Best way to preview files to be backed up before script execution?

[amkassir]

Sometimes I make changes in rules, and want to make sure my rule is working as expected before I actually start the backup script. I've been known to make mistakes and end up backing up lots of files I don't want to backup. How does one best preview files that will be backed up (and those that will not)?

 

In Retrospect 6.1 it was easy to set up an immediate backup and preview the files to be backed up. I haven't yet found a comparable easy-to-use preview in Retrospect 9. In previous versions (8.2) I seem to remember you could look at a sort of preview but couldn't tell which files were going to be backed up or excluded without drilling down manually into every folder, because there was no indication of which folders contained files that would be backed up without looking into the folders. I think this is the same in R9.

 

It would be great to be able to do a preview of an existing script's results, but I'd settle for having to create a script manually and getting a nice-looking easy-to-use preview.

[twickland]

In Retro 6, it was actually possible to test a rule (né "Selector") without even running a backup. When performing a backup, restore, or volume scan, the display of the volume's contents could be viewed in many ways with or without the directory hierarchy, and once the directory information had been downloaded (which didn't take all that much time), scrolling through the list of files, changing the view options, sorting the files, etc. was a snap. Files that had already been backed up were marked with a diamond icon. Sadly, all of these valuable features were abandoned in Retro 8/9. (I've put my 2 cents worth on this into the Product Suggestions forum in the likely-vain hope they can be brought back in a future version.)

 

As far as I know, the only sure way to test a backup rule in Retro 8/9 is to actually perform a backup using the rule. You could perhaps speed things up somewhat by defining a small favorite folder that is likely to contain files affected by your rule conditions.