Ralph Strauch wrote:I think I've that sorted out now, and am back to one key per computer. I assume I can just delete the extra layer that I created unintentionally without affecting the rest of the backup

A more surgical approach would be to find the "new" volume in the other owner and simply delete that from the archive. That way, you don't have to delete any subsequent layers.

I had set the Current Encryption Limit to 2 after you suggested 1 or 2, but I'll take it down to 1 now.

Let me know how that goes, or just send another diagnostic report when you get back.

I seldom even log onto the iMac, but it looks like Qrecall could run scheduled backups of the whole iMac from my account without my being logged in. Is that correct, and should that satisfy the router's desire for a single common user? (I'm uid 501 on both machines.)

Here's the important concept:

The account on your computer is independent of the account you use on the file server.

This is the concept that is most confusing when working with networked volumes. It does NOT matter what your user account is. The files written to your file server will belong to the (server) account you use to authenticate with when you connect to the server.

If you and your wife can get set up so that both of your local accounts connect to the file server using the same server account, then the files (archives) on the shared volume will belong to both of you, and it doesn't matter what your local account is or what UID you're using.

The reason I'm short on practical advice is that different file servers, NAS devices, and so on handle this differently. For example, Apple's Airport Time Capsule has (basically) two different authentication modes for its shared disk: shared and per-account. The "shared" modes allow all network users to access the files on the Time Capsule as if they were all the same user. This is the effect you need, and this is the mode I use with my Time Capsules. All QRecall users can connect to the Time Capsule and use the same archives, since (from the Time Capsule's perspective) they are all the same user. If I switched my Time Capsule to the per-account mode, I'd have the same problem you're experiencing.

Other devices handle accounts and ownership differently. Some server/NAS devices, for example, deliberately extend file ownership to the shared volume using your local account ID, effectively emulating an external drive. So YMMV and you'll need to find the magic combination that works for you.

After three weeks away, I'm back again trying to get Qrecall to work with my new router. I'm now able to see, read, and write to disks mounted on the router. My regular archive still won't open, though, but still continues to hang with the "This archive is being updated ..." notice and never obtains the semaphore lock. I was able to create a small test archive, though, which closes and reopens normally. The problem seem to be just with the larger archive. I'm sending a Report.

Ralph

Ralph,

Looking at the logs, QRecall is still stuck trying to obtain (and later break) the shared file semaphore. I suspect a permissions problem, but it's hard to tell from the logs.

I'd be very much interested in knowing the ownership and permissions of all of the files in both the archive that is stuck and the one that is working. If you have the time, open an Terminal window and issue this 'ls' command for each archive:

ls -lna@e /Volumes/Backup/PathToArchive.quanta

email the results, or post them here.

Here are those listings, with some explanation.

The first listing is from a folder containing only the archive, 3rd which I had moved to a separate folder because it felt like the router would be easier to configure if the shared file was in a separate folder than if it was at the top level.

The second listing is from the volume containing my test archive, named testbackup.quanta. When I saw the hidden files that this directory contained I thought maybe that was the problem -- that when I moved 3rdbackup.quanta into a separate folder I had not move some invisible file that it needed in order to open. So I moved it back to the top level of that volume.

That didn't solve the problem. testbackup.quanta will open properly, but 3rdbackup.quanta hang with the "file in use" message.


First listing: 3rd backup.quanta in a separate folder/volume2/backup

[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph% ls -lna@e /Volumes/volume2/backup 
total 176
drwx------  1 501  20  16384 Jan 15 17:26 .
drwx------  1 501  20  16384 Jan 15 19:19 ..
-rwx------  1 501  20   6148 Jan 15 09:16 .DS_Store
-rwx------  1 501  20   4096 Jan 15 17:26 ._Attribute.rtf
drwx------  1 501  20  16384 Jan 15 09:15 3rd backup.quanta
-rwx------@ 1 501  20  24585 Oct 26  2015 Attribute.rtf
	com.apple.FinderInfo	   32

2nd listing: directory containing testbackup.quanta at top level

com.apple.FinderInfo	      32 
 0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
-rwx------  1 501  20      8196 Jan 16  2017 .DS_Store
drwx------  1 501  20     16384 Nov 29 03:29 .Spotlight-V100
-rwx------  1 501  20      4096 Nov 28 20:48 ._testbackup Backup Encryption Key.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20      4096 Nov 28 20:48 ._testbackup Recovery Passphrase.txt
-rwx------  1 501  20      4096 Jan 15 19:15 ._testbackup Recovery modified.txt
-rwx------  1 501  20      4096 Nov 28 19:40 ._testbackup.quanta
drwx------  1 501  20     16384 Jan 16  2017 .fseventsd
-rwx------  1 501  20  16777216 Nov 29 03:29 .journal
-rwx------  1 501  20      4096 Nov 29 03:29 .journal_info_block
-rwx------@ 1 501  20      2028 Nov 28 20:46 testbackup Backup Encryption Key.plist
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	      42 
-rwx------@ 1 501  20        16 Nov 28 20:48 testbackup Recovery Passphrase.txt
	com.apple.TextEncoding	      15 
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	      42 
-rwx------@ 1 501  20        75 Jan 15 19:15 testbackup Recovery modified.txt
	com.apple.TextEncoding	      15 
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	      42 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_ag4ow3qfx44prohk42bi6mok64	      89 
drwx------@ 1 501  20     16384 Jan 15 19:41 testbackup.quanta
	com.apple.FinderInfo	      32 
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	      42 
[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph%

third listing Directory containing 3rdbackup.quanta returned to top level in /volume2

