James,

I destroyed my archive the other day with a stupid error. I was backing up my MacBook Pro over wifi to a backup drive mounted on my iMac, and working on the iMac. Forgetting that the backup was running, I shut down and restarted the iMac, interrupting the ongoing backup. The archive now appears to be unrepairable, so I guess I'll have to start over and lose my historical archive. I'm sending reports from both computers, in case they are of any functional use for you.

Before this, the problems I was having earlier with the archive failing to close after a backup seem to have worked themselves out. The problem did seem to be related to the network connection with one particular drive, as it only occurred during backups over the network. But it also seemed like Qrecall was playing a role. In three particular cases, for example, on jan 14, 15, and 16 in the MBP log, the problem was in closing fill.scribble.index and Qrecall actually wrote the completed archive.

Right now I have no specific problem, just passing this info along FYI.

Ralph Strauch wrote:I shut down and restarted the iMac, interrupting the ongoing backup. The archive now appears to be unrepairable, ...

Ralph,

What leads you believe the archive is unrepairable?

QRecall has special mechanisms for dealing with exactly this kind of failure, because it's so common. The auto-repair feature should, under normal circumstances, automatically repair an archive that's experienced an interrupted capture or merge, and immediately restore it to its former state. The next action will then proceed as if nothing happened.

If, for some reason, auto-repair didn't fix archive, the repair action should most certainly reconstruct the archive, and preserve most (if not all) of your history. If the repair isn't working, then there's something else that's dreadfully wrong.

Also be aware that there are several issues regarding repair and data redundancy under investigation. If your archive has redundant data, try this:

1) In the Finder, select the archive, right/control+click, and choose "Show Package Contents"
2) Locate the repository.data file.
3) Find all of the repository_*.* companion files. They'll have names like 'repository_p8w8k16m2.0.anvin_reed_sol' and so on.
4) Trash all of the repisitory_*.* companion files, BUT DO NOT trash the 'repository.data' file.

Close the window and try to repair the archive again. Afterwards, send another diagnostic report so I can compare the results.

James,

Thank you!!! I had jumped to the conclusion that the archive was unrepairable after several attempts at repairing it each left it still in need of repair,. After removing the repository companion files, though, the repair was successful, leaving me with a final damaged layer at the end. I deleted that layer and reran the backup, and I'm back in business.

A couple of other things:

Is it possible to exclude files within a package, and is it possible to exclude files by name regardless of where they occur? I'm thinking particularly about Render Files in Final Cut Pro Libraries, which can take up a lot of space and are easily replaceable so don't need to be backed up. I've sent a report covering all of that.

I miss being able to select and run an action from the same window. Not a big deal, but just a minor annoyance.

And thanks again for Qrecall and for the support you provide.

Ralph Strauch wrote:I deleted that layer and reran the backup, and I'm back in business.

That's great news. This is also further confirmation that the error correction codes are, under specific circumstances that have yet to be fully identified, interfering with the repair process. (And the irony of error correction causing errors is not lost...)

Is it possible to exclude files within a package

There are several ways:

When adding excluded items to the archive's settings, hold down the Shift key when clicking the "+" button, and the dialog will allow you to choose items inside a package.

Use the Finder's Show Package Contents command, find the item, and drag it into the exclude list or use the Capture Preferences service to set the "Do Not Capture" preference. (Don't do this inside signed applications—it will alter the digital signature of the package and OS X will think it's been hacked).

Use the qrecall captureprefs command to set the "Do Not Capture" preference for one or more items.

and is it possible to exclude files by name regardless of where they occur?

That is a common request, and it on the short list of features to add in the next major version.

I miss being able to select and run an action from the same window. Not a big deal, but just a minor annoyance.

You should be able to do that now. Could you be more specific about what part of the interface you're using, what you're trying to do, and/or what's not working?

I miss being able to select and run an action from the same window. Not a big deal, but just a minor annoyance.

You should be able to do that now. Could you be more specific about what part of the interface you're using, what you're trying to do, and/or what's not working?

I'm talking about running actions from the Action window. In Qrecall 1.2 the Action window included a toolbar containing a RUN button. in Qrecall 2 that toolbar is absent, so it's necessary to move the cursor from the Action window up to the Action menu at the top of the screen to initiate the action.

Ralph,

What happens when you choose View > Show Toolbar?

It looks just like the previous version. I'm really feeling stupid today. :^(

Thanks for straightening me out.