Features QRecall’s features work together to form an efficient, reliable and secure backup solution.

Back up multiple volumes and computers, efficiently, in a single archive

QRecall never stores duplicate data… QRecall analyzes and compares your file's data with data already in your archive. If two blocks of data are identical, only one copy is stored.

Capture a second operating system or a copy of that iTunes library and your archive will contain only a single copy of the data.

Archive more in the same space — or just use less space.

Eliminate duplicate data

Example: Making incremental backups of a 100 gigabyte disk image, that changes only slightly each day, would consume 3 terabytes of archive storage using conventional backup solutions. QRecall can store the same in around 120GB—in other words, a 96% reduction in storage requirements for the same amount of security.

Compress archive data

And the storage savings don't stop there. QRecall can also perform traditional data compression to squeeze your data even more. Between de-duplication and compression, it's possible to store all of your documents, along with daily and weekly changes going back several months, in less space that your documents current occupy on disk.

NEW

Stacks make off-site backups a breeze

The new "stacks" feature in 3.0 mirrors an archive to the cloud or other remote storage.

Leveraging QRecall's superior duplicate data detection, the cloud copy of the archive is as small as physically possible, reducing resources and saving money.

Safe and Secure

Your document, plus a QRecall Archive, plus a QRecall Stack makes for a three-pronged safety net that can protect you against virtually any failure, local or remote, even natural disasters.

Flexible location

Stacks can be stored on virtually any macOS compatible filesystem or server. Stacks can also be stored as data objects in an Amazon Web Service Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket, or any AWS-compatible third-party object storage service.

Efficient uploads, quick updates

New layers only upload the blocks of data that actually changed, and layers can be updated by replacing just the affected layer data. So initial uploads are fast, incremental updates are small, and maintenance is efficient. You save storage and minimize bandwidth.

Pre-defined Actions

Use pre-defined actions to capture files, merge layers (incremental sets of changes), and perform other maintenance operations.

Recurring Schedules

Schedule actions to run daily, weekly, monthly or other regular intervals.

Event Triggers

Actions can be scheduled to run when an event occurs.

Events include changing an item, launching or quitting an application, connecting an external drive, mounting a network volume, logging in or out.

Examples: Capture critical documents the minute they change. Create actions that automatically capture a camera memory card whenever it is plugged in. Recapture all of your work the moment you quit your editing application.

Conditional Schedules

Delay or ignore schedules using conditions.

Example: Don’t start an action during a particular time of the day, or cancel a running action if the laptop battery charge drops below 10%.

Power Management

Scheduled actions can wake or start up your computer before running. Once finished, actions can also put your computer to sleep or shut it down again.

Custom Scripts

Execute custom scripts (or any POSIX executable) before or after actions in your workflow. Use this to mount a custom storage device or synchronize a database before backing up.

Preserve Deleted Items

Optionally keep the last captured copy of recently deleted items. This option retains the last version of items for a period of time you specify, which can be longer than the item would normally be preserved.

Rolling Incremental Backups

QRecall's layer merging algorithms give you the ultimate control over how long items are kept in an archive. Keep hourly backups of recent changes alongside daily, weekly, and monthly versions of older items—all in a single archive. As items age, intermediate versions are erased to conserve storage space

Mixed Captures

Capture, and recapture, anything to a single archive. Capture an entire volume, then recapture just a single folder.

There are no restrictions on how many capture layers can be added to a single archive, or how much each layer contains.

Item Exclusions

It's just as important to control what does not get captured. QRecall provides an assortment of tools for preventing certain items from being captured, either because they don't need to be or because they shouldn't be.

Arbitrary items can be excluded in the archive settings, or via per-item exclusions you can set right in the Finder or from the command line. Pattern exclusions can match multiple items using regex or glob expressions, in a single folder or an entire directory tree.

There's even a special "ignore changes" exclusion that captures an item, but then ignores rapid changes that occur during the day. Perfect for capturing items that might be changing often (like a photo library) but don't need to be fully captured until later.

Re-use existing macOS backup preferences

QRecall will also honor items excluded by Time Machine or macOS's built-in backup exclusion attribute. So software designed to play well with Time Machine will be right at home with QRecall.

Recall or Restore

Recall any item (file, folder, or entire volume) with a single command. Replace your existing item with a version from the archive, or recall it to a different location. The choice is yours.

Instant Recall

Double-click to open any item in an archive.

Opening up yesterday's version of your document is just a double-click away.

Optionally delete files after archiving

Capture an item by accident or decide you no longer want to keep a backup copy? You can surgically remove the history of any item from an archive, whenever you want.

NEW

Cull uncaptured volumes

Volumes that haven't been recaptured in a long time can be automatically deleted, recovering storage space.

Preview items before restoring them

Preview most items before recalling them, or just use it to find the version you're interested in.

Flexible Capture

Capture any combination of files, folders, or entire volumes. You control how much, what, and how often items are captured.

