semi-automatic backup to USB drive

[sethg-Dp9fwfP21SfQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org (Seth Gordon)]

Dan Ritter wrote:
>> (2) The desktop, recognizing the UUID of the drive it just mounted, runs 
>> a backup script (perhaps throwing up a confirmation dialog box to 
>> whoever is logged in).
> 
> Recognize plug events: udev

Aha!  http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html#external-run

> 
>> (3) When the script completes, one of those little flashing GNOME 
>> notification-thingies appears on my screen: ???Backup completed; you may 
>> unmount the drive??? or ???Backup failed: see /var/log/mumble for details???.
> 
> Gnome notification from tiny Python script: 
> http://blogs.divisibleprime.com/ronin/articles/2008/03/10/command-line-gnome-notification

And that article refers me to information on the ?notify-send? 
command-line utility, and one of the Google hits for ?notify-send? is an 
article about... how to run a script to pop up a notification message 
when the user plugs in a certain USB drive.  Beauty!

> 
>> (4) I unmount the drive, unplug it, and put it in a safe place.
> 
> If it succeeded, might as well have it unmount automatically,
> too.

Possibly...  I might want to give myself the option of using the hard 
drive as a hard drive before unmounting it, though.

Thanks!

> 
> -dsr-
>