Close/Lock an archive

Hi James,
I have a QR archive that I don't use any more to capture my files (folders structure was re-organized) but I want to keep it as it contains old versions of that files; I'm therefore verifying it using a scheduled action.
The problem is the status window (and menu item) is always colored in red complaining that I haven't captured the archive since weeks.

Is it possible to have a preference to close/lock the archive to correct the situation (and to prevent any capture done by mistake)?

Thanks,
Pierpaolo

Pierpaolo,

That's a situation I certainly didn't anticipate.

Currently, there's no mechanism for ignoring the capture status of a single archive. You can forget the archive in the status window (right-click > Forget), but it will reappear in the status window the next time you verify it.

I'll have to give some thought to a way of dealing with this kind of situation in the future. For now, you can create a "dummy" capture action the runs, say, once a week and captures a single item that's not likely to ever change. It doesn't matter what it is, but as long as it doesn't change the archive will never be updated. But it will update the last-captured status of the archive, and make that annoying red indicator go away.

I have a similar problem with two backup drives that I rotate every couple of weeks to keep one offsite. My rotation interval can long enough that the offsite drive goes to red while it's still offsite. Your suggested solution of an occasional backup of a single file won't work, because the archive isn't available. I know I could forget the offsite drive every time I rotate, but it seems like less trouble just to ignore the red dot. Being able to ignore capture status for the rotating drives would be nice.

Ralph

I agree that QRecall needs to be a little more sophisticated about how it calculates the expected capture and verify intervals. Right now it's a weighed running average, but that obvious breaks down when archives are not captured at uniform intervals, or are not being captured at all.

I don't have a solution for an individual archive, but you can modify QRecall's archive status window behavior globally.

The warnings that a capture or verify have not occurred recently is based on a simple formula, the constants of which you can tweak using advanced settings. I'll describe how the capture formula works and how the adjust it. The verify logic is the same, it just uses a different set of constants.

(1) Every time an archive is (successfully) captured, the interval since the last capture is calculated. This updates the AverageInterval property for that archive.

(2) The AverageInterval is then compared with the global QRStatusMinimunCaptureInterval and the larger of the two values is chosen as the NominalInterval. The QRStatusMinimunCaptureInterval prevents rapid (i.e. hourly) captures from creating a ridiculously small nominal interval.

(3) The NominalInterval is multiplied by QRStatusCaptureWarningIntervals. If the time difference between now and the last time the archive was captured is greater than that product, the status window shows a "warning" (yellow) indicator for that archive.

(4) The NominalInterval is multiplied by QRStatusCaptureTruantIntervals. If the time difference between now and the last time the archive was captured is greater than that product, the status window shows a "problem" (red) indicator for that archive.

QRStatusMinimunCaptureInterval is expressed in seconds and defaults to 21600 (6 hours)

QRStatusCaptureWarningIntervals defaults to 3 (shows a warning when 3x the nominal interval has elapsed without a capture)

QRStatusCaptureTruantIntervals defaults to 7 (there's a problem when 7x the nominal interval has elapsed without a capture)

For an archive that you capture once a day and rotate once a week, you could try setting the warning multiplier to 10 and the problem multiplier to 15, like this:

defaults write com.qrecall.monitor QRStatusCaptureWarningIntervals -float 10.0
defaults write com.qrecall.monitor QRStatusCaptureTruantIntervals -float 15.0

If you capture more often than that, consider setting the QRStatusMinimunCaptureInterval too.

I don't have a solution for an archive that is never captured, except to set the intervals to excessive values (like 1000) so they simply don't occur.

The verify logic works the same, except that is uses these settings:

QRStatusMinimunVerifyInterval is expressed in seconds and defaults to 86400 (1 day)

QRStatusVerifyWarningIntervals defaults to 8 (shows a warning when 8x the nominal interval has elapsed without a verify)

QRStatusVerifyTruantIntervals defaults to 16 (there's a problem when 16x the nominal interval has elapsed without a verify)

I have the same problem as Ralph. I would suggest an additional entry in the Context Menu of the Status Window: "That's okay". This would set the state of that archive as if a verify/capture has been performed. Alternatively a submenu with a few entries like 1 day, 1 week would do a similar job.

Another thought: The main issue with the red/yellow indicator in the Menu item is, that I now longer see the other indicators like running and paused. Maybe those can either overlay or become priority.

As we are on the Status Window Context Menu, I would find a few more items handy:
- Open Archive in QRecall
- Capture now
- Verify now

Johannes (looking forward to 1.3 beta and the scripting options

Johannes,

All good suggestions.

Johannes wrote:I would suggest an additional entry in the Context Menu of the Status Window: "That's okay". This would set the state of that archive as if a verify/capture has been performed. Alternatively a submenu with a few entries like 1 day, 1 week would do a similar job.

On the to-do list is a new menu item to ignore a capture/verify status forever or until the next capture/verify. I think that would solve most of the issues people are encountering with the current status indicators.

Another thought: The main issue with the red/yellow indicator in the Menu item is, that I now longer see the other indicators like running and paused.

That information is (still) in the QRecall activity window. The activity and status windows serve different purposes. The activity window shows you what is happening right now, while the status window is an (mostly static) overview of the health of your archives. If you're not seeing the activity window, check your monitor preferences in the QRecall application.

As we are on the Status Window Context Menu, I would find a few more items handy:
- Open Archive in QRecall
- Capture now
- Verify now

Menu commands to capture/verify now were already on the to-do list. They were actually intended for version 1.2, but an architectural conundrum in the code base prevented an easy implementation. In version 1.3, you'll be able to directly run any of your actions from the QRecall status item menu.

Johannes (looking forward to 1.3 beta and the scripting options

So am I.

James Bucanek wrote:
That information is (still) in the QRecall activity window.

Yes, of course. But there's no activity indication visible in the Menu item when it's occupied by the red/yellow status light. I don't have the activity window visible all time and sometimes I'd like to see without any further action whether QRecall is doing something or paused.

Johannes

I agree that the menubar status item icon is a little overloaded. There's only so much information you can impart in a 20x20 icon.

If you prefer to see the activity indicator at all times, you can disable the warning/problem indicator in the menubar icon by unchecking the Show status warnings in icon option in the QRecall monitor preferences. Then you'll only see the warning/problem summary icon when you drop down the status menu (it appears next to the Status Window item).