Avoid backing up Cache and Temp Files.

[aleigh]

Sorry that this is somewhat off topic but...

 

I need to avoid backing up the gazillions of temp and cache files that seem to be generated in X. (this for a local HD file backup - limited space and I'd rather avoid restoring lots of stuff (ex: adobefnt.lst files) should the need arise.

 

But I'm an OSX newbie so I don't have a good idea which files are safe to skip.

setting a selector to skip all files whose name contains "cache" seems dangerous. and It appears the built in filter only handles internet cache files.

 

 

Has anyone written a selector which avoids backing up the bulk of garbage files that they'd be willing to share? Any tips?

 

thanks,

aleigh

 

 

[AmyJ]

Dantz has provided a built in selector to exclude cache files - it's called All Files Except Cache Files. If this selector is not comprehensive enough, you can make a copy of it and edit away. I would advise against editing the original. Go to Special > Selectors. Select the item you'd like to copy and go to Selector > Duplicate.

[davidduff]

as far as i can tell, the built-in selector "all files except cache files" is somewhat deficient in os x.

 

first - i wonder why was the selector defined as "all files except cache files" instead of simply "cache files". it is more useful to have a general selector that can be re-used/combined readily with other selectors.

 

second - it doesn't seem to recognize any of the "standard" os x places that cache files are stored such as "/System/Caches/", "/System/Library/Caches/", "/Users/*/Library/Caches/", etc. (not sure i got those exactly right.).

[AmyJ]

The 'All files except cache files' Selector isn't inteded to exclude all .cache files, it is intended to exclude Web Browser's cache files. This Selector will be updated to exclude Mozilla and Safari cache files, but there are a number of files ending in .cache that most people would like to have backed up in the event that an entire system needed to be restored.