Problem:

certain files in the system need to be secure/encrypted but not all,

e.g.

some documents
mailboxes
certain projects

Proposed solution

Encrypted sparse bundle on internal drive with symlinks for mail, secure documents and secure projects.

Backup solution:
External drive with similar (but larger) encrypted sparse bundle. Qrecall to backup from internal sparse bundle to external sparse bundle.

Sparse bundles to be added to login options so mounting and unmounting is automatic. (passwords not kept in keychain, so you are prompted for passwords when mounting)

I've done a proof of concept test with mail and a few folders, seems to work OK


I then create a new archive for my complete home folder, but just excluding the sparse bundle. This provides for an archive of all my remaining data.

Note, I store my iTunes and Photos on a separate Media partition and archive them independently (only on demand)

Can anybody see any flaws in this approach?

Is there any suggestion for a better method?

I'm currently experimenting with backing up WinXP virtual machines from VMWare fusion.

I don't want to be backing up temporary information which is continually changing so I'm looking at the following solution:

Use a filter to prevent backup of:

vmss - the temporary vmware system state (for me about 130Mb)
vmem - the snapshot of system memory (for me 768Mb)
log files - small but non essential

Secondly inside the vm I create a separate virtual disk and then put the WinXP pagefile in this disk. I can then exclude this disk from the backup (another 768Mb of saving).

Initial tests seem to indicate that this is a viable and efficient solution.

To restore a VM you just need to recreate the pagefile virtual disk and all seems OK.

Any thoughts on this as a solution?

Just wanted to wish you all the best for the commercial version. I'm happy to be able to buy my copy at last!

Thats OK,

now testing with 55d

Here's the reports

Here's the QRecall Log

I've been evaluating QRecall again for the last couple of weeks (now using v55).
After several days of successful capture I get all of a sudden

Lost connection with command

followed by

Unable to connect with helper

followed by

data integrity error in the archive (header file length invalid)


This has occurred several times over the last 4 weeks.

I'm capturing to an external firewire 400 drive - I'm running Leopard.

Is it possible to search an archive for files matching a pattern?

A couple of suggestions for the Capture Assistant.

On the Archive Availability page you have the question

"Is the archive on a removable volume?"

Mine is, but I should be answering "No"


Might it be better to restructure this as:

========================================

Is the archive always available?

Yes
-The archive is ...


No
The archive is ...


Note: QRecall needs to know that the volume is available because ???

===================================

On the Size Limit screen, maybe swapping the two radio buttons around so that the "Yes"
case occurs first. (Maybe more consistent, and better to offer the positive option by default)

Nothing in the log from previous attempts.

I removed the preferences/actions and then the capture assistant worked OK.

Put the actions back and the same error occured again.

Now had some entries in the log that seem to refer to "your" development environment:

2007-09-13 08:14:16.048 QRecall[334] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:14:16.060 QRecall[334] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:14:16.736 QRecall[334] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:14:16.740 QRecall[334] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:14:17.376 QRecall[334] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:14:17.380 QRecall[334] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:14:17.984 QRecall[334] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:14:17.992 QRecall[334] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:14:18.720 QRecall[334] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:14:18.725 QRecall[334] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:18:25.338 QRecall[1802] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:18:25.338 QRecall[1802] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:18:26.032 QRecall[1802] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:18:26.046 QRecall[1802] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:18:26.704 QRecall[1802] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:18:26.712 QRecall[1802] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil
2007-09-13 08:18:27.304 QRecall[1802] *** Assertion failure in -[RepositoryAliasReference path], /Users/james/Development/Projects/Quantum Recall/Common/Source/Actions/RepositoryPathReference.m:112
2007-09-13 08:18:27.312 QRecall[1802] -[RepositoryPathReference path]: pathToRepository is nil

When I use the capture assistant to schedule a regular backup, I'm getting stuck at the "Size Limit" page. Clicking on continue doesn't take me to the next page, so I can't complete the backup strategy.

It seems to me that this was working in earlier versions, but I can't progress past this step.

There's something in me which is always paranoid about accepting an archive which is in some binary format, i.e. is not immediately viewable as a collection of files. My worry is that archive corruption may cause me to lose data.

It would be great if you could burn a copy of the archive to DVD's, kind of like a restore to DVD. If the archive is greater than 4GB then it could split it up into a series of images. I'd be happy to see a collection of dmg files that could be burned to DVD.

Kind of like (for a 12Gb archive)

work_1.dmg
work_2.dmg
work_3.dmg

Then once a month I could make a permanent copy of the archive.

Is this a crazy idea?

Do you have an idea when you will be out of beta and releasing the product?

VM = Virtual Machine.

For work I sometimes need to run WinXP, so I use Parallels. This gives me large virtual disks of maybe 4-5GB in size. I might open one up and make a change in a document of around 10K.

From what you say, this should be a very efficient way of backing up these VMs. I will test it tonight

I use VM's quite extensively, and individual files can easily become several GB in size.

How does QRecall cope with these files?

If I open up a VM and make a small modification, how much will be changed in the archive for QRecall. (I haven't yet tried QRecall on my VM partition).

BTW, I've found your previous responses clear and to the point, thanks!