When you create a DEVONthink database, you need to save it to a specific location. In principle, there are many options here. Some are good, some others rather not. Here are the advocated options and things you need to know. (more)

Nowadays, people often talk about data being “in the cloud” and they often ask or expect their DEVONthink databases to be online. But if your data is all in the cloud, have you ever wondered why there are still local folders on your machines? Let’s briefly discuss why decentralization is the model that DEVONthink follows. (more)

Our Earth is struck by lightning eight million times per day and the power of a single strike can shut down electricity for a house, a neighborhood, or more. But there are also other potential causes of power outages, outages that can lead to data loss. Here’s one way to try and minimize potential losses of your data. (more)

One of the topics we routinely preach about is the need to be diligent in backups. We believe, “If your data is important to you, it should be backed up.” While DEVONthink doesn’t do file backups on its own, it does have an option for doing periodic full backups of a database. Here’s how to create a database archive to use as a secondary backup. (more)

When we discuss backups, we generally advocate primary backups on local drives. However, we sometimes hear, “But, I want to use an online backup!” While, this is indeed possible, here are a few things to bear in mind: … (more)

As mentioned last week, we sometimes receive support requests from people where the best option is to restore data from backups. All too often we find out they have not been diligent in keeping their backups current, and some have never even started them! Is there really no solution for them? For people who have used Time Machine but haven’t connected their backup drives in some time, there may be hope as Time Machine keeps a local hidden backup too. (more)

If there’s one difficult question to ask in Support, it’s: “Do you have current local backups of your DEVONthink databases?” Too often, the answer is, “No” or “I’ve been thinking about starting backups, but I need to restore my data now!” This is a heartbreaking response to hear, and one we want to hear less and less. (more)

DEVONthink does not have a system for automatically backing up everything. DEVONthink has a setting in its Preferences > Backup that controls how many internal metadata backups are done. These backups can be used in a troubleshooting situation by selecting Tools > Restore Backup. (more)

Backups are something that every computer user is supposed to do but nobody really enjoys doing it. Apple’s Time Machine makes it a lot easier, at least when you have a second hard disk or a Time Capsule. However, if you’re like me and you don’t want to clutter your desk with yet another piece of hardware you might like Haystack Software’s Arq popup: true. (more)

Why-o-ever it may happen, databases can go corrupt. Be it a damaged file system, a system hang, or, Heaven forbid!, a DEVONthink crash. But, no reason to panic. First, run Tools > Verify & Repair. If DEVONthink cannot repair the database or if you are sure that you’ve lost some data, it’s time for the internal backups. By default, DEVONthink keeps two internal backups of the database index files that you can revert to at any time. (more)