How to remove unnecessary and duplicate 1password backups from Mac Library folder

jeffaxup
jeffaxup
Community Member

I am using: Mac I am using v. 6.8.2 (agilebits store)

Under /Users/jeffaxup/Library/Application Support/, I have two folders:
1password
1password4

Both of them are 4-5 GB.

This is rather confusing, because a) your forums say that the '1password' folder is the outdated one b) I'm not using 1password4.

To add to the confusion, there are backups in BOTH folders dating from yesterday.

Which makes me think that I have two versions simultaneously installed, however, only 1password6 shows up in my Applications folder.

So, what can I delete, and how can I keep duplicate backups from occurring?

And.. feedback to the DEV team at AgileBits:
1) choose a directory structure that spans more than one version please. ('1Password' might be a good choice) You should fix this. It's confusing.
2) if the app detects multiple backup locations, or old/unused backups, notify the user.
3) I don't need 79 backups. I need maybe max 3 that are auto-replace with current versions. How about being responsible for your disk usage?


1Password Version: 6.8.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Sierra 10.12.6
Sync Type: Not Provided
Referrer: forum-search:Remove unnecessary and duplicate 1password backups from Mac Library folder

Comments

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @jeffaxup: Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry for the confusion! Indeed, if you are no longer using 1Password for Mac version 3 or earlier, the "1Password" folder is no longer needed. So there's 5GB it sounds like. Doing that will also remove the old 1PasswordAgent app, which it sounds like you still have running in the background saving backups.

    The "1Password 4" folder, on the other hand, is used for all subsequent versions, so I can't stress this enough: don't delete it! You can, however, go into the Backups folder within it and prune some older backup archives that you no longer want to keep. There is a bug that will trigger in some situations preventing from some older ones being deleted automatically. Ultimately having extra backups is a good problem to have, but you probably don't need all of them. I'd say keep some going back at least a month, just in case.

    Regarding your feedback:

    1) choose a directory structure that spans more than one version please. ('1Password' might be a good choice) You should fix this. It's confusing.

    It's possible we'll revisit this with 1Password 7, but changing the name leaves more opportunity for problems since the data would have to be moved each time. Especially since 1Password 4-6 are all the same codebase, it was an unnecessary risk to take trying to change the setup on everyone. And since macOS has been hiding this for years, most people aren't poking around in there anyway — and deleting stuff when you don't know what it is is a Bad Idea™.

    2) if the app detects multiple backup locations, or old/unused backups, notify the user.

    The app only has a single backup location. What you're talking about is multiple different apps...and you'd be in that same situation more frequently if we took your last piece of advice and had a new installation for each release.

    3) I don't need 79 backups. I need maybe max 3 that are auto-replace with current versions. How about being responsible for your disk usage?

    That's an odd thing to say. 1Password data takes up much less space than a lot of other things, and is arguably much more important to many people. We do want to make 1Password smarter about this, but not at the expense of having sufficient backups. Ultimately you are responsible for disk usage because it's your data and your machine, but we'll see if there are things we can do to help in the future as well. Cheers! :)

  • jeffaxup
    jeffaxup
    Community Member

    Thank you for the fast turnaround on this!
    So you're saying that if I delete: /Users/jeffaxup/Library/Application Support/1password, it will also delete the other duplicate older version of the app?
    I'm unsure of why a library directory would also contain the duplicate application?
    I'm also wondering why the duplicate older app is not showing up in my applications folder?

    Regarding 79 backups - 5 gigs is too large for a password app. That's bigger than most of my games.
    Each backup iteration should be complete, not incremental. I believe you also keep the trashed items until the user finally chooses to completely delete them, so like I said 3 backups. Maybe 10. Even 10 is overkill. In any case, 5GB is too much for local storage. If it was in free cloud storage backup it might be OK.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    Thank you for the fast turnaround on this!

    @jeffaxup: You're totally welcome! :chuffed:

    So you're saying that if I delete: /Users/jeffaxup/Library/Application Support/1password, it will also delete the other duplicate older version of the app? I'm unsure of why a library directory would also contain the duplicate application? I'm also wondering why the duplicate older app is not showing up in my applications folder?

    Sort of but not really. I can't be certain of what's on your system, but — unless you already removed it — you'll have an Agent subfolder there what contains 1PasswordAgent.app. This is the thing that runs in the background, so that even when you don't leave the main 1Password app open, it can make backups and integrate with the browser — pretty much the same as 1Password mini does now. So it's not really a duplicate, just another part of 1Password 3. I hope that makes things a bit clearer.

    Regarding 79 backups - 5 gigs is too large for a password app. That's bigger than most of my games.

    I think we have different taste in games then, but point taken! :lol:

    Each backup iteration should be complete, not incremental. I believe you also keep the trashed items until the user finally chooses to completely delete them, so like I said 3 backups. Maybe 10. Even 10 is overkill. In any case, 5GB is too much for local storage. If it was in free cloud storage backup it might be OK.

    Hmm. We're going to have to agree to disagree here. You're not wrong, but this is really important stuff for most people, who never think about any of this until that "Oh ****!" moment when they realize they deleted something they needed. And I don't mean from within 1Password necessarily. With 1Password.com accounts, there's item history. Having multiple backups (30 daily and 24 monthly) spanning more than a few days has been and will continue to be a safety net for users of the standalone 1Password app. If something happens, there's no guarantee you'll notice within a few days. And if we'd set things up the way you suggest, it would already be too late at that point. If you're fortunate enough to have never lost data, either due to corruption, hardware failure, or human error, that's great; but we need to consider others who might not be so lucky. :blush:

  • jeffaxup
    jeffaxup
    Community Member

    OK, thanks, it has been deleted. And you were also correct that there was an application file hiding in the Agent folder.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @jeffaxup - glad to hear things seem resolved on this but let us know if that's not the case. Cheers! :)

This discussion has been closed.