Help!! Accidentally dragged a random directory into another and now its all broken

mitu

@cyanxx You don't need SFTP for that, you can access the RetroPie file shares (ROM folders/configs) from your macOS system - see https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/#samba-shares. That should be the preferred method.

cyanxx

@mitu ah sweet. Perfect. I did try that before but couldn't get it to work. Hopefully now I'm on the official image it'll work properly. Thanks!

cyanxx

@mitu @dankcushions I'm saving the contents of

/home/pi/retropie/roms/
/opt/retropie/configs/

Can you think of any other directories I should save before I wipe the SD?

mitu

The BIOS folder might be useful.

montelcow

@cyanxx
My sd card
for retropie is asking for a password. Help

mitu

@montelcow Please open a separate topic instead of barging in on existing ones. Provide the information requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

montelcow

Hello my sd card i have is asking for a password..

cyanxx

@montelcow sorry, I had to use another raspberry pi in order to access the protected directories. Couldn't work out how to do it via mac. Assuming you are meaning you are trying to access the sd card not from the retropie. But as mitu says, perhaps if you start a topic on it someone will help.

Clyde

@cyanxx said in Help!! Accidentally dragged a random directory into another and now its all broken:

Managed to connect the SD card to another raspberry pi so copying all the roms and configs over to a portable HD now.

Isn't that a viable way for making backups, too? If you run a desktop Linux system like Raspberry Pi OS (formerly known as Raspbian) and then connect your RetroPie sd card to that system, you could comfortably copy anything that you need to your backup drive. In this scenario, that drive should be formatted with a Linux file system like ext4, so that the file ownerships and permissions are backed up correctly.

There are many graphical or command line backup applications available for Linux that could help to manage and semi-automate the backups. Many of those programs also work over SSH or SFTP, so a network solution shouldn't be much harder to setup.

As an example, in my first RetroPie years I made my backups by connecting my sd card to my desktop Linux PC using a usb card reader, until I switched to network backups with rsync via SSH roughly 1-1½ years ago.

Apart from backups, am using Unison to synchronise RetroPie settings and roms between the Pi 4 in my arcade cabinet, my desktop PC, and my Laptop. They all run on Linux, though, and unfortunately, Unison isn't available for MacOS. So it would only be useful on your second Pi (or the first one by switching the system card).

Whatever you do your backups with, the important thing is to make the process as easiy and convenient as possible, so that you actually make them regularly. 😉

montelcow

@cyanxx. Will do Thanks