collection robustness

[DavidHoffmanuk]

I've recently put a lot of time into making many collections relating to sections in a photo book. All is good but I'm nervous that they could be lost if there was a serious problem with the catalog. This did happen a couple of years ago. Would my normal backups be sufficient to be certain of being able to restore these collections?

David Hoffman

[ahoward]

Would my normal backups be sufficient to be certain of being able to restore these collections?

Hard to answer that without knowing what specifically your normal backups entail, but generally you'd want to backup the folder at the path listed in the "location" in the catalog management window (where the catalog is located) and the folder at the following path: ~/Library/Application Support/Camera Bits, Inc/Photo Mechanic/catalog/state

Be sure to backup or restore only when Photo Mechanic Plus is not running.

[DavidHoffmanuk]

Thanks ahoward, that's helpful.

Checking now, I see that Backblaze does not back up any of the Application support folders. I'm checking with the support but I don't expect to be able to change this. In any case, as Backblaze backs up continuously, it's likely that any backup it did make would be made when PM+ was running as that is the case almost all the time that I'm using the Mac.

My own Chronosync backups on local drives are mostly made weekly & that's too long an interval to be sure of being able to restore recent changes. In any case  those backups would also generally be made with PM+ running.

I think I need a solution that would start the Mac (without starting PM+ as it is set up to do now) at night, run a backup to a local drive & shut down. I'll need to look into how I might do that.

[DavidHoffmanuk]

I think I need a solution that would start the Mac (without starting PM+ as it is set up to do now) at night, run a backup to a local drive & shut down. I'll need to look into how I might do that.

It's much simpler than that! I've made a Chronosync scheduled backup to copy the Application Support & Preferences folders to a folder on an internal drive at night. Backblaze will also back that up. I'll need to let the Mac sleep instead of shutting it down but that may be better for it. I also need to remember to quit some apps (such as PM+) as their App sup folders are constantly updated. I'll automate that - with Terminal help from ChatGPT.

David