I corrupted my EagleFiler Library (user error) and have some thoughts about how to lessen the impact if it ever happens in the future.
I’ve been casually using EagleFiler for some time, using test data to become more acquainted with the application. Recently, I must have done something wrong without knowing it - like maybe moving a file in the finder to a different folder while EagleFiler was open. Anyway, I got some errors off and on and did a Verify on all records and Update Checksum on all records. Next time I opened the library, EagleFiler tried to open it, but said it was unable to open it. No errors were reported in the Errors window. Now, when I try to open it, EagleFiler launches, but no library is opened and no errors are reported. So, I’ve lost my library (the file is still there) - but It’s not a big deal because I was just testing. By the way, I didn’t have a backup, because it was just test data.
Any way, I then created a new empty library and re-imported all the files that were still intact from the old library. The fact that the individual files are still valid and also organized in the proper folder is a HUGE advantage of EagleFiler over other applications that store the data in a proprietary database. I’ve lost my tags, but that’s not the end of the world.
My library resides on an external disk drive connected to an AirPort Extreme. That way, I can use the same library on either my desktop or my laptop (not at the same time).
Backing up the library and all the files is the best solution, but I just don’t do backups often enough. So here’s what I’m planning to do. I use FoldersSynchronizer to backup my user folder on each Mac to the network drive on the AirPort Extreme. I plan to use FoldersSynchronizer to backup the whole EagleFiler library (xxx.eflibrary and all files) from the AirPort Extreme to each of my Mac’s, and never open those copies. After I’m done using EagleFiler on either Mac I’ll run FoldersSynchronizer to backup all the data - it only backs up files that have been added or changed. That way, I’ll always have two very recent backups of my EF library.
I’d welcome any other approaches to backing up a network drive (short of RAID). Thanks.