Pro, run the script, wait for it to finish and then shut down. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Synk Pro is scriptable, which may throw a wrench into that plan. You may want to check with Decimus support to see what they recommend, and also try posting on the [AppleScript forum|http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=724] to see if people there might have a solution for you.

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Answer 2

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Apr 8, 2011 3:31 AM in response to Ham1000

it hasn't been updated in a while but have a look @ Do Something When.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Apr 8, 2011 6:24 AM in response to Ham1000

What you want is a logout hook. For experts only:

http://chris-mccafferty.blogspot.com/2010/12/mac-os-x-login-and-logout-scripts.h tml

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Answer 4

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Apr 8, 2011 6:31 AM in response to Linc Davis

I've never actually done this, but don't think it will work for the purpose of running a task in a regular app like Synk Pro. Launching Synk Pro - even, I would think, from a logout script - will cancel logout. Of course, if Ham1000 is willing and able, he could probably replace Synk Pro with a call to rsync from a logout script:

http://www.bananica.com/Geek-Stuff/Synchronize-two-folders-on-a-Mac-with-Rsync/

Interesting idea...

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Answer 5

Ham1000 Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 8, 2011 7:58 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thanks Thomas. I take your point about canceling the shutdown if launching an app, but as I said I'm sure I used to do this on my old iMac, with Sync Pro (once files had been copied) shutting the machine down.

I'll contact Decimus to see what they suggest.

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Apr 8, 2011 8:10 AM in response to Ham1000

I pulled out my copy, and it looks like in the Before & After tab when editing a sync script in Synk Pro, there's a way to add Shut Down as an action to take after syncing. So you could start the sync and then the machine would shut down when finished... at least, that's what it looks like the idea is, I've never actually used that feature.

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