Arq

[dai-leung]

Sincerely thank you for your help!

I followed a suggestion on the internet: delete the file using window 10 then reformat on Mac using safe mode. It worked and I was able to reformat the drive again and use it for time machine again. Perhaps safe mode will work without the need of using window 10.

 

[dai-leung]

I have a MacBook Pro mid 2014 model running Yosemite and upgraded the OS to the latest Mojave 10.14.6. But something has gone wrong as it is running very slow. (“System” is consuming 174GB of storage space, not sure what they are.)

Before upgrade, I made a CCC backup including recovery to an external 1TB SSD. I then follow the steps given in CCC’s documentation “how to restore from a backup” by externally booting the Mac from the CCC backup. It works.

However, when I open the carbon copy cloner page, on the left pane under “VOLUMES” I see only the external SSD, but not the internal Macintosh HD( which is a SSD).

And as a result, under “DESTINATION”, I can not select the Macintosh HD as the clone destination I.e. I want to restore the Mac to the state before the upgrade.

Q1) How do I make the Macintosh HD to appear under “VOLUMES” that is viewable?

Q2) is it correct that for use with Mojave, I have to format the internal Macintosh SSD to APFS or it is preferable to do so? But unfortunately, in Yosemite’s disk utilities, the format does not have APFS format. Is that a work around?

Q3) Also how to I check the version of CCC that I am using?

If u have time to give a hand, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[dai-leung]

I understand my problem now. This is a lesson in formatting.

My CCC backup is Yosemite (which only accepts HFS+ format) while my mac’s internal Macintosh is Mojave (Mojave automatically formatted drive to APFS)

When the Mac is externally booted by CCC backup’s Yosemite, Yosemite does not mount APFS. this is the reason I could not see the APFS’s Macintosh HD on the CCC Backup window.

To solve this problem, I have to be booted in Mojave and use Mojave’s macOS disk ultilities to reformat the booting Macintosh HD to HFS+.

After reformatting, then externally boot the the Mac with Yosemite in the CCC backup drive. Now can use CCC to restore Yosemite to the Macintosh HD.

I hope I am correct.

 

[Weaselboy]

Cloud backup software for Mac and Windows : Arq

www.arqbackup.com

All new Arq version 6 out today. Upgrade pricing is $25 US.

So far it looks like a nice update.

https://www.arqbackup.com/download/arqbackup/arq6_release_notes.html

Edit: Here are V6 release notes that list the new features.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Cloud backup software for Mac and Windows : Arq

www.arqbackup.com

All new Arq version 6 out today. Upgrade pricing is $25 US.

So far it looks like a nice update.

Thanks for the notice! I love Arq - I use it at work (Server 2012 and 2016) and home (on my Mac and Windows devices). Nice to see that the upgrade pricing is very agreeable!

Edit: Speed definitely improved on my Windows 10 NTFS disks.

 

[gilby101]

All new Arq version 6 out today.

But don't use it if you have any archived folders in your Arq5 backup. The 'import' to Arq6 fails. Then need to go back to Arq5 recovering your settings, etc. from a non-Arq backup!

 

[sjinsjca]

But don't use it if you have any archived folders in your Arq5 backup.

Hm... how do I tell if I have archived folders in my Arq5 backup? I don't recall encountering the issue they describe in their help file (below), so I'm assuming it's safe to proceed?


Archiving Folders
If you add a folder to Arq (so that it's listed in the sidebar) and then you delete that folder on your hard drive, Arq will report a "folder missing" error each time it backs up. To prevent this error and mark the folder as an "archive", select the folder and click the "Detach..." button:

If you'd like to "re-attach" an archive folder so that Arq starts backing it up again, select the archived folder and click the "Attach..." button:

Select the folder's current location on your hard drive and click "Open". Arq will now include that folder when backing up.

 

[gilby101]

how do I tell if I have archived folders in my Arq5 backup?

Archived folders they are labelled with (archived) in the left hand Configure Backups pane.

I have found them particularly useful when I have a) migrated from one computer to a new one, and b) rearranged/renamed my disk structure. Unlikely to arise with a default folder structure on a single disk or if you are not concerned about long time (multi-year) retention of backups.

 

[shinji]

It sounds like most of the problems are the Arq 5 format -> Arq 6 format import process, which they've since disabled (coming back ~ June 2020 supposedly). Did anyone start over with new Arq 6 backups?

 

[BigMcGuire]

I did, started with new Arq Backups. Since Arq is one of several backup methods I use, I just started fresh.

All data on OneDrive.
Acronis Images to external disk. (2x daily).
Backblaze Unlimited.
Arq to external disk (hourly).
Arq to B2 (Daily).

Last two I started fresh when I got Arq 6.

 

[jameshenderson]

I did, started with new Arq Backups. Since Arq is one of several backup methods I use, I just started fresh.

Arq to external disk (hourly).
Arq to B2 (Daily).

Last two I started fresh when I got Arq 6.

How is it going? ...early days, I know.
Have you tried to restore anything?

I ask because I lost all my v5 data when importing to v6 (before they disabled it). I did a fresh restart and that got fouled up as well, but it was with the first or second release of v6. I am nervous about trying again. My backups are the same as yours listed above (I use CCC as well).

 

[BigMcGuire]

How is it going? ...early days, I know.
Have you tried to restore anything?

