Your data: location, backup, reset

Where your data is

Data	Location
Catalog (indexed files, fingerprints, metadata, groups, review decisions, sources and their bookmarks, permanent deletion setting, transfer plans, transaction journal, activity history)	`~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace/catalog.sqlite`
Auxiliary catalog files, present while it is open	`catalog.sqlite-wal` and `catalog.sqlite-shm`, in the same folder
Consolidation manifests	In each transfer destination: `<destination>/.obscura-manifests/<plan>/manifest.json`
Copies being transferred	In the destination, under the name `<fichier>.obscura-part`, while they are being verified
“Rechercher automatiquement les mises à jour” (Automatically check for updates) setting	App preferences (identifier `com.oorun.obscuratrace`), managed by Sparkle

~ stands for your home folder. The Library folder is hidden in the Finder: Go › Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G), then paste ~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace. The full path is also shown, selectable, in the Réglages (Settings) (“Catalogue” (Catalog) section).

There is only one catalog, always at this location. The app never opens another one as a fallback.

No preview cache, no text log files. In the current version, the app does not create an image cache (normalized previews and their cache are in development). The transfer journal and the activity history are in the catalog, not in separate files.

Your photos are never copied into the catalog. It contains only information about them. Its size depends on the number of indexed files, not on their size on disk.

Backing up the catalog

The catalog contains your review decisions and the history of your transfers: it is worth backing up, for example before a large consolidation.

Quit Obscura Trace (⌘Q). When closing, the app cleanly finishes writing the catalog.
Copy the entire ~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace folder to your backup medium. If catalog.sqlite-wal or catalog.sqlite-shm files are present, copy them along with catalog.sqlite: they are part of it.

Time Machine backs up this folder like the rest of your home folder.

Do not copy the catalog while the app is open: the copy could be inconsistent.

Restoring a backup

Quit Obscura Trace.
Set aside the current ~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace folder (rename it, for example Obscura Trace (ancien)).
Put the backed-up folder back in its place, under the exact name Obscura Trace.
Relaunch the app.

Anything that happened after the backup (analyses, decisions, transfers) is not in the restored catalog. The files on your disks, for their part, are what they are: rerun an analysis of each source to bring the catalog up to date.

Starting over (resetting the catalog)

The app has no reset button. To start over from an empty catalog:

Quit Obscura Trace.
Move (rather than delete) the ~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace folder elsewhere, for example to the Desktop.
Relaunch the app: a new, empty catalog is created at the same location.

What you lose with the old catalog: the sources and their authorizations (you will have to designate each folder again), the analysis results, your review decisions, the transfer history and the permanent deletion setting, which goes back to “désactivée” (disabled).

What you do not lose: your photos, which are never in the catalog, and the manifests written to your destinations.

Once you are reassured, you can delete the old folder.

Uninstalling

Quit Obscura Trace and drag the app to the Trash.
If you do not plan to reinstall it, also move the ~/Library/Application Support/Obscura Trace folder (see above).

The .obscura-manifests manifests remain in your archives: they describe them and are useful independently of the app.