Restorething

restorething is a tool for restoring files from a syncthing versioning archive. Supply restorething the path to the syncthing versioning directory and a date, it will index the available files in the versioning archive and restore files for you.

restorething has multiple restore modes and the ability to filter files and directories.

Restore Modes

restorething will restore files using the following modes

• Nearest file before/after a specific date/time (default behaviour)
• Nearest file before a specific date/time
• Nearest file after a specific date/time
• All instances of a specific file with no date/time restriction

restorething has filtering options

• Filter files with specific string
• Filter dir with specific string
• Filter both dir and file with specific string

Installation

restorething from source

$ python setup.py sdist
$ pip install dist\restorething-x.x.x.tar.gz

restorething from PyPI

$ pip install restorething

Usage

$ python -m restorething { date [ -hr {0-24} | -b | -a | -pm {int} | -ai {path and filename} | -vd {dir} | -rd {dir} | -dd {dir} | -df {filename} | -nf | -nd | -ic | -ns | [ -ff {string} | -fd {string} | -fb {path and filename} ] | -d | --version] }

Argument	Type	Format	Default	Description
date	integer	YYYYMMDD	No default value. Field must be supplied by user	Date to restore files, date will be used to find closest file before or after date
-hr	integer	-hr {0-24}	12	Hour to compare file's modification time
-b	switch	-b	disabled	Limit restore of files to before the supplied date and hour
-a	switch	-a	disabled	Limit restore of files to after the supplied date and hour
-pm	integer	-pm {0-2147483647 hrs}	0	Limit restore of files to plus/minus hours each side of the supplied date and hour
-ai	string	-ai {absolute path of file}	disabled	Recovers all versions of a file ignoring any date and times specified
-vd	string	-vd {absolute or relative path of DIR}	.stversions	Sets the location of the syncthing versioning folder, by default script looks in directory script is run from
-rd	string	-rd {absolute or relative path of DIR}	restore	Enables the ability to restore to a location other than the default
-dd	string	-dd {absolute or relative path of DIR}	/home/name/.restorething	Enables the ability to use a database file in a different location, default behaviour is to store database file in users home directory
-df	string	-df {filename}	restorething.db	Enables the ability to use a database file with a different name
-nf	switch	-nf	disabled	Enables indexing archived files every time script is run, by default script will reuse existing DB file for 24 hours
-nd	switch	-nd	disabled	Exclude restoring files that have been deleted or changed due to renaming, by default deleted or renamed files are included in restore
-ic	switch	-ic	disabled	Enables restoring files that were marked as conflict files by syncthing and deleted by user, by default conflict files are not restored
-ns	switch	-ns	disabled	Enables no simulation mode, default behaviour is to simulate restore, no simulation mode will copy files from syncthing archive to hard drive
-ff	string	-ff {string}	disabled	Recovers a single version of any files matching the string supplied
-fd	string	-fd {string}	disabled	Recovers a single version of all files in any DIR matching the string supplied
-fb	string	-fb {absolute path of file}	disabled	Recovers a single version of a file matching the DIR and Filename
-d	switch	-d	disabled	Enables debug output to console
--version	switch	--version	disabled	Displays version

Default behaviour

• The default behaviour of the script is to look for the closest file older (before) than supplied date/time. If nothing is found, the script looks for the closest file younger (after) than supplied date/time. The default behaviour can be limited to plus/minus hours by supplying -pm {hours} argument or changed to only looking before or after supplied date/time by using the -b or -a flags, respectively.
• If no hour is supplied the default time value the script uses is 12pm. This can be changed by using the -hr {0-24} argument
• The script will always simulate a restore by default giving the user an opportunity to review any detected warnings. By supplying the -ns flag, the user can enable the no simulation mode and do an actual restore, no simulation, no undo.
• The script will create a directory named restore in the directory the script is being called from and restore all files recursively inside of it
• If no syncthing versioning directory is supplied, the default behaviour is to look in the directory the script is being called from.
• All config, log and database files are stored in user's home directory under the directory named .restorething.

Examples

Restore closest file before 6am 15th August 2016, if no file is found restore closet file after 6am 15th August 2016. Due to not supplying versioning directory, script will need to be called from directory containing versioning directory

$ python -m restorething 20160815 -hr 6

Restore closest file after 6am 15th August 2016, if no file is found, no file will be restored. Versioning directory is supplied as a relative path to where the script is being called from.

$ python -m restorething 20160815 -hr 6 -a -vd sync/.stversions

Restore closest file before 6am 15th August 2016, if no file is found, no file will be restored. Versioning directory is supplied as a relative path to where the script is being called from.

$ python -m restorething 20160815 -hr 6 -b -vd sync/.stversions

Restore closest file no more than 10 hours before 6am 15th August 2016, if no file is found restorething will look for the closet file no more than 10 hours after 6am 15th August 2016. Versioning directory is supplied as a relative path to where the script is being called from.

$ python -m restorething 20160815 -hr 6 -pm 10 -vd sync/.stversions

Restore all instances of a file located in directory /some/important/directory/, named file.txt. Current script limitation is you have to supply a date, although it will be ignored.

$ python -m restorething 20160815 -ai /some/important/directory/file.txt