Choosing a copy to restore

The “Choose a copy to restore” screen opens in three ways:

1. in Settings, in the “Backup” section, you tap “Restore”;
2. when the app reports a problem with a key, you tap “Choose a copy”;
3. when the app says your data is damaged, you tap “Restore the cloud copy”.

The screen lists the backups in your cloud, which come with Premium, from newest to oldest. Among them is also this device's daily copy, which the app makes by itself once a day. The difference between these copies is explained in Backup.

The copy you restore replaces the data on this device. Each copy says whether it can be restored, and if it cannot, why and what to do about it.

The labels

Colour is never the only sign: an icon and a word always come with it.

• Green, “Can be restored”. The copy is ready. The newest of these is also marked “Newest that can be restored”.
• Yellow, “Its key is on another device”. The copy is fine, but another device holds its key. What to do is in the section The key is on another device.
• Yellow, “Needs a newer version of the app”. A newer version of Owndom made this copy. Update the app, then restore this copy.
• Red, “Damaged”. This copy cannot be restored. Choose another copy from the list.
• Red, “Its key wasn't found”. What to do is in the section The key wasn't found.
• “On this device”. The device's own daily copy, not one from the cloud. In Settings it is only shown, with the note “This device's daily copy. It's offered when the data on this device can't be opened.” It can be restored when you open the screen from the damaged data screen, after you confirm.

The key is on another device

Under the copy you can see which device holds its key.

1. On that device, open Owndom and make a backup.
2. On this device, on the “Choose a copy to restore” screen, tap “Refresh”.

The copy then turns green, “Can be restored”, and you can restore it.

The key wasn't found

The keys are kept in the Owndom folder in your cloud, and each device also keeps a copy of the keys it has used. Without its key a copy cannot be opened.

If you deleted files from the Owndom folder in your cloud, restore them from that cloud's trash, then tap “Refresh” in the app. In the trash you can tell them by their names: they start with key_. How long deleted files stay in the trash depends on the service you use.

Start a new backup

When no copy on the list will do, the same screen offers “Start a new backup”.

Before you start a new backup: if the app names a device that holds the key to some of the copies, it is better to open Owndom on that device and make a backup, then tap “Refresh” here. That way the old copies become usable and nothing is lost.

The new backup is made from the data on this device. The old copies stay in the cloud as they are: a copy this device couldn't restore before, it can't restore after a new backup either. New backups replace them over time, because the cloud keeps at most seven.

If a new backup could leave some items only in a copy that cannot be opened, the app warns you first: it shows how many items the latest backup in the cloud has, and how many this device has. To start the new backup anyway, type the word “start”.

If there are no items on this device and none of the copies on the list can be restored, the app offers to send an empty backup to the cloud. You rarely want that: afterwards the newest copy in the cloud is empty, and any device that downloads it is left with no data. If you have another device with its own items, it is better to make a new backup there and restore that one here. If you do send the empty backup, the app asks twice more: first “Send an empty copy to the cloud?”, then it asks you to type the word “send”.

After a new backup succeeds, the app may offer to delete older copies that cannot be opened with any key Owndom knows. If you are not sure, tap “Keep”: those copies do no harm, and new backups replace them over time. Choose “Delete” only if you know you don't need the items in them, because deleted copies cannot be brought back.

The same device name

In Settings, “Name of this device” is only there to tell your devices apart if you use Owndom on more than one, and it is shown next to your backups. If backups with the same name are already in the cloud, the field says: “Backups with this device name are already in this cloud. If they're from another device, change the name to tell them apart.”

That warning also appears after you install Owndom again on the same device, because the app then does not recognise its own older backups. Such a copy on the list says: “This copy may have been made on this device before the app was installed again.” If the backups really are from this device, you do not need to change the name.

How to set up the backup is in Backup, and how to move your data to another device is in Using Owndom on more than one device.