If you're using S3 to back up your files, it's easier to write a shell script with the AWS CLI. For example here's a script I wrote that I run automatically to back up my computer to S3. I have an exclude array to exclude certain folders. It's simpler than downloading software and more customizable.

# $1 # local folder

# $2 # bucket

declare -a exclude=(

  "node_modules" 

  "Applications"

  "Public"

)

args=""

for item in "${exclude[@]}";

do

  args+=" --exclude '*/$item/*' --exclude '$item/*'"; 

done

cmd="aws s3 sync '$1' 's3://$2$1' --include '*' $args"

eval "$cmd"