Hey everyone!
VaultSync 1.8.4 is now available.
This update started as the next step in the Disaster Recovery work introduced throughout the 1.8 cycle, but it gradually became something much more important: a rethink of what VaultSync should consider a trustworthy recovery point.
Until now, VaultSync could answer:
→ Does this recovery point exist?
With 1.8.4, it can answer something much stronger:
→ Can VaultSync read the stored bytes right now, do they still match the original snapshot, and what would happen if I restored them?
That distinction became the foundation of this release.
Recovery Proofs
A backup job completing successfully does not necessarily mean the backup is still recoverable.
The files may exist while being corrupted, incomplete, inaccessible, or different from the data originally recorded in the snapshot.
VaultSync can now read the actual stored backup data without restoring it, calculate its SHA-256 hash, verify its size, and compare both against the original snapshot metadata.
A file is only marked as Verified when its complete stored bytes match the expected hash and size.
Finding the backup is not enough.
Opening the archive is not enough.
A green “completed” status is not enough.
A recovery point can now be classified as:
- ✅ Fully recoverable
- ⚠️ Partially recoverable
- ❌ Unrecoverable
- ❔ Inconclusive
Individual files can be:
- Verified
- Unavailable
- Corrupted
- Inconclusive
VaultSync deliberately keeps uncertain results inconclusive.
A locked encrypted archive, missing verification data, access failure, or incomplete proof will not be turned into a reassuring green result.
Restore-plan simulation
After proving that the stored data is readable, VaultSync can now answer the next question:
→ What would happen if I restored it?
For verified files, the recovery engine can simulate whether the restore would:
- Create a new file
- Overwrite an existing file
- Skip an identical file
- Encounter a conflict
- Find the file unavailable
- Leave the file unevaluated
When checking the original location, VaultSync compares existing destination files with the backup.
- Identical data is skipped.
- A newer but different file becomes a conflict.
- An older and different file becomes a possible overwrite.
This is a simulation only.
No files are created.
No files are modified.
No files are deleted.
Recovery drills now inspect real backup data
Recovery drills now combine:
- Project, backup, and snapshot linkage
- Recorded-destination availability
- Payload and archive readability
- Snapshot inventory consistency
- SHA-256 byte verification
- Restore conflict simulation
The resulting evidence can be inspected directly from the Recovery page and included in a portable recovery report.
This release also improves:
- Reachability-aware 3-2-1 guidance
- Recovery drill history
- Protected-point recommendations
- Explicit offsite confirmation
- Backup deletion and churn signals
Disconnected or missing backups remain visible in history, but they no longer receive false credit as currently available copies.
VaultSync also never guesses that a NAS, network share, or cloud-mounted directory is physically offsite.
That remains an explicit choice made by the user.
Retention now protects proven recovery points
VaultSync already protected the final metadata-valid recovery point from automatic retention cleanup.
With 1.8.4, metadata-valid and byte-verified are treated as two different levels of trust.
VaultSync can now protect the last recovery point whose latest drill successfully verified the stored bytes.
If several verified points exist, older ones can still be cleaned normally.
Once only one remains, retention preserves it.
The final backup that exists is not necessarily the final backup that has actually been proven.
The retention simulator in Settings follows the same decision path as real cleanup.
ProofRestore is now native to VaultSync
Some people may remember the ProofRestore experiment I recently built.
Its useful ideas are now implemented as a native C# module inside VaultSync.
The ProofRestore repository itself was not merged into the application.
VaultSync does not ship:
- Next.js
- Node.js
- A browser interface
- Hosted services
- An AI dependency
The recovery engine runs locally as a normal part of VaultSync.
Four redesigned themes
This release is not only about recovery.
VaultSync 1.8.4 also introduces four curated themes and a completely redesigned Appearance experience.
The new theme studio includes:
- Visual preset previews
- Compact, collapsible controls
- Optional advanced customization
- Native acrylic or blur where supported
- Solid rendering fallbacks where those effects are unavailable
Aurora Glass and Porcelain Glass have been rebuilt with layered reflections, translucent surfaces, distinct navigation and toolbar materials, and more restrained content opacity.
The update also fixes contrast, responsive History and Recovery layouts, active navigation feedback, dark-only surfaces, and focus outlines that could remain visible after pointer interaction or navigation changes.
Privacy-first crash assistance
1.8.4 introduces an optional crash-report workflow designed around user control.
Nothing is uploaded automatically.
The report is:
- Created locally
- Strictly redacted locally
- Shown to the user for review
- Attached to a visible email draft
- Sent only if the user presses Send in their own email application
Crash assistance can also be disabled completely.
Reports exclude project and backup names, file and destination paths, credentials, raw logs, machine information, and other data that could expose the user or the structure of their system.
Security and reliability improvements
The recovery work also led to a broader audit of how VaultSync reads, verifies, uploads, restores, and deletes data.
1.8.4 includes stronger protection against:
- Backup paths escaping their recorded destination
- Absolute or traversing recovery paths
- Linked filesystem paths leaving the selected root
- Ambiguous duplicate ZIP entries
- Untrusted snapshot source paths
- Case-distinct files being merged on case-sensitive systems
- Incomplete or stalled archive uploads
- Background Recovery work continuing after leaving the page
Backup deletion, exploration, sandbox application, restore operations, recovery drills, exports, and refreshes now also use clearer independent cancellation lifetimes.
The idea behind 1.8.4
Backup software is generally very good at answering:
Did the backup job run?
But that is not the same as answering:
Can I actually recover my data?
VaultSync 1.8.4 is a major step toward making backup confidence depend on evidence rather than assumption.
A completed backup is not the same as a proven recovery.
The update is available now.
As always, feedback, bug reports, and thoughts about the recovery workflow are very welcome.