So if you have 100GB of databases open, would you need a spare 80GB or so on your mac for this to work?
Are you actively using 60 databases?
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Fair comment! Typically I open 30 databases from Group A, and only rarely open any of the 30 databases in Group B. But when it comes to backing up, I don’t want to have think which of my many Group A databases I amended. It’s kind of easier at least to back up all the Group A databases
I have it automated so I can select a bunch of databases and it will process them sequentially. In the real world though, I do a few at a time as ZIPing large databases takes time and I like having insight into the time it’s taking.
Another work lesson is to slow down when dealing with backing up. Automating absolutely everything leads to complacency and assuming it’s always working and never needs verifying. Automate the drudgery (typing the same date over and over, moving the files to a DBox folder), but understand what’s happening so you can spot when things go awry.
Way back in DThink2 I was using a script writing utility that would write sidecar files next to the source. That meant that for 2 weeks when I opened a doc from DThink into that script writer it was writing files within the DT database file system that DThink didn’t know about. It wasn’t until I zipped that DB that I saw that two weeks of writing that should have been maybe 20MB tops, was twice that.
Yes. Assuming I keep one zipped copy downloaded in my Dropbox. (“Keep an Offline copy” in Dropbox parlance.
You could just copy zips into Dropbox and make them all “online only” and they won’t take up that space on your local system drive. I use this method for backing up recorded zoom call videos.
I find it useful to keep an eye on the database sizes. If they are just incrementing in size a little, I know that I haven’t made a large unintended deletion, for example. So fully agree with your approach.
Just an FYI…
And the short lesson is: Never put your DEVONthink databases in any cloud-synced location or you could irreparably damage them.
The ZIP from a database archive operation is data-safe for use in the cloud. But it’s also generally intended for less frequent backups as it’s always a full backup, not an incremental.
Quite the opposite in my experience. If a cloud service decides to “helpfully” “optimize” your storage, it’s quite capable of uploading bits and pieces from inside a file folder/package. But a ZIP file always travels as a single unit.
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Thank you!
How about using CCC to copy to an external SSD, and then zipping?
What about it?
CCC is real backup software and should be able to handle whatever you throw at it. The issue with Dropbox and unzipped files is going to apply regardless of where Dropbox is uploading from.
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I guess that if copying to the SSD first and then zipping, the zip process would not involve the daily backup archive routine
Everyone here is showing you some basic directions and advice for how to proceed. What’s not advisable is combining backup systems and trying to find a loophole. A CCC clone of your system drive is a snapshot of your drive at the last time it ran. Putting ZIPs into that mix gets you nothing.
A good backup regimen covers you for most (never all) eventualities. ZIPing a copy could work but adds a needless point of error.
ZIP your working copy. Move it to some place safe. Choose that place based on
- how easy it is to get to if you need it,
- how separated it is from your immediate person and the computer it comes from (further is better),
- how reliable it is over time mechanically
- How reliable is the corporation that owns the service (dropbox or some physical off site storage at your other location or wherever)
Dropbox is pretty good on most of these but they’ve done some weird stuff in the past.
I’d suggest you keep it simple, stop overcomplicating your process and stop looking for shortcuts.
Last tip:
Build a back up system that you can do manually with no automation. Do that for a few weeks then automate the most repetitive task and slowly automate the rest. Don’t build it from automation forward, build toward the automation
‘Nuff said
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That’s what I was getting at but I think that has become less of an issue in the last 20 years. Time was you used to have to ZIP an AVID bin file (.avb, essentially a text file) just to email it. Hence why I am still ZIPing backups. But I see lots of young’uns who question it and never seem to have problems.
“Crank up them steam powered computational devices, ol’man SlickSlack is in one of his states.”
A matter of time IMHO.
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It only takes once to ruin your whole day.
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Thank you indeed. CCC to an external SSD without zipping has worked well for me in the past and I will stick with it. What I have learned in particular today is that Dropbox has a backup system of its own that I will have a look at. I have been dissuaded from using sync stores as a form of additional backup. I have learnt that a daily backup archive can go straight to an external destination. I am rightly told that just because I have spare capacity on Dropbox, it doesn’t mean I necessarily need to use it. (Dropbox is worth paying for because of the rock solid sync I achieve, which is also, in my opinion, one of DT’s greatest strengths). Thank you to everyone.
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