Backup Your Files To Box, Google Drive, SkyDrive And More With Duplicati [Cross Platform]
So you have your Box, Google Drive or SkyDrive account, but how do you automatically add files to them? They are quite useful for manually adding files to, but what if you wanted to use the storage space to back up your computer files? Well, there aren’t too many options, especially free ones, that allow you to do this.
In fact, I’m only aware of one and that is Duplicati. Duplicati is a cross platform (Linux, Mac, Windows) program that becomes the intermediate tool between your computer files and these backup services. Granted, these aren’t the only services that it can be used on, but they’re some of the most popular ones so I mentioned them first. Duplicati is easy to use and set up. Let’s jump in!
Setting Up Duplicati
Upon installing Duplicati, you’ll be welcomed with a Setup Wizard to get your first backup underway. You’ll want to check the option “Setup a new backup” and click “Next.” Other options on this screen are restoring files from backup without setting up Duplicati and restoring settings from a previous Duplicati installation.
Next you’ll want to create a name for your backup. Note that you can also add this to a group to organize your backups if you desire.
Now you will select the types of files you want to backup or, alternatively, you can create a custom folder list. For most, however, selecting the file types should suffice.
After selecting your files, Duplicati will prompt you to set up your password. This password is very important to remember as they will not recover it for you. Do I need to reiterate that? Apparently, they feel the need to.
You can either choose your own password or have Duplicati randomly create one for you. Either way, make sure you save your password in a safe place. You can also choose the encryption method. Unless you’re an advanced user, I recommend you leave that be.
Once you create a secure password, you’ll choose your cloud storage option. If you haven’t already created an account with one or more of these options (and actually even if you have), I highly recommend you read Tim Brookes article, Read This Before Choosing An Online Backup Provider.
At this point it’d be a good idea to check out the how to section on the Duplicati websitewhere they have instructions for setting up each of the different cloud storage options. Had I done this first, I would have saved some time and prevented some frustrating error messages.
Basically what I did when setting it up for SkyDrive is I assumed that it wanted the full folder path (in my defense, it kind of reads like it wants that) so I was pasting the whole SkyDrive folder path or a path of a folder in SkyDrive that I wanted to backup to.
Needless to say, this didn’t work. Instead what you’re supposed to do is type in the name that you want such as “Backup,” “Duplicati,” “My Documents,” etc. Then you click the Create Folder button. Once it’s created click the Test Connection button to ensure it works properly. You should get a little message that says “Connection Successful.”
Now you have a choice: you can either click next and bypass all the “advanced” options, or check the ones you’d like to change. If you’re curious like I am, you can check them all. Then click next.
The first setting, and one of the most important is the scheduling. This one isn’t very advanced and really should be customized no matter your technical level. Simply chose the different options to customize when you want Duplicati to run.
Next, you can edit the cleanup options. One thing you don’t want is an abundant amount of backups taking up space. You only need a few at the most, so really this doesn’t need to be changed, unless you have something specific in mind.
This next option is limiting the backup itself as far as file size, upload and download bandwidth limits, etc. This definitely applies if you have strict regulations from your Internet Service Provider.
Editing filters can come in handy if there’s a specific file type you want to keep from backing up, or perhaps the alternative where you only want to backup specific file types.
Lastly, there are the override settings. This is for the truly advanced and both Duplicati and I recommend that you don’t mess with these unless you know what you’re doing.
Then you finish and run the backup!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**************************************************---
Do You Copy & Paste All Day? Manage The
Windows Clipboard Better With The Portable
ClipTrap
The clipboard is one of the invisible but most used features of our Windows computers. But satisfied with the way it handles any copy-paste operations, we let it be…rarely fiddling with it to change its default operation. Come to think of it, it is a bit strange because copy-paste operations take place throughout the day, almost as an unconscious behavior, and always repeatedly. It may make sense to use a Windows clipboard manager which will at least cut the repetitions of CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
Then it definitely makes sense to use a hassle-free portable app for the job, as portable apps come without the extra baggage of registry bloating entries. You can carry it along with you on a portable drive to whichever computer you work next on. ClipTrap is a nice little utility which scores marks on each count.
