Ok, so I had this mostly written already.
Save this file as /usr/local/bin/timemachine-mount-run-unmount.sh
#!/usr/bin/env zsh -f
# Purpose: Once you set the DEVICE,
# this script will mount your Time Machine drive,
# run Time Machine,
# and then unmount the drive
#
# From: Timothy J. Luoma
# Mail: luomat at gmail dot com
# Date: 2020-04-20
## To find the device, mount the Time Machine drive and then run this command in Terminal:
#
# mount | egrep '^/dev/' | sed -e 's# (.*#)#g' -e 's# on /# (/#g'
#
# and you will see a bunch of entries like this
#
# /dev/disk2s1 (/Volumes/MBA-Clone - Data)
# /dev/disk3s5 (/Volumes/Storage)
# /dev/disk4s6 (/Volumes/MBA-Clone)
#
# You need to set
#
# DEVICE='/dev/disk3s5'
#
# or whatever is correct for your Time Machine drive
DEVICE=''
################################################################################################
NAME="$0:t:r"
if [[ -e "$HOME/.path" ]]
then
source "$HOME/.path"
else
PATH="$HOME/scripts:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin"
fi
zmodload zsh/datetime
TIME=$(strftime "%Y-%m-%d--%H.%M.%S" "$EPOCHSECONDS")
function timestamp { strftime "%Y-%m-%d--%H.%M.%S" "$EPOCHSECONDS" }
STATUS=$(tmutil currentphase)
if [[ "$STATUS" != "BackupNotRunning" ]]
then
echo "$NAME: Time Machine status is '$STATUS'. Should be 'BackupNotRunning'." >>/dev/stderr
exit 0
fi
# if you have multiple Time Machine destinations, this might not give you the right info
# I'm assuming you only have one
TM_DRIVE_NAME=$(tmutil destinationinfo | egrep '^Name ' | sed 's#^Name *: ##g' | head -1)
MNTPNT="/Volumes/$TM_DRIVE_NAME"
if [[ -d "$MNTPNT" ]]
then
echo "$NAME: '$MNTPNT' is already mounted".
else
if [[ "$DEVICE" == "" ]]
then
echo "$NAME: the 'DEVICE' variable is not set" >>/dev/stderr
exit 0
fi
diskutil mountDisk "$DEVICE"
fi
if [[ ! -d "$MNTPNT" ]]
then
echo "$NAME: Failed to mount '$MNTPNT'." >>/dev/stderr
exit 0
fi
TM_DRIVE_ID=$(tmutil destinationinfo | egrep '^ID ' | sed 's#^ID *: ##g' | head -1)
echo "$NAME: Starting backup at `timestamp`"
# `caffeinate -i` is optional but keeps your Mac from sleeping
caffeinate -i tmutil startbackup --block --destination "$ID"
EXIT="$?"
if [[ "$EXIT" == "0" ]]
then
echo "$NAME: Finished successfully at `timestamp`."
else
echo "$NAME: Finished UN-successfully (Exit = $EXIT) at `timestamp`."
fi
while [[ -d "$MNTPNT" ]]
do
# this will try to unmount the drive as long as it is mounted
diskutil unmountDisk "$MNTPNT"
sleep 10
done
exit 0
#EOF
Note that the file is probably not fully shown in your browser, so be sure you copy the whole thing.
Note that you need to run the command:
mount | egrep '^/dev/' | sed -e 's# (.*#)#g' -e 's# on /# (/#g'
and then set the DEVICE='' variable near the top of the file.
Failure to do this will cause this script to inevitably fail.
Make Executable (Mandatory)
Once the file is saved in its location, make sure it is executable:
chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/timemachine-mount-run-unmount.sh
Try it
Once you have done all of that, you can run the script like this:
/usr/local/bin/timemachine-mount-run-unmount.sh
and it should tell you what it is doing.
Optional - launchd daily operation
If you want to have this run automatically every day. save the file below as:
$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount.plist
Here’s the file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount</string>
<key>Program</key>
<string>/usr/local/bin/timemachine-mount-run-unmount.sh</string>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/tmp/com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount.log</string>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/tmp/com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount.log</string>
<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
<dict>
<key>Hour</key>
<integer>1</integer>
<key>Minute</key>
<integer>5</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
Once you have that file in place, do this in Terminal (all one line):
launchctl load "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount.plist"
You can look at the log file at /tmp/com.tjluoma.timemachine-mount-run-unmount.log to see if it works.
Note that the way that I have it, it will run:
-
Whenever you log in
-
Every dat at 1:05 a.m.
The idea here is that you might want to make sure that it runs every day when you aren’t using the computer (maybe? No judgment.)
Questions?
Let me know.
