Time to archive

How to archive an entire YouTube channel

1. Create a directory where you want your files to be
2. Download or create the necessary files to create directories, move files and download videos. Examples:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   if [ ! -d "video" ] ; then
   mkdir video && mkdir metadata && mkdir thumbnails && mkdir descriptions && echo "Created directories"
   fi

   #!/bin/bash
   
   if compgen -G "*.mkv" > /dev/null ; then
   mv *.mkv video/ && mv *.webp thumbnails/ && mv *.description descriptions/ && mv *.info.json metadata/ && echo "Moved files"
   fi

   #!/bin/bash
   yt-dlp --config-location /srv/dev-disk-by-uuid-fa1e36be-9ccc-4549-8734-fe6117b30317/croni/andre/andre/Archive/yt-dlp/yt-dlp_video.conf --download-archive youtube_backup_downloaded.txt --yes-playlist 'https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeEbifL6wH9okMEgTQP459RcTrjBWkF_b'

3. Execute these files however you want. I personally would recommend to set up a cron job to periodically download new videos. Example:

   nohup ./backup.sh > backup.log &

    

4. If you execute the command above your only way to know what yt-dlp is currently doing is to tail the log with tail -f backup.log

5.  While waiting for the download to finish you can create the necessary directories to organize all your downloaded files. Example:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   if [ ! -d "video" ] ; then
   mkdir video && mkdir metadata && mkdir thumbnails && mkdir descriptions && echo "Created directories"
   fi

   
   
6. When the download is finished an you created the directories it is time to move them to their dedicated directory. Example:

   #!/bin/bash
   
   if compgen -G "*.mkv" > /dev/null ; then
   mv *.mkv video/ && mv *.webp thumbnails/ && mv *.description descriptions/ && mv *.info.json metadata/ && echo "Moved files"
   fi

7. You successfully archived an entire YouTube channel 🚀

Tips

• Make your files executable with sudo chmod +x file.sh
• You can execute the files with ./file.sh
• This guide can be adapted to download playlist and even single videos
  • If you only want to download one video then remove  --yes-playlist