[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph% ls -lna@e /Volumes/volume2 
total 329984
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jan 16  2017 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 7 0    0         238 Jan 15 22:04 ..
	com.apple.FinderInfo	       32 
 0: ABCDEFAB-CDEF-ABCD-EFAB-CDEF0000000C deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
-rwx------  1 501  20      10244 Jan 16  2017 .DS_Store
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Dec 16 16:19 .Spotlight-V100
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Dec 22 17:25 .TemporaryItems
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Dec 22 00:04 .Trashes
-rwx------  1 501  20       4096 Jan 15 17:26 ._Attribute.rtf
-rwx------  1 501  20       4096 Dec 19 21:41 ._focusing_your_touch1.txt
-rwx------  1 501  20       4096 Jan 15 19:19 ._focusing_your_touchxxx.txt
-rwx------  1 501  20          0 Dec 21 02:23 .com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jan 16  2017 .fseventsd
-rwx------  1 501  20  159383552 Dec 16 16:19 .journal
-rwx------  1 501  20       4096 Dec 16 16:19 .journal_info_block
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jan 16  2017 3rd backup.quanta
-rwx------@ 1 501  20      24585 Oct 26  2015 Attribute.rtf
	com.apple.FinderInfo	       32 
-rwx------  1 501  20      79372 Dec  6 01:16 Your request has been received - Powered by TP-LINK.pdf
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jan 16  2017 backup
-rwx------@ 1 501  20       1520 Dec 19 21:41 focusing_your_touch1.txt
	com.apple.TextEncoding	       15 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_ag4ow3qfx44prohk42bi6mok64	      121 
-rwx------@ 1 501  20       1572 Jan 15 19:19 focusing_your_touchxxx.txt
	com.apple.TextEncoding	       15 
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	       42 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDLabel_ag4ow3qfx44prohk42bi6mok64	      169 
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jun 26  2015 xtra 2
[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph%

Ralph,

Thanks for the info, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I'm interested in seeing the insides of the archive packages. These commands should do the trick:

ls -lna@e '/Volumes/volume2/testbackup.quanta'

ls -lna@e '/Volumes/volume2/3rd backup.quanta'

I'm interested in the ownership, permissions, and existence of the various .lock and .share semaphore files inside the archive package.

Here they are

[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph% ls -lna@e '/Volumes/volume2/3rd backup.quanta'
total 1392904600
drwx------  1 501  20         16384 Jan 16 05:58 .
drwx------  1 501  20         16384 Jan 16 05:57 ..
-rwx------  1 501  20       1326888 Jan 15 09:15 displayname.index
-rwx------  1 501  20      90732048 Jan 15 09:15 filename.index
-rwx------  1 501  20        508872 Jan 15 09:15 fill.index
-rwx------  1 501  20    3221225528 Jan 15 09:15 hash.index
-rwx------  1 501  20      15137230 Jan 15 09:15 hash_adjunct.index
-rwx------  1 501  20      10650776 Jan 15 09:14 layer.index
-rwx------  1 501  20      16777220 Jan 15 09:15 negative.index
-rwx------  1 501  20          1017 Jan 15 09:14 outline.index
-rwx------  1 501  20     213098544 Jan 15 09:15 package.index
-rwx------  1 501  20        213100 Jan 15 09:15 package_adjunct.index
-rwx------  1 501  20  709597389288 Jan 15 09:15 repository.data
-rwx------  1 501  20          1237 Dec 15 04:32 security.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20           122 Jan 15 09:15 sequence.index
-rwx------  1 501  20          5771 Aug 12 04:50 settings.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20           836 Jan 15 09:15 status.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20          4340 Jan 16 05:58 view.plist

[cpe-172-248-32-101:~] ralph% ls -lna@e '/Volumes/volume10/testbackup.quanta'
total 1139056
drwx------@ 1 501  20      16384 Jan 15 22:31 .
	com.apple.FinderInfo	       32 
	com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags	       42 
drwx------  1 501  20      16384 Jan 15 19:15 ..
-rwx------  1 501  20       9744 Nov 28 19:50 displayname.index
-rwx------  1 501  20     198024 Nov 28 19:50 filename.index
-rwx------  1 501  20         56 Jan 15 19:38 fill.index
-rwx------  1 501  20      12344 Nov 28 19:50 hash.index
-rwx------  1 501  20     310197 Nov 28 19:50 hash_adjunct.index
-rwx------  1 501  20       4296 Nov 28 19:50 layer.index
-rwx------  1 501  20        904 Nov 28 19:50 outline.index
-rwx------  1 501  20         48 Jan 15 19:38 package.index
-rwx------  1 501  20     311452 Jan 15 19:38 package_adjunct.index
-rwx------  1 501  20  582265112 Jan 15 19:40 repository.data
-rwx------  1 501  20       1237 Jan 15 19:40 security.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20        122 Jan 15 19:40 sequence.index
-rwx------  1 501  20        819 Nov 28 19:51 status.plist
-rwx------  1 501  20       4734 Jan 15 22:31 view.plist

So the mystery is that you can open and capture files to testbackup.quanta, but you can't open and capture files to 3rd backup.quanta.

I don't see any differences in the ownership or permissions for the two archives, and I don't see any stale .lock or .share files that might be blocking access to it.

So, the only thing I can think of at this point is that the file server supports file locking and/or advisory locks and is holding an orphaned lock on one of the files in 3rd backup.quanta. This can happen when a network clients obtains a lock on a file and then gets disconnected from the server.

This can usually be solved by restarting the server. If this is a network device that runs 24/7, it's easy for orphaned locks to stay around for weeks. (Note that in cases like this, restarting the clients won't have any effect on the problem.)

If that doesn't work, you can try repairing the 3rd backup archive (presuming you have enough free space), choosing the "Copy recovered content to new archive" option (say 4th backup archive). QRecall will extract all of the data in the original archive and use it to create a brand new one. When finished, you can discard the old archive.