OK, I have 2 computers and I am using the same key and the same file for both. This seems to me the most natural way to use QRecall in a home network operations, or ?
Doing this way is the best from a size perspective so files which are duplicated (f.e. with .mac sync) are not stored N time.

However it seems 2 QRecall instances cannot access the file simultaneously, is this correct?

Thanks

Fred

Frederic Thomas wrote:However it seems 2 QRecall instances cannot access the file simultaneously, is this correct?

Two actions can't modify an archive simultaneously, but QRecall is fully aware when other actions/computers/processes are doing so and will patiently wait until the current action is finished.

Go ahead a schedule your two computers to capture to the same archive. If one doesn't finish before the other is ready to start, it will wait its turn.

I capture five systems to a single archive and all of them start nightly at 2:00 AM. They capture one at a time until all five are done.

I have 2 computers and I am using the same key and the same file for both.

I forgot to mention, you should really use two identity keys if you are capturing two different systems to the same archive.

The files from each computer will belong to their respective owner (in the Owners & Volumes drawer) where there's no possibility of confusing the two. Yet they will both share the same data store, with the all space saving advantages.

James Bucanek wrote:
I forgot to mention, you should really use two identity keys if you are capturing two different systems to the same archive.

Why are two different keys needed? I want to back up my MacBook Pro and my wife's iMac to the same archive, and in my small test archive there doesn't seem to be any problem doing both using the same key. Each layer gets identified with the proper volume, and only the selected volume is active.

Related question? should it be possible to have a firewire drive mounted on both computers at the same time? It seems so, because the drive could be mounted on both computers using ethernet, and the firewire connection can also provide an IP network. When I try, though, the drive won't mount on the second computer I attach it to, and then it won't mount at all until I power it down and back up again.

Ralph Strauch

Ralph Strauch wrote:Why are two different keys needed?

When you reuse a single key on two systems, QRecall treats both computers as the same source. So from QRecall's perspective, you are capturing two volumes on the same computer rather than the single volume of two different computers.

The second reason is economic. Using QRecall's ability to combine duplicate data (like the OS) from two diferent systems is a significant advantage that QRecall has over almost all other backup systems available today. Using two identity keys let's me get paid for that work.

Related question? should it be possible to have a firewire drive mounted on both computers at the same time?

Not directly, no. A directly connected Firewire drive can only be used by a single computer at a time.

To share a volume with two or more systems you need to share it (there has to be some intermediate agent that arbitrates requests between the multiple systems). You could, for example, connect the drive to one computer, turn on Personal File Sharing, then mount the same volume on the second computer as a network volume. The system directly connected to the drive will arbitrate acces to the drive.