I ask because I lost all my v5 data when importing to v6 (before they disabled it). I did a fresh restart and that got fouled up as well, but it was with the first or second release of v6. I am nervous about trying again. My backups are the same as yours listed above (I use CCC as well).

I have not tried to restore anything. Ran in to some early bugs with B2 but it looks like some of them have been ironed out. I'm not a huge fan of the interface change but because Arq isn't my only backup method, I'm not annoyed just a little concerned at the glitches. But I did get it as soon as it came out.

I do need to test it eventually. I've been pretty busy with work so it has been placed on the back burner.

I'm keeping our work servers on the old Arq for now - let them iron out some of the wrinkles before I upgrade them.

 

[jameshenderson]

cheers for that.

Does the throttle now allow you to set "0" so you can effectively pause backups at night? ...in earlier versions it would not throttle below 1.

 

[BigMcGuire]

cheers for that.

Does the throttle now allow you to set "0" so you can effectively pause backups at night? ...in earlier versions it would not throttle below 1.

Doesn't look like it - I put in 0 and it reverts to 1.

 

[jameshenderson]

cheers. Stefan promised to fix it - but I guess it's not his priority right now.

 

[BigMcGuire]

cheers. Stefan promised to fix it - but I guess it's not his priority right now.

The biggest annoyance I have on this version is, just to edit the settings of my backup --- I have to input the password for the encryption.

That said, this version is significantly faster, especially dealing with massive numbers of small files. I'll warm up to it eventually, I know. For the price, it can't be beat. I recommend it to everyone.

 

[jameshenderson]

agh, so you think it's worth me using it now? ...as I wrote, I have already lost by v5 dataset so I am essentially starting from new anyway.

 

[BigMcGuire]

agh, so you think it's worth me using it now? ...as I wrote, I have already lost by v5 dataset so I am essentially starting from new anyway.

I would. It's faster, new design (takes getting used to) has its advantages, a lot of the small bugs I saw when it first came out are gone now, and it's doing a great job just staying out of the way. --- Especially if you lost your V5 dataset, go for it.

What I love about Arq is, I set it and forget about it. I've only had to use it a handful of times when I wanted a file in a folder from a month ago, etc. It is so beautiful for that.

But I'm the type of person: I like to get the latest, then forget about it and not have to deal with it if I can.

 

[jameshenderson]

cheers!

 

[Soylent Yellow]

I would. It's faster, new design (takes getting used to) has its advantages, a lot of the small bugs I saw when it first came out are gone now, and it's doing a great job just staying out of the way. --- Especially if you lost your V5 dataset, go for it.

[…]

But I'm the type of person: I like to get the latest, then forget about it and not have to deal with it if I can.

I just went back to Arq5. Decided it was better to loose my backup history then to have to use backup software that is not stable enough yet. Was on the latest release but still experienced some pretty bad bugs (40+GB memory usage, files with upload errors that were _not_ corrected in subsequent backups).

 

[planteater]

Has anyone ran Arq 5 and Arq 6 on the same computer, using both versions to separate buckets?

I ask because I would like to continue using my existing Arq 5 backup to B2, while I slowly start backing up with Arq 6 to a fresh bucket. That transition would take some time given that I don't have a fast home internet connection.

 

[Weaselboy]

I have not tried it, but I don't think you will be able to run 5 and 6 on the same Mac. It looks like there is a separate Arq 6 folder for Arq 6 prefs, but the ArqAgent background app that is needed does not have a separate folder for each, so I would be surprised if the Arq 6 install did not write over the Arq 5 agent and break things.

You might try asking the dev at support@arqbackup.com though. He is really good about answering questions quickly.

 

[planteater]

I have not tried it, but I don't think you will be able to run 5 and 6 on the same Mac. It looks like there is a separate Arq 6 folder for Arq 6 prefs, but the ArqAgent background app that is needed does not have a separate folder for each, so I would be surprised if the Arq 6 install did not write over the Arq 5 agent and break things.

You might try asking the dev at support@arqbackup.com though. He is really good about answering questions quickly.


View attachment 946015

Thanks. I did send an email to Arq support.

 

[planteater]

I got a fast response from Arq support. Confirmed, only one version or the other on a given system. Also, at this time, compatibility mode is not yet available.

 

[dai-leung]

I have been using ARQ5 to backup a Mac, but struggling to understand how it works and would appreciate answers for the following elementary questions.

Q1) I had used time machine backup to restore my Mac several times. Each time, all the applications worked, which is important to me as I don’t have license key codes for some of them. If I have to re-install apps, which I have no key code or license key, those apps will not work again.

Using ARQ, what folders of the Mac I should backup such that the restore from backup will preserve all the apps and their key codes just like the time machine would, that is without the need to input license keys for the apps? Would it work, if I omit /System, but back up all other folders?

Q2) I had used mac’s disk utilities to clone the internal Macintosh HD to an external drive. Afterward, the external drive was bootable and worked just like the internal MHD. If I use ARQ to back up the full Macintosh HD, is this ARQ backup a clone just like the one created by using the disk utilities? If not, why?

Q3) For ARQ6 and ARQ7, do answers for the above change?

Q4) ARQ 6 supports snapshots. Are these snapshots the same as the time machine local snapshots? If, yes, could they be used to restore the Mac to the system state at the time when the specific snapshot was taken?

Thank you in advance.