Problem performing backup

kallovsky

Hi,



I just realized that my backups are not working properly:



- when I perform them manually (File -> Backup Data File) I get a popup box: Problem performing backup - Failed to create archive

- The automatic backups obviously had some problems, too: I found nearly 1000 (!) files in the backup folder with the extension .agilekeychain_backup.partial, created every 5 minutes and with the size of my normal database --- resulting in 16GB of broken backups! The last normal backup file is from Nov 9.



I wonder what's going on here --- and why there's no warning message when doing these automatic backups - this could easily have filled up my entire harddrive...



Thanks for your help,



kallovsky

khad

I'm sorry you are having this problem. Could you try resetting folder permissions and rebuilding your data file (Help > Troubleshooting)?



Please let me know how it turns out.

kallovsky

Unfortunately, that didn't help!

kallovsky

O.K. - I had a closer look and found the following lines in the system.log:



Nov 15 18:52:31 computername 1PasswordAgent[266]: Error reported during backup of 1Password data file: Did not receive any output from running the script:\n/usr/bin/tar -chzf "/Users/username/Library/Application Support/1Password/Backups/1Password 2010-11-15 185228 (430 items).agilekeychain_backup.partial" --exclude "_lock_" --directory "/Users/username/Library/Application Support/1Password" "1Password.agilekeychain"\ntar: Failed to set default locale



Any idea how to solve that problem?

kallovsky

I finally found the problem: As the system.log suggested there's a problem with the locale setting. I had it changed in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist to get google earth running properly - changing it back made 1password backups work again!



However, I do think that 1password should detect backup errors like this and warn the user!

khad

I am glad you were able to sort out the problem. That's always good news! <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-)' />



We will certainly look into better backup error handling in a future update, but please be aware that custom environment variables that break system utilities like [font="Courier New"]tar[/font] are beyond the scope of what we are able to support. <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_sadsmile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':-(' />

jpgoldberg

[quote name='kallovsky' timestamp='1289844872' post='15163']

O.K. - I had a closer look and found the following lines in the system.log:



Nov 15 18:52:31 computername 1PasswordAgent[266]: Error reported during backup of 1Password data file: Did not receive any output from running the script:\n/usr/bin/tar -chzf "/Users/username/Library/Application Support/1Password/Backups/1Password 2010-11-15 185228 (430 items).agilekeychain_backup.partial" --exclude "_lock_" --directory "/Users/username/Library/Application Support/1Password" "1Password.agilekeychain"\ntar: Failed to set default locale



Any idea how to solve that problem?

[/quote]



I have never seen tar fail because it couldn't set the Locale. Can you let us know what your locale was set to so I can see if I can re-create this problem? tar ought just resort to POSIX locale. It looks like there is a bug in tar.



Nonetheless, as you say later, we should do more error checking ourselves to see that backups are being made. We have actually increased such errors checks in recent versions, but there is more work to be done.



Cheers,



-j

jpgoldberg

[quote name='jpgoldberg' timestamp='1289885257' post='15219']

tar ought just resort to POSIX locale. It looks like there is a bug in tar.

[/quote]



I've just looked at the source for bsdtar (on a BSD system, and I'm assuming that Apple hasn't changed it much). This is a warning from tar. It does not cause tar to fail. So it is still a question of why our backups failed in this case. We will be looking at this.



Thanks again.



-j

kallovsky

[quote]Can you let us know what your locale was set to so I can see if I can re-create this problem?[/quote]



I had changed the environment variable LANG in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist from de_DE.UTF-8 to us_US.UTF-8. Setting it back to german makes the backups working again!



I don't know if the problem arose with 10.6.5 or with the 1password update...

jpgoldberg

[quote name='kallovsky' timestamp='1289899939' post='15235']

I had changed the environment variable LANG in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist from de_DE.UTF-8 to us_US.UTF-8.[/quote]



Ah! I think instead of "us_US.UTF-8" it should have been "en_US.UTF-8". (In the same way that Austrians should have "de_AT.UTF-8", but "at_AT.UTF-8" would not be valid.)



[quote]

I don't know if the problem arose with 10.6.5 or with the 1password update...

[/quote]



I've been studying the issue and I think it is a problem we introduced recently while actually adding more tests into the the backup process to confirm its success or failure. The developers are taking a look at this.



Again, thanks for hunting down the error in system.log. That really was great.



Cheers,



-j

kallovsky

[quote]I think instead of "us_US.UTF-8" it should have been "en_US.UTF-8".[/quote]



Ah! That makes sense! --- I just tried it and now Google earth [b]and[/b] 1password work properly! Thank you very much!



[quote]I've been studying the issue and I think it is a problem we introduced recently while actually adding more tests into the the backup process to confirm its success or failure.[/quote]



That's quite ironic... <img src='http://forum.agile.ws/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skype_wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';-)' />



Thanks again for your help!



kallovsky

brand0

I am having the same problem "Failed to create archive" and I have a huge 8GB backup folder containing partial backups. However, what I have just read baffles me so could you give me some idea how I can rectify the problem.



Thanks.

khad

Welcome to the forums, brand0. I'm sorry for the late reply.



Could you please email us your Diagnostics Report? This will help us track down the issue more quickly. You can generate the report from 1Password on your Mac by clicking the Help > Troubleshooting > Diagnostics Report... menu item and then attach the report to an email to support@agile.ws.



