I have had DT “groups” containing many files disappear without a trace a number of times now and it’s leaving me incredibly upset and unsure of what to do. Sometimes I will randomly recover a single file from the trash bin as I did today but I am not sure where the rest of the files went?!
I set up my database to sync to Dropbox and would like to know:
(1) how I can restore the complete database (though, perhaps the missing files vanished a while ago and are no longer synced to Dropbox?)
(2) whether there are other sync/storage solutions I ought to use to avoid this recurrent problem that seems to crop up here and there (e.g., don’t use Dropbox)?
Any and all insights would be greatly appreciated; thank you!
My apologies; I’m referring to groups within DT disappearing. The overwhelming majority of my files are imported not indexed, including the ones that have gone missing. I’m storing my DT database on a SSD and also backing it up to the cloud via Dropbox.
I’ve just tried googling TimeMachine with “egg” and am a bit unsure of where to turn next. I think I would like to “restore” the database as it exists on DropBox to a separate new DT database in the event that the data is corrupted in some way or missing other files. Is there a particular resource you (and/or others) can recommend that would walk me through the process? Thanks!
Backup = snapshots in time. At several different moments, typically. Thus easy to roll back changes
Sync = same state on several machines at this time. No roll back to the past possible.
Mnemonic: sync is not backup. As has been discussed countless times here. There’s also a chapter on backup in the DT manual.
Erm – I think that was a typo for “e.g.”, the common abbreviation of the Latin phrase " exempli gratia", meaning “for example”. Forgive the over-explanation, but not everyone on this forum is a native English speaker.
Hopefully Jim can rescue something here as it sounds like there aren’t any backups. It’s frustrating how many people learn that syncs aren’t backups only when an issue occurs. Marketing has done a good job of confusing people!
@kaitlin As soon as you’re back up and running set up a backup so that you’ve got a system for restoring files in future (ideally two backups at least). The quickest and simplest will be to set up Time Machine and get an external drive for storing backups, but there are also cloud options (Dropbox actually provides a backup service that a few folk here use, so if you’re already a paying customer you could see if this works for you in addition to Time Machine).
DT has also written a blog on backups recently:
Personally, I do a Time Machine backup and a manual back up on separate drives, which suits my level of risk. Others are far more diligent than me!
