AshDrive

Plug in a flash drive → it backs itself up.

AshDrive watches for your USB / flash drives and backs them up automatically — on Windows and macOS.

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AshDrive lives in your system tray (or macOS menu bar) and watches for drives you've set up. When you plug one in, it either asks "Back up to <folder>?" or backs it up immediately and sends a notification. Backups are incremental — only new or changed files are copied — so repeat backups are fast, and your backup folder is always a safe, complete copy of the drive.

✨ Features

• Automatic, hands-off backups — plug in a configured drive and AshDrive does the rest.
• Two modes per drive:
  • Ask — prompts you (notification + in-app banner) before backing up.
  • Auto — backs up on insertion and just notifies you when it's done.
• Incremental copies — skips files that match on size + modified time; nothing is ever deleted from the backup.
• Cross-platform — one app, one codebase, native notifications + tray on Windows and macOS.
• System-tray menu with Back up now for any plugged-in drive.
• Runs at login (optional) so it's always watching.
• No native modules — drive detection uses built-in OS tools (PowerShell on Windows, diskutil on macOS), so it builds cleanly and there's nothing to compile.

📦 Install

Windows

Run AshDrive-Setup-1.0.0.exe and follow the installer.

The app is unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first launch — click More info → Run anyway. A portable copy (AshDrive.exe) is also in dist/win-unpacked/.

macOS

Open AshDrive-1.0.0-universal.dmg, drag AshDrive to Applications.

Unsigned on macOS too: right-click the app → Open → Open the first time, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/AshDrive.app

🚀 Usage

1. Launch AshDrive — it appears in your tray / menu bar.
2. Click Add drive:
   • Pick the detected flash drive.
   • Choose a backup folder.
   • Give it a name.
   • Toggle Back up automatically on or off.
3. That's it. Unplug and re-plug the drive — AshDrive backs it up (or asks first, depending on the mode).

A drive is recognised by its volume label + size, so it stays "your drive" even if Windows assigns it a different letter next time.

🛠️ Run from source

Requirements: Node.js 18+ (tested on Node 20 / 22).

npm install
npm run icon      # generate app + tray icons (one-time)
npm start         # launch the app
npm test          # logic tests (drive detection + backup engine)

🔨 Build the installers

Windows .exe (build on Windows)

npm run dist:win

→ dist/AshDrive-Setup-1.0.0.exe (NSIS installer)

macOS .dmg (must build on macOS)

npm run dist:mac

→ dist/AshDrive-1.0.0-universal.dmg (Apple Silicon + Intel)

⚠️ A .dmg cannot be created on a Windows machine — Apple's hdiutil only runs on macOS, and electron-builder enforces this. Two ways to get it:

• Cloud (no Mac): push to GitHub and run the Build AshDrive workflow (.github/workflows/build.yml) — it builds the .dmg on a macOS runner and the .exe on a Windows runner, then uploads both as artifacts. Public repos get free macOS runners.
• Any Mac: npm install && npm run icon && npm run dist:mac.

For real distribution, sign + notarize the Mac app (Apple Developer ID) and sign the Windows installer (code-signing certificate) to remove the warning prompts.

🧱 How it works

Path	Role
src/main.js	Electron main process: window, tray, drive polling, backup orchestration, notifications, IPC
src/preload.js	Secure context bridge between renderer and main
src/renderer/	The UI — drive cards, add-drive dialog, settings, prompts, progress
src/lib/drives.js	Cross-platform removable-drive detection (pure JS, no native modules)
src/lib/backup.js	Incremental folder copy with system-junk skipping
scripts/make-icon.mjs	Renders the app + tray icons from SVG via sharp
electron-builder.yml	Packaging config (NSIS for Windows, DMG for macOS)

Drive detection polls every 3 seconds using OS built-ins. System-managed folders (System Volume Information, $RECYCLE.BIN, .Trashes, .Spotlight-V100, .fseventsd, …) are skipped automatically.

❓ FAQ

Why does the backup happen on insertion, not on removal? A drive has to be present to read it. On removal, AshDrive instead notifies you that the drive was safely ejected and reminds you of the last backup time. You can also hit Back up now anytime while it's plugged in.

Will it back up every flash drive I plug in? Only the drives you've added. Unknown drives get a one-line "detected — open AshDrive to set up" notification.

Is my data sent anywhere? No. AshDrive copies files locally from the drive to a folder you choose. Nothing leaves your machine.

📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE.