Notification if a scheduled backup doesn't run?

[trustworthy]

I just started using for nightly backups. If for some reason the backup does not run as scheduled will I be notified? I don't want to have to check the log each morning. I'm looking for a quick confirmation.

[dnanian]

The entry in "Scheduled Copies" will be red if there's a problem, and the UI should stay open. If you leave SD! open, with the Scheduled Copies window visible, you can get a quick visual confirmation of what happened, too.

[kbradnam]

Hi Dave,

I thought that there would be a relevant post by which to reply and tack on a feature request.

I of course love SuperDuper! and it is used daily by me at work and home for making backups. It all works so well I tend to forget that there are about 6 different scheduled backups running every day now. From time to time a backup will fail (usually because the target backup disk gets filled up). So what I should be doing everyday is always checking SuperDuper to see that things have worked ok. But sometimes I forget (we've had very few reasons to ever retrieve data off of a backup which is why I tend to forget that SuperDuper is there), and sometimes I'm not in the office.

I realised yesterday that I can ssh in to our work computer and navigate to ~/Library/Application Support/SuperDuper!/Scheduled Copies and then go find the latest log file for each of the different backups and check for the 'Copy complete' line. So I'm now tempted to write a quick perl/shell script which will do this and email me the results to let me know whether the backups worked. Then it struck me that I bet other people would like the same functionality, so I thought I'd ask whether this could be implemented as a feature request.

Specifically, I'd envisage SuperDuper would store a target email address and you could choose whether you want the full log file emailed, or just a simply summary (backup succeeded or failed). Each backup would trigger a separate email. Anyway, I realise that you have a million and other one things to be working on but I thought I'd try the old 'if you don't ask, you don't get' addage.

Regards and thanks (as always) for a great piece of software,

Keith

[dnanian]

Thanks for the suggestions, Keith. Notification enhancements are something I've got on the list for future versions.

[emikysa]

I'm really looking forward to the addition of this feature.
Thank you,
Erik

[timlance]

Yep. Count me in.

[cheese2]

I vote for this too - more for the notification of things *not* working. I dont need to wade through 50 emails a day telling me everything is a-ok.

Thanks.

[soulatrium]

Any progress on this? I hate having to open superduper every day to make sure my backup went ok. If it just sent me an email or opened a dialogue that I could see when I get to my computer that would be great. I see something about growl support on here, but it would be even better if I didn't have to install extra 3rd party software....other backup programs do this, get with the program!

[dnanian]

At present, the solution is to install Growl. It's a lightweight application that specializes in notifications and works quite well.

[tecto]

Dave,

i'd be willing to pay for email notification, i'd like the option to see success and failure notifications, as well as the complete log. i've got multiple customers that have purchased copies, but it would be a big help for me to get notifications so i could respond to their problems proactively. my customers probably have 15 copies total to date, i'm selling more but would love to have this feature. name a price to move it up in the queue?

thanks!

[dnanian]

Email notification -- including success and failure -- is already there via Growl. The only thing that's not there is emailing the log.

You could, of course, modify the scheduling template to do whatever you'd like for your customers. That's why the source is available... and in AppleScript for your convenience.

[toctocmale]

Dave,
is it then possible to install Growl on a G5 PPC to get the log notification until your next version of SD! ?

[dnanian]

Of course. Just install it from http://www.growl.info.

[cactustweeter]

Email notification -- including success and failure -- is already there via Growl.

Is Growl still the recommended way to get notified of SuperDuper (SD) backup failures without looking in the log file?

Since I found out SD can mount an offline drive before backup and eject it afterwards, I've been using this feature. The only thing that sucks is that if you want to look at the log file you have to 1st mount the drive otherwise SD can't seem to provide it otherwise. If I'm missing something, please let me know.

[dnanian]

Growl is definitely the recommended way, yes. But the log should be available without mounting the volume: is this a scheduled copy?

[cactustweeter]

But the log should be available without mounting the volume: is this a scheduled copy?

Yes, this is a scheduled copy. After launching SD it complains about not having the backup drive mounted. I dismiss the dialog and then choose the view log menu item and SD displays the log. However, the contents of the log is old. If I remember right, the contents of the log is from when I first set up the scheduled copy. However, if I mount the backup drive, go to the schedule, and then view the log I see the last successful backup.

I'm using version 2.6 of SD with Mac OS X 10.6.1 on a early 2006 Mac Pro.

[dnanian]

The log for a schedule copy is accessed from the Scheduled Copies window (Window > Scheduled Copies): select the schedule and then click "Show Log" there.

[cactustweeter]

The log for a schedule copy is accessed from the Scheduled Copies window (Window > Scheduled Copies): select the schedule and then click "Show Log" there.

Sure enough. Thanks...