ClipTrap (ver. 1.1.5) is a free portable app for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
The Portable Little and Lithe ClipTrap
ClipTrap is a little portable application that works with Windows Clipboard and helps to extend the simple copy-paste operations. Traditional clipboard operations are one-off…your successive clipboard job wipes the earlier one from its memory. But with ClipTrap, it’s easy to keep track of all your copy-paste operations and helps you return to something you copied – let’s say – seven steps back. It’s just the tool you would need if you do a lot of copy-pasting between various applications, and would like to keep a history of it throughout the day.
The interface is simple sans any frills. To understand its simplicity, you have to understand why it was made originally – for use with terminal emulators that often needed to capture several successive bits of output from various routers, switches, and other devices on the network.
The list of features is also simple…
- You can toggle the clipboard monitor on and off with a click on the ‘playhead’ icon.
- You can save all your clipboard operations as a plain text file or append it to another pre-existing text file.
- You can copy the entire saved text and paste it elsewhere with a click on Copy window text.
- You can move through an entire day’s clipboard history speedily with the scroll buttons.
- You can append the latest clipboard entry at the top or at the bottom.
Clear clipboard and Clear window text are pretty self-explanatory. The Configuration screen as shown below, gives you a few productivity tweaks.
You can change the font of the saved clipboard entries. This doesn’t make much of a difference as you would most likely adopt the formatting of the target file when you paste it there. You can set a timestamp which allows you to use standard AutoHotkey timestamp tokens in your delimiter strings. See the AutoHotkey time format page for the method. Also, for a speedier launch, you can set a keyboard shortcut for the app, and minimize it to the tray where it watches over the clipboard.
Using ClipTrap
There are more powerful clipboard manager tools like Ditto which we reviewed in The 3 Best Clipboard Managers For Windows. I am partial to ClipX myself and regularly use it in my work. Also, look into the options mentioned by Craig in his Power Up Your Copy & Paste Functions With These 2 Tools post. Options are aplenty, so why use ClipTrap?
As the developer says, it is meant to be simple and something just above a more complicated clipboard manager. It took me all of five seconds to start using it. Text and links are saved as is, while files are saved by theirs locations only (obviously). So, if you are among those who likes their software to be portable, free, and lightweight (1.32 MB), you would give ClipTrap a tryout. It must be doing something right as readers have put in a recommendation for it and given it a place on our Best Portable Apps page.
In fact, I’m only aware of one and that is Duplicati. Duplicati is a cross platform (Linux, Mac, Windows) program that becomes the intermediate tool between your computer files and these backup services. Granted, these aren’t the only services that it can be used on, but they’re some of the most popular ones so I mentioned them first. Duplicati is easy to use and set up. Let’s jump in!
Setting Up Duplicati
Upon installing Duplicati, you’ll be welcomed with a Setup Wizard to get your first backup underway. You’ll want to check the option “Setup a new backup” and click “Next.” Other options on this screen are restoring files from backup without setting up Duplicati and restoring settings from a previous Duplicati installation.
Next you’ll want to create a name for your backup. Note that you can also add this to a group to organize your backups if you desire.
Now you will select the types of files you want to backup or, alternatively, you can create a custom folder list. For most, however, selecting the file types should suffice.
After selecting your files, Duplicati will prompt you to set up your password. This password is very important to remember as they will not recover it for you. Do I need to reiterate that? Apparently, they feel the need to.
You can either choose your own password or have Duplicati randomly create one for you. Either way, make sure you save your password in a safe place. You can also choose the encryption method. Unless you’re an advanced user, I recommend you leave that be.
Once you create a secure password, you’ll choose your cloud storage option. If you haven’t already created an account with one or more of these options (and actually even if you have), I highly recommend you read Tim Brookes article, Read This Before Choosing An Online Backup Provider.
At this point it’d be a good idea to check out the how to section on the Duplicati websitewhere they have instructions for setting up each of the different cloud storage options. Had I done this first, I would have saved some time and prevented some frustrating error messages.
Basically what I did when setting it up for SkyDrive is I assumed that it wanted the full folder path (in my defense, it kind of reads like it wants that) so I was pasting the whole SkyDrive folder path or a path of a folder in SkyDrive that I wanted to backup to.