[color="#FF0000"]Please do not post your Diagnostic Report in the forums.[/color]



We would love to resolve this for you.

awhilliard

UPDATE: My 1Password Data file was in my Dropbox. As a test, I moved it out of the dropbox and into my Documents folder on my mac. Now everything is backing up without a problem. Seems to be fixed!



--------------------------------------------------------



I'd just like to add that I'm experiencing the same "failed to create backup" message. This forum string is WAY more technical than I can follow, so I am not going to jump into the conversation. Just wanted to say I'm getting that message, and experiencing the same .partial backups (thousands of files, piling up to 27Gbs when I discovered the problem). I've rebuilt my database, I've repaired permissions, I've updated to the latest 1Password version. Nothing seems to work.



Look forward to resolving this!



Thanks

RobYoder

Hello, awhilliard, and welcome to the forums!



I don't have an answer for you right now, but I'm going to try to find someone who does.



Thanks for the report!

MikeT

[quote name='awhilliard' timestamp='1294685778' post='18730']

UPDATE: My 1Password Data file was in my Dropbox. As a test, I moved it out of the dropbox and into my Documents folder on my mac. Now everything is backing up without a problem. Seems to be fixed!

[/quote]Hi awhilliard, that shouldn't happen. Could you email us at support@agile.ws with your diagnostics report. [color="#FF0000"][i]Please do not upload your report here or anywhere else except in the email sent to us. [/i][color="#000000"]You can generate the report from 1Password on your Mac by clicking the Help > Troubleshooting > Diagnostics Report... menu item and then attach the report to the email to us.[/color][/color]

richbowen

Hi Agile People



I'm having the same problem. I've just emailed my diagnostics report to support@agile.ws



I noticed the problem when my Time Machine backup ran out of space. Daisy Disk highlighted that I had over 400GB of these "1Password 2011-02-06 150056 (405 items).agilekeychain_backup.partial" files on my iMac.



So I deleted all but the last 10 backups and made sure my Backup Prefs were set to Daily / Keep last 10.



5 days later and the partial backups have grown again ... to 38 GB. They seem to be created every 5 minutes.



Aghh!



Not sure if it's relevant but I'm using 1PW 3.5.3 (build 30812):

- home iMac Core i5 running MacOSX 10.6.6 ... this is where these partial backups are being created

- work MacBook Pro C2D running MacOSX 10.6.6 ... no problems with partial backups

- iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 ... no problems



They're all syncing via Dropbox. And yes they're all licensed!



Thanks in advance for any help.

khad

Welcome to the forums, richbowen. I'm sorry that you're having this problem.



The most common cause of backup errors is a problem with the backup location. We have improved the reliability of data file backup by using the default location if backup path does not exist in 1Password 3.5.4. Please update and let me know if you are still having trouble.



Merely updating to the latest version will likely resolve the problem, but you might also try manually [re]setting the backup location (Preferences > Backup > Backup Folder) and resetting folder permissions (Help > Troubleshooting > Reset Folder Permissions).



Please let me know how it turns out.[i]

[/i]

richbowen

[quote name='khad' timestamp='1296982625' post='20133']

manually [re]setting the backup location (Preferences > Backup > Backup Folder) and resetting folder permissions (Help > Troubleshooting > Reset Folder Permissions).

[i]

[/i]

[/quote]



This seems to have worked - thanks, there are certainly no more .partial backups being created on my iMac.



However when I try to manually create a backup (Preferences > Backup > Backup Now) I receive an error message "Problem performing a backup. Failed to create archive."



I Rebuilt Data File (Preferences > Advanced > Rebuild Data File), but that made no difference.



However, the backup continues to work fine on my MBP, so I do have a backup.



Any ideas on this one?

khad

I would have to take a look at your Diagnostics Report to be sure. It sounds odd to me that automatic backups are working but creating one manually fails. You mention rebuilding your data file (which, predictably, was of no help in this situation), but did you reset folder permissions as I suggested? That might be the key.



I was not able to find a message from you in our e-mail support system — although I was only able to search based on the address with which you signed up for these forums. Could you please email us your Diagnostics Report [again]? This will help us track down the issue more quickly. You can generate the report from 1Password on your Mac by clicking the Help > Troubleshooting > Diagnostics Report... menu item and then attach the report to an e-mail to support@agile.ws.



Please include a link to this thread so we can "connect the dots" but [color="#FF0000"]do not post your Diagnostics Report in the forums.[/color]



Thanks!

richbowen

Khad, thanks for your help.



I reset the folder permissions again but it makes no difference ... I still can't generate a manual backup (or auto for that matter).



I've just generated and emailed the diagnostics report.

khad

Richard,



I got your email and have replied to you. For the sake of others in the forums, it looks like a tangled web of file permissions problems (beyond the scope of what 1Password will reset). We look forward to helping as best we can.



I will update the thread as soon as we find out more or have a resolution. Thanks for hanging in there!

richbowen

Thanks again Khad.



You are correct - this iMac was set up using Apple Migration Assistant (from memory) from another iMac. That was a number of months ago and this is the first problem I've come up against. Looks like I'm lucky. I'm going to be offline for about a week, so no urgency. When I have a chance I'll have a look at the old iMac ... I am not 100% sure how Dropbox / 1PW were set up.

khad

Thanks for updating the thread, Rich.



It is always best to do the migration right at the end of a new installation (first boot). Doing it later means that certain things like the low-level UID (number assigned to each login) might not be able to match their original values. You might re-install your OS X and re-migrate during the first boot of the new (re)install. Otherwise, you might need to use the [font="Menlo"]chown[/font] command for the incorrect ownership (which might be due to a late migration).