{"id":354,"date":"2020-09-10T20:14:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T20:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arqbackup.com\/blog\/?p=354"},"modified":"2020-09-23T17:34:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T17:34:04","slug":"next-up-arq-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arqbackup.com\/blog\/next-up-arq-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Next up: Arq 7!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We’re shipping Arq 7 this year. It has a totally new user interface<\/strong>, and all the features of Arq 6 plus additional improvements, and it’s awesome<\/strong>! It’s a free<\/em> upgrade for Arq 6 customers, and a discounted price for Arq 5 customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait, didn’t you just ship Arq 6? <\/em>Yes, we did, last April<\/a>. Our main goal with Arq 6 was to deliver a user interface (UI) that’s more user-friendly and modern. The second goal was to standardize the user interface across Mac and Windows (and one day maybe Linux?). The third goal was to speed bug-fixes and improvements through use of a single code base. Arq 6 has a cross-platform user interface made with Electron (like Slack and many other apps). Arq 6 works great for new users, but unfortunately there were unexpected issues<\/a> with importing Arq 5 data, and feedback on the UI was largely (and sometimes very passionately) negative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the Future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We set out to re-engineer Arq 6 based on the customer feedback we received. We had hoped to ship an Arq 6 update that was compatible with Arq 5 data by end of June 2020. But we wanted to ship something great, even if it takes a lot longer than we initially expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point we tried prototyping Arq 6 as a \u201cnative<\/a>\u201d UI on macOS, and realized we like it a lot better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we decided to implement the entire UI as a \u201cnative\u201d UI. It\u2019s got better keyboard navigation, it\u2019s more intuitive, has a smaller disk footprint, and supports drag-and-drop to easily restore files to your desktop or a Finder window. It just feels better. We hope you like it too. We\u2019re working on implementing the Windows UI as a \u201cnative\u201d UI as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Format Changes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Under the hood, we totally reworked the backup agent with a new data format. It stores backup records organized by selected-folder in the backup plan, like Arq 5. Unlike Arq 5, the backup records are independent from each other so they can be individually deleted without rewriting a lot of data. The first time you back up after upgrading from Arq 5, a new-format backup record is created for each Arq 5 backup record, pointing to the directory tree of the Arq 5 backup record. Where Arq 6.0 attempted to \u201cimport\u201d Arq 5 data by recreating the data in a new format, we now just read that data, and reuse it for subsequent backup records where possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re upgrading from Arq 6, Arq 7 creates a backup record for each Arq 6 “snapshot”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backup records for \u201call drives\u201d backup plans will be separated by volume in the new version, and backup records for Arq 6 \u201cselected items\u201d backup plans will be separated by folder (\u201cselected item\u201d) in the new version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As before, we will publish a document describing the data format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backup Plan Configuration Changes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We replaced the volume-based approach to selecting items for backup with path-based because that\u2019s how Arq 5 macOS users configured things, and we need to be 100% compatible with Arq 5 data. There\u2019s a new \u201ctrack by disk identifier\u201d checkbox so that you can configure Arq to find your selected folder using disk identifier instead of path. If you connect multiple USB drives with the same name to your Mac, this checkbox will allow Arq to find the right one wherever it\u2019s mounted rather than use whatever drive is plugged in at the expected mount point. So you get the benefit of the volume-based approach if you want it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Name<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Because it looks and feels so different and to avoid confusion we\u2019re calling it Arq 7<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upgrading to Arq 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve got Arq 6<\/strong>: When Arq 7 is officially released your Arq 6 installation will be upgraded to Arq 7 for free<\/em>. If you want to upgrade to Arq 7 now, you can purchase an Arq 6 license and use that in Arq 7: Purchase Arq license<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve got Arq 5:<\/strong> When Arq 7 is officially released you can download the installer from our web site and install it. Arq 7 will use the same settings and data you had with Arq 5.
If you have a lifetime license code, that license will work in Arq 7. Otherwise you\u2019ll be in a free 30-day trial. You can purchase an Arq 7 license (when it\u2019s available) at a discounted price if you enter the email address associated with your Arq 5 license into our web store: https:\/\/cloud.arqbackup.com\/purchase<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arq 7 Features and Improvements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arq 7 has a “native” user interface, like Arq 5 but much more intuitive. For example, instead of configuring destinations in the preferences, everything is shown in the main window for configuring backups and restoring files:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n