Daniel Newman wrote:So far in my testing QRecall seems to be a fantastic and flexible backup Program.
I am seriously considering to purchase and use it for backing up a small office, which includes of 2 main computers and a server.
Daniel,
You do need three keys, if you want to capture all three computers (two main and one server) to the same archive. Install one key on each computer.
Every item captured in an archive belongs an owner. An identity key identifies the owner. To see the owners in an archive, open an archive and choose View > Show Owners and Volumes.
Let's say you install three different identity keys on three computers and name them "A", "B", and "Server." When computer A adds its files to the archive, they appear in the archive under owner "A". Similarly, the same files captured using the server appear in the archive under owner "Server."
An identity key uniquely identifies an owner and is used to "tag" the ownership of every captured item. You can change the name of an identity (QRecall > Preferences > Identity Key). Its name will change in the archive, but it's still the same identity/owner and any items captured using that identity key still belong to that owner.
You only need an identity key to capture items. If the server isn't capturing its own files (just hosting the archive file and running maintenance actions), it doesn't need to have an identity key.
Tip: If you're using the Capture Assistent to set up your actions, delete the merge and compact actions created for the two networked computers. Those two only need capture actions. If they are all sharing the same archive, only one computer needs to be performing the regular maintenance (merge and capture) actions, and the one directly connected to the drive containing the archive is the most efficient.