Well, it had to happen one day. I did some small tweaks to a Markdown document in DTTG, synced to DT on desktop, and realised a split-second too late that I’d made edits to other parts of that document on desktop a couple of days ago without syncing the changes. Because my sync settings were Use Latest rather than Duplicate, the older version with the more important edits was overwritten.
Is that the end of the story? Is there any way to get my previous edits back? Lesson learned the hard way, but sooner or later every longtime user will have this same brain outage once, so it’s worth asking the question even though I’m pretty sure what the answer is. (This was a Bonjour sync, sadly; other sync methods have rollback options, but I suspect I’m out of luck here.)
As I suspected, but thanks for confirming, and to all for responding so swiftly and expertly. I’ve banished myself to the dolt’s corner and will not allow myself back till I’ve reflected long and hard on my sync regime and backup hygiene.
Ha, fair! But abandoning Time Machine (slow, inflexible, space-greedy, non-bootable, port-hogging) for ChronoSync was a move I’ve never regretted and still don’t even after this self-inflicted bullet to the foot. As I said, lesson learned…
I used CCC and (preferred) SuperDuper! for many years, and ChronoSync is fiddlier to set up than both, but once you’re up and running its killer edge is the sheer speed of incremental bootable backups. The ChronoAgent add-on is well worth the additional $15 if you’re syncing between Macs; I have a 39Gb indexed database on desktop and laptop that usually syncs in under a minute. (I’m syncing the indexed files and folders, not the database itself.) I got sucked in initially because the basic version was on Setapp, and then tried the Pro version (for Monterey bootable backups, which at the time neither CCC nor SuperDuper! could do) for the trial period, which was enough to convince me to stick with it.
I have both. Still use Time machine for system backups and CCC for specific sync and backups, eg DEVONthink archive zips that are created automatically.
Basically Chronosync and CCC are the same. Chronosync I think has roots with developers who are/were world class rsync users. It is more “techy” than CCC, but CCC provides a user interface that may be simpler for some who dig user interfaces. CCC nomenclature has to be learned.
Basically they are the same, IMHO. as I said, i use both (and use Time Machine). So I am not entering the debate by declaring anything better than something else.
I think both still have trial versions so just experiment.
It is unless you enabled the Create Version smart rule for your Markdown documents on the Mac. And while it’s too late in your case, integrated versioning is indeed in the pipeline.
It would if I hadn’t given up on it a couple of years ago! (See above.) But thanks for the thought. My mistake was more with my sync discipline; I’m pretty good at manual backups, but if you’re also syncing only on demand as I was, and also not taking advantage of the additional safety net of the Create Version smart rule, then it’s an open invitation to yourself to practise your dolting skills, at which I am now on super ninja level.
If it makes you feel any better, I only back up once a week so if I made an error like this I’d be in the same boat as you Accidents happen.
(Like you, I don’t like Time Machine, and I know I’m not going to do a manual backup every day because I simply cannot be bothered I’ve made a trade-off with the level of risk I am willing to tolerate.)
There’s Arq, which can back up to different locations. It runs at selectable times in the background.
I back up with it to
NAS folder (Arq mounts/unmounts it automagically)
Backblaze (immutable)
Microsoft via WebDAV
Paranoia, I know. But DT contains all my accounting information, so I can’t afford to lose anything from it. And I can’t be trusted to run manual backups regularly.
I didn’t find the setting in Arq to mount / unmount an external drive or a synology drive automatically… could you post a screenshot - or let us/me know, how you achieved this.
Accidents happen.
I’ve made a trade-off with the level of risk I am willing to tolerate.)