How to Create a Database Archive

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 (which we previously blogged about), 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.

1. Select the database you want to do a backup of.
2. Choose File > Export > Database Archive.
3. Choose the location of your backup.
   While you can change the filename, please leave the double extension, .dtBase2.zip, alone.

DEVONthink will first optimize the database, then create a compressed copy. The ZIP file created by the process is safe for uploading to a cloud provider or archiving to local external disks. Bear in mind, the compression may take some time to finish if the database is large.

Since it is a full backup of the database, not an incremental backup, creating one at the end of the week, bi-weekly, or at month’s end is a typical schedule.

There is a related option in the Scripts menu: Scripts > Export > Daily Backup Archive. This runs the same routine but automatically saves the ZIP file to a Backup folder in your home directory. The name of the ZIP file will include the current date.

Keep your data safe!