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Syncing and Local Backups

phippers
phippers
Community Member
in Memberships

Hi,

I’m trialling the 1Password account on your 6 months free offer - great offer, by the way! Thank you.

I have a few questions around sync and backup, if that’s OK.

First, my versions:

I’m running a Mac Book Air OSX 10.11.6, an iPad Mini iOS 9.3.5 and an iPhone 4 iOS 7.1.2.

I followed your online instructions for getting 1Password on to iOS7 and downloaded the 1Password app to my iPhone 4 - version 4.5.3

I signed up for a 1Password account on the Mac and installed 1Password version 6.3.2, used the QR reader to link the app to the account.

I downloaded the 1Password app on the iPad Mini, version 6.4.4 and used the QR reader to link the app to the account.

On the Mac using the default settings - i.e. the "Personal" vault - I started adding some test logins and tried out the browser extensions etc.

My questions:

1) Syncing.

1Password on the iPad syncs with the 1Password on the Mac, automagically, and life is good.

No sync on the iPhone though. I expected this as I guess that 1Password v4.5.3 doesn’t know about your cloud solution.

So I was looking for the sync options in 1Password on the Mac so that I could sync my "Personal" vault with 1Password on my iPhone using WiFi / WLAN.

(Your online documentation shows the sync options in the preferences pane - but at default they’re not there. This is a bit confusing for a noob).

I figured out that I had to enable “Allow creation of vaults outside of 1Password accounts” before the sync options would appear in the preferences pane.

This then creates another vault (confusingly called “Primary”) and I found that I could enter stuff in there and sync it to my iPhone using WLAN, - but I don’t actually want another vault.

What I want is one vault - my “Personal” vault - automagically synced with all my devices.

Can this be done when there is an old version of 1Password in the mix? Even one-way sync would be OK - i.e. from the 1Password account —> the legacy 1Password app on the old iPhone.

I kludged it by manually copying everything from my "Personal" vault to my "Primary" vault on the Mac, and then manually syncing the "Primary" vault with the iPhone using WLAN…… but that seems like too much of a hassle for regular use.

2) Local Backups.

I have read that with the 1Password account, you handle backups of the vault(s) in the cloud. Which is fine.

I would still like to do my own local backups of the "Personal" vault from my Mac.

Enabling “Allow creation of vaults outside of 1Password accounts” reveals the backup options in the preferences pane.

It strikes me as odd that the backup options only appear once “Allow creation of vaults outside of 1Password accounts” is enabled.

I think that means that the backups option in the preferences pane will only backup the local vault(s) - in this case the "Primary" vault and not the "Personal" vault. Have I understood it correctly?

Is there an option in the 1Password app to locally backup the "Personal" vault?

Am I right in thinking that all the vaults - even the "Personal" vault, must be stored (cached?) locally on my devices?
(It seems that way, as even in Flight mode I can use 1Password to read login passwords, Secure Notes etc, - so the "Personal" vault must be stored on my device somewhere ….. )

Does that mean that backup solutions like Time Machine and Super Duper running on my Mac would be backing up the "Personal" vault from my Mac anyway?

Best regards,

Paul.

1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided
Referrer: forum-search:sync

Comments

  • Jacob
    Jacob

    Hi @phippers! Thanks for taking the new subscription for a spin. :) I'd be happy to answer your questions about it.

    No sync on the iPhone though. I expected this as I guess that 1Password v4.5.3 doesn’t know about your cloud solution.

    That is correct. Since you have an iPhone 4, I'm afraid you won't be able to use a subscription account with it.

    What I want is one vault - my “Personal” vault - automagically synced with all my devices. Can this be done when there is an old version of 1Password in the mix? Even one-way sync would be OK - i.e. from the 1Password account —> the legacy 1Password app on the old iPhone.

    Sync happens within the account automatically, and it goes to the 1Password server and back. WLAN and other sync methods with data inside an account are not supported because the account does this automatically. You're welcome to use 1Password without an account. I wouldn't recommend combining the two since you won't get the benefits of an account if the vault is stored outside it.

    I think that means that the backups option in the preferences pane will only backup the local vault(s) - in this case the "Primary" vault and not the "Personal" vault. Have I understood it correctly?

    Yes that is correct. 1Password accounts have automatic backup of the data on the server — you don't have to worry about any backups on your computer. :)

    Does that mean that backup solutions like Time Machine and Super Duper running on my Mac would be backing up the "Personal" vault from my Mac anyway?

    They would be backing up the local cache of your account's data. We don't recommend restoring from this backup since it's a local database used for offline access. If you need to make a manual backup of your data, you can export an unencrypted copy of it or store it in a local vault.

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