Needless to say, this didn’t work. Instead what you’re supposed to do is type in the name that you want such as “Backup,” “Duplicati,” “My Documents,” etc. Then you click the Create Folder button. Once it’s created click the Test Connection button to ensure it works properly. You should get a little message that says “Connection Successful.”
Now you have a choice: you can either click next and bypass all the “advanced” options, or check the ones you’d like to change. If you’re curious like I am, you can check them all. Then click next.
The first setting, and one of the most important is the scheduling. This one isn’t very advanced and really should be customized no matter your technical level. Simply chose the different options to customize when you want Duplicati to run.
Next, you can edit the cleanup options. One thing you don’t want is an abundant amount of backups taking up space. You only need a few at the most, so really this doesn’t need to be changed, unless you have something specific in mind.
This next option is limiting the backup itself as far as file size, upload and download bandwidth limits, etc. This definitely applies if you have strict regulations from your Internet Service Provider.
Editing filters can come in handy if there’s a specific file type you want to keep from backing up, or perhaps the alternative where you only want to backup specific file types.
Lastly, there are the override settings. This is for the truly advanced and both Duplicati and I recommend that you don’t mess with these unless you know what you’re doing.
Then you finish and run the backup!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**************************************************---
Do You Copy & Paste All Day? Manage The
Windows Clipboard Better With The Portable
ClipTrap
The clipboard is one of the invisible but most used features of our Windows computers. But satisfied with the way it handles any copy-paste operations, we let it be…rarely fiddling with it to change its default operation. Come to think of it, it is a bit strange because copy-paste operations take place throughout the day, almost as an unconscious behavior, and always repeatedly. It may make sense to use a Windows clipboard manager which will at least cut the repetitions of CTRL+C and CTRL+V.
Then it definitely makes sense to use a hassle-free portable app for the job, as portable apps come without the extra baggage of registry bloating entries. You can carry it along with you on a portable drive to whichever computer you work next on. ClipTrap is a nice little utility which scores marks on each count.
ClipTrap (ver. 1.1.5) is a free portable app for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
The Portable Little and Lithe ClipTrap
ClipTrap is a little portable application that works with Windows Clipboard and helps to extend the simple copy-paste operations. Traditional clipboard operations are one-off…your successive clipboard job wipes the earlier one from its memory. But with ClipTrap, it’s easy to keep track of all your copy-paste operations and helps you return to something you copied – let’s say – seven steps back. It’s just the tool you would need if you do a lot of copy-pasting between various applications, and would like to keep a history of it throughout the day.
The interface is simple sans any frills. To understand its simplicity, you have to understand why it was made originally – for use with terminal emulators that often needed to capture several successive bits of output from various routers, switches, and other devices on the network.
The list of features is also simple…
- You can toggle the clipboard monitor on and off with a click on the ‘playhead’ icon.
- You can save all your clipboard operations as a plain text file or append it to another pre-existing text file.
- You can copy the entire saved text and paste it elsewhere with a click on Copy window text.
- You can move through an entire day’s clipboard history speedily with the scroll buttons.
- You can append the latest clipboard entry at the top or at the bottom.
Clear clipboard and Clear window text are pretty self-explanatory. The Configuration screen as shown below, gives you a few productivity tweaks.
You can change the font of the saved clipboard entries. This doesn’t make much of a difference as you would most likely adopt the formatting of the target file when you paste it there. You can set a timestamp which allows you to use standard AutoHotkey timestamp tokens in your delimiter strings. See the AutoHotkey time format page for the method. Also, for a speedier launch, you can set a keyboard shortcut for the app, and minimize it to the tray where it watches over the clipboard.
Using ClipTrap
There are more powerful clipboard manager tools like Ditto which we reviewed in The 3 Best Clipboard Managers For Windows. I am partial to ClipX myself and regularly use it in my work. Also, look into the options mentioned by Craig in his Power Up Your Copy & Paste Functions With These 2 Tools post. Options are aplenty, so why use ClipTrap?
As the developer says, it is meant to be simple and something just above a more complicated clipboard manager. It took me all of five seconds to start using it. Text and links are saved as is, while files are saved by theirs locations only (obviously). So, if you are among those who likes their software to be portable, free, and lightweight (1.32 MB), you would give ClipTrap a tryout. It must be doing something right as readers have put in a recommendation for it and given it a place on our Best Portable Apps page.
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