Live Capture

QRecall uses the APFS snapshot feature to capture stable copies of your files and folders, even if you're changing those files while they're being captured.

Store up to 6 terabytes of data in a single archive

Between compression and de-duplication, this represents upwards of 20 TB of captured data. Capture single files up to 2 terabytes. There is no practical limit on the number of files, layers, or owners that can be captured in a single archive.

Familiar Browser Layouts

View items much like you do in the Finder, by icon, list, or column.

Calendar Sidebar

See the layers laid out on a calendar to visualize when items were captured.

Timelines / Visual Item History

Timelines graphically overlay the history of items in the archive.

Item Inspector

Inspector window shows detailed information about items, layers, or an archive.

Rewind History

The Rewind tool presents the timeline of an item as an easy-to-navigate dial. Rewind to the version you want to examine or recall it in seconds.

View Deleted, Invisible, and Excluded Items

View modes allow you a browse items that have been deleted, are normally invisible, or were excluded from the capture.

Built-in Search

Quickly search an entire archive for items by name or parts of a name. Matching items are highlighted right in the browser.

Browse individual layers

Each capture creates a layer; It's like an archaeological record of your changes.

Browse through layers to rewind time and reveal items from the past. Open, recall, or restore past items. Quickly view and compare differences between layers.

Spotlight Integration

Find archived items by name right from the macOS Spotlight Search tool.

Finder Integration

Capture an item immediately, or reveal its previously captured version in an archive.

Edit capture preferences or create exclusion patterns from within Finder.

(Works in Finder and any app that support macOS Services.)

Non-Admin User Friendly

QRecall can be installed and used by non-administrative users. (Features that require administrative privileges will be disabled.)

Examples: Use QRecall in a lab or on a shared computer to archive important documents. Send anyone an archive and they can use a free copy of QRecall to browse and recall its contents.

Automatic Updates

QRecall will periodically check for updates. Updates are securely downloaded and checked for authenticity before being installed.

Checksums and interlocking validity tests

Checksums and interlocking validity tests are confirmed every time the archive is accessed to ensure that the items in an archive are unaltered, undamaged, and readable.

The structure and integrity of an archive can be independently verified at any time to confirm that the items in the archive are pristine, safe, and ready to recall.

NEW

Post-Capture verification

An extra validity check before committing each capture; catch data corruption immediately.

Built-in error correction

Optionally add data redundancy to archives for error correction. Amount of redundancy is variable and can be as little as 1:32 or as much as 1:1.

Redundancy can reconstruct limited amounts of data damaged by unreliable media or transmission. Redundancy is performed using industry standard Reed-Sololom error correction; the same fast and dependable correction used by RAID devices.

NEW

S.M.A.R.T. check

If supported, the S.M.A.R.T. status of an archive's hard drive is checked before the archive is used.

Built-in repair command

The built-in repair command will recover all usable items from a damaged archive.

Auto-repair

Journaled database technology allows an archive to instantly auto-repair itself after a crash or other interruption. Automatic re-reads of invalid data can recover items from devices exhibiting transient data transfer problems.

Accurately capture and restore metadata

Captures and restores all POSIX and HFS+ metadata. Captures and restores extended metadata and extended attributes.

Correctly restores compressed binaries.

Captures and restores Access Control Lists (ACLs).

Capture and restore both hard and symbolic links

QRecall is one of the few backup solutions that can detect and restore hard-linked files.

Support for localized names

Archive preserves the localized name and icon of every item.

NEW

Record excluded items in the archive

Excluded items are now visible in the archive. When restoring over existing items, existing items that were excluded are preserved.

Strong AES Encryption

Strongly encrypt all user data using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Encryption keys can be shared by multiple users/systems.

Password protected keys

Keys can be password protected for additional local security. Passwords can be changed later (without re-encrypting) and can be different for each system.

macOS Keychain Support

Encryption passwords can be stored on the keychain to allow automated access to password-protected archives.

Key recovery

An optional passphrase-protected recovery key can be embedded in the archive as a backup, affording secure recovery of your encryption key directly from the archive.

Encryption keys and/or passphrases can also be exported for safekeeping.

Complete documentation

Comprehensive documentation available in-app and online.

Integrated Log Viewer

Structured summary of QRecall activity. Control the amount of detail displayed. Show just the highlights or expand to examine the details of every event.

Activity Monitor

Floating activity panel monitors the progress of running actions. Keep a discrete tab on QRecall actions without opening the QRecall application.

Optional menubar item lets you monitor and control QRecall actions.

Notifications

Get notifications when actions start, complete, or fail.

Archive Status

Status window presents an instant overview of the health and status of every active archive.

Command Line Tool

The comprehensive qrecall command line tool performs most QRecall commands and can also manage actions.

Use the command line tool to perform QRecall tasks via your favorite scripting language or automation tool.

NEW

Uninstall Script

For those times when the built-in uninstall isn't sufficient.