AppleScript to automate Time Machine backup on NAS

@NW Coast

I have your answer, the code is at the bottom, but I have something to say first.

If there was ever an expert to answer a question on Apple Discussions it would be Linc Davis. If he says something is impossible, then you're probably going to need more than a few lines of AppleScript to make a worthwhile solution. It is not Linc Davis's job or obligation to teach you AppleScript. There is excellent documentation online if you need to learn AppleScript.

A teenager neighbor with a little extra time on their hands could realistically steal every last byte of information on every computer that follows that method. The likelihood of being able to restore from the backups is also very low.

The discussions are for resolving issues, not extending functionality or AppleScript tutorials.

That said here is the AppleScript that would likely do what you want. It runs, but its got problems.

-- First get the name of the backup

set BackupName to text returned of (display dialog "Enter Backup Name:" default answer "New_Backup")

-- FIXME, some special characters can cause issues

-- Then get the name of the server

set ServerName to text returned of (display dialog "Whats the name of your server?:" default answer "YourServerName")

-- FIXME, white space in the server name will break the script

set ServerDirectory to ServerName & "/BACKUPS/MANUAL"

-- Try to connect to the server

-- This tell-to-end tell, is originally from: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3479873?start=0&tstart=0

tell application "Finder"

set mounted_Disks to list disks

--display dialog result as string

--set mounted_Disks to every disk whose (ejectable is true)

if mounted_Disks does not contain ServerName then

-- NOTE, smb may not work. I have no way of testing it. But this does work for apf

try

mount volume "smb://" & ServerDirectory

end try

end if

end tell

-- find the computer's name:

-- find the hostname

-- then use sed to get rid of the .lan at the end

set ComputerName to (do shell script "hostname | sed s/\\.lan$//")

-- find the computer's unique address:

-- get the ifconfig

-- find the 'ether' line with grep

-- get rid of the begining ' ether' with sed

-- get rid of the ':'s with sed

-- get rid of the trailing space with sed

set TheAddress to (do shell script "ifconfig en0 | grep \"^\\s\\+ether\" | sed \"s/[[:space:]]*ether[[:space:]]//\" | sed \"s/\\://g\" | sed \"s/[[:space:]]//\"")

-- find the home dir

set HomeDirectory to (do shell script "cd;pwd")

-- Then create the sparsebundle on the Desktop

-- cd to Desktop

-- create the sparsebundle with a backup name for the file,

-- and underneath, set it with the ComputerName and Computer address

do shell script "cd " & HomeDirectory & "/Desktop;hdiutil create -size 1024g -type SPARSEBUNDLE -fs \"HFS+J\" -volname \"" & BackupName & "\" " & ComputerName & "_" & TheAddress & ".sparsebundle" with administrator privileges

-- Move the sparsebundle to the server

do shell script "mv \"" & BackupName & "\" /Volumes/" & ServerDirectory

-- FIXME, original sparsebundle needs to be deleted from Desktop

-- Then mount the sparsebundle by opening it

open "/Volumes/" & ServerDirectory

-- Then set the time machine to use that new mounted volume

do shell script "tmutil setdestination \"/Volumes/" & BackupName & "\"" with administrator privileges

What you're trying to do is impossible. Time Machine can only back up over a network to an AFP server, and only if it meets the published specification for network backup devices.

If you care about the safety of your data, don't. Just don't.

No. I linked to Apple's specifications for a network backup server. Follow those specifications, not what you found on some random blog page written by somebody who doesn't know what he's talking about and takes no responsibility for the consequences.