I have a long complicated project that suddenly can’t be backed up. When I try to close it, I get a dialog box that says:
"A backup could not be created at [location of my file.bak.zip].
Zipped backup failed with error: zip warning: No such file or directory."
How do I restore the backup function?
The first thing to check is your location setting, in the “Backup” tab of the application preferences. It’s the setting at the very bottom. First thing I’d do is click that button and see if it actually goes anywhere, if it doesn’t then perhaps you once had Scrivener set up to back up to a network or external drive that has recently become unavailable?
AmberV, thank you for your response. I clicked the Backup button in Scrivener preferences, and that took to me the backup file, as if there were no problem. Does that mean the project is being backed up after all? How do I find out?
If you’re getting that warning, then probably not. Check the date on the backups you do see (there should be more than one, too), are they from any point in recent history? With that window open in Finder, try creating a folder inside of it, does it let you?
I just tried backing up again, and got the same error message as before. Then I looked in the Backups folder and found that that file’s “date modified” said “Today, 5:54 p.m.,” exactly when I did the backup.
So is it backing up after all? Is the problem simply that something is mistakenly setting off the error message?
One more thing. Every time I reopen my project, it takes a long time to load, and a message box says, “Rebuilding search indexes. Please wait.” This is all very worrisome, since if I happen to lose this project, I lose nine months of work.
[quote=“jbobles”]
I have a long complicated project that suddenly can’t be backed up. When I try to close it, I get a dialog box that says:
"A backup could not be created at [location of my file.bak.zip].
HI, I am experienceing a similar problem. There are a few support entries that I could find they suggest a few options i.e.
-rebuilding search index (via the file menue)
-using disk utility to check:
+access rights
+repair access rights.
I have done all this, tried choosing alternative folders for backups and still get an error message when choosing the option “backup to”.
Has anyone got an idea on how to solve the problem?
The error message reads as follows:
"
A backup could not be created at ‘/Users/[“my Hard-Disk-Name”]/Documents/Scrivener-Sicherheitskopien/Doktorarbeit 2012-08-06 20-12.zip’.
Zipped backup failed with error: ditto: /private/var/folders/21/21kQmWICEdSxxix01SIaFE+++TQ/-Tmp-/./Doktorarbeit.scriv/Files/Docs/1880.pdf: Bad address
ditto: /private/var/folders/21/21kQmWICEdSxxix01SIaFE+++TQ/-Tmp-/./Doktorarbeit.scriv/Files/Docs/1881.pdf: Bad address
Any help appreciated, thanks.
M
Try removing the 2 pdf referenced in the error from your project. make sure you have local copies.
Hmm, okay, it looks as though Ditto, which is used for backing up projects that contain aliases (otherwise Zip is used, but that scrambles aliases) is trying to use /private/tmp as a temporary folder. That’s okay unless you are on the Mac App Store version, because sandboxing will deny access to that folder.
If you are on the Mac App Store version, then, please try the following:
Go to Scrivener > Authorize Directory Access… to bring up the directory authorisation panel.
In the Finder, select “Go To Folder…” from the Go menu.
Type in “/private” and then click on “Go”.
Drag the “tmp” folder from the Finder window that opens into the directory list in Scrivener’s directory authorisation panel, and then click “OK”.
Now try again. This should give Scrivener permission to access /private/tmp and allow Ditto to work.
All the best,
Keith
Actually, looking at it again, I don’t think it is failing at all. I think all that is happening is that an error is getting thrown, but the backup is succeeding. Scrivener responds to any error thrown by ditto or zip as though it has failed, but in this case it hasn’t failed but just thrown an error. It’s having a problem with a couple of your PDF files for some reason, but I’m not sure why. Would it be possible to zip up the project (ha) and send it to us for testing?
Thanks and all the best,
Keith
Just in case anyone in the forum comes across a similar problem, removing the respective files did the job, Thanks Jaysen 
You’re welcome!