@Ursula I did run the tests on the guest account, using the new File > Export > Database Archive command. Same problems, but more than usual because my database is a combination of imported and indexed files and the guest account does not have permissions for some of the indexed files. My root account is enabled, so just for the heck of it, I ran it as root to make sure there are no permission issues left (yes I know this is a terrible idea, but at this point I am nearing the end of my patience and plan to do a clean wipe reinstall, the minute snow leopard is released next month), results are the same.
Same in this case being: devonthink gives a message, “Zip Archive Failed” it produces a Zip of roughly the correct size (slightly larger than my last successful zip using beta 5, indicating I’ve added some content), I can unzip this file using Finder, it contains Files.noindex and everything appears to be intact, but there are no Dt-Meta anything files.
Like you Ursula, I am a little tired of all this, at this stage I am giving up on testing, I’m not a developer, I do not have the time to sit in front of the computer spending hours testing to see if the backup really backs up or fails, I am not going to invest another 20 hours of time to try this, that or the other thing. It all worked under beta 5, it no longer works under beta 6, I do not know what the problem might be, I can restore the current database using both clones (copies of the disk) and Time Machine. Neither method gives any errors or problems.
I hope the problems are resolved at some point, I am unsure what my current plans are since my trusted system is no longer trusted, balanced against never having had any problems with Devonthink before and yes I realize I am using beta software, so for the moment I have stopped adding content to devonthink, hope it will get resolved at some time in the future and if I have to somehow lift the entire mess out of Files.noindex by hand, that’s really too bad and an incredible waste of my time but at least I know it’s in there and seems intact.
Summarizing as clearly as possible: when the Zip archive fails, what it seems to fail on, are the Dt-metadata files. Everything else is contained within the zip archive, but there are no dt-metadata files present. None of the databases which fail to archive produce any other errors, I can run verify, optimize to my heart’s content, I can copy the databases using Finder, reload them, no problems.
I am annoyed at the waste of time but have calmed down a lot, since all my data seems to be intact.