Obscura Vault is a macOS app to preserve your original files: bring them into a library with the SHA-256 fingerprint of each one, package them into signed .obf archives, regularly check that they are intact, keep copies on other media and offsite, and attest their state with signed certificates.
Vault does not describe your images (no keywords, no captions): it takes care of their physical preservation. Its archives use the Obscura Flow 2.0.8 format: Vault reads, verifies and restores Flow’s archives, and writes its own in the same format.
This guide is organised by task: each chapter answers “how do I…”. Start with the first chapter, then go straight to what you need.
Contents
- Install and get started — install, activate the licence or continue without one, the main window, the first import.
- Import a folder — turn a folder into a project, the SHA-256 fingerprint of each file, rescan a folder that changed.
- Create, verify and restore an archive — a project’s
.obfarchive, compression and encryption, verification, restoring without overwriting anything. - Verify integrity — on-demand or scheduled fixity audits, the dashboard, files to examine.
- Understand the verdicts — verified, altered, not verifiable, never checked; archive verdicts.
- Storage media — the inventory of disks and tapes, the 3-2-1 rule, the replacement deadline.
- Offsite copies — S3 or compatible storage, a remote folder; send, verify, restore.
- Back up the database — back up now, retention, restore a backup.
- Preservation certificates — what a certificate attests, issuing it, revoking it, having a third party verify it.
- The journal — the audit log and each project’s preservation journal.
- The .obf format — what an archive contains, and why it stays readable without Vault.
- Keys and security — signing and encryption keys, their backups, Obscura Flow’s keys.
- Licence and settings — what needs a licence, the account, devices, updates.
- Troubleshooting and FAQ — non-conforming archive, unknown key, folder not found, licence to recheck…
- Glossary — the words of this guide.
- Receive a Catalog package — import a package written by Obscura Catalog, the report and the missing originals, sensitivity, the record, giving back.
The five groups of the window
The sidebar follows what you are doing:
| Group | Screens | To… |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Dashboard | see at a glance whether everything is verified |
| Preserve | Projects, Archives, Catalog Packages | bring files in and package them, receive Obscura Catalog’s libraries |
| Verify | Integrity | prove they are intact |
| Copies | Storage Media, Offsite, Backups | know where the copies are and make more |
| Attest | Certificates, Journal | report on it to others |
Conventions
- Interface labels are written in bold: Import Folder…, Create Archive….
- A menu path is written Obscura Vault › Account & Licence….
- Keyboard shortcuts use the Mac symbols: ⌘ (Command), ⌥ (Option), ⇧ (Shift).
- “The library” means the folder where Vault keeps its database, archives, backups and certificates (see Install and get started).
The Obscura Vault interface is in English and French: it follows the language of the Mac (French when neither English nor French is among its preferred languages), or the one chosen in Settings… › General › Language (chapter 13). This guide quotes the labels and messages of the English interface, word for word; the French guide quotes those of the French interface. The labels quoted here are those of the version described; they may change from one version to the next.