Overview
This article provides information about the CrashPlan app's log files, including:
- Log file locations
- Short descriptions of important log files
- How to use logs to pinpoint common issues with the CrashPlan app
For details about how to send your log files to a Technical Support Engineer, see Send logs to enterprise support.
Log file locations
Following are the locations of the log files in the file system for different operating systems.
-
Windows:
-
Installed for everyone: C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\log
To view this hidden folder, open a file browser and paste the path in the address bar. -
Installed per user: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\<Local|Roaming>\CrashPlan\log
To view this hidden folder, open a file browser and paste the path in the address bar.
-
Installed for everyone: C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\log
-
Mac:
-
Installed for everyone: /Library/Logs/CrashPlan
To view this hidden folder, open the Finder, press Command+Shift+G, and paste the path. -
Installed per user: ~/Library/Logs/CrashPlan
To view this hidden folder, open the Finder, press Command+Shift+G, and paste the path.
-
Installed for everyone: /Library/Logs/CrashPlan
- Linux: /usr/local/crashplan/log
Note: When you open the log folder, you may notice multiple copies of each log file (for example, service.log.0, service.log.1, and service.log.2). To keep log file sizes under control, logs "roll over" into a new log file after they reach a certain size, and older logs are eventually purged. The lower the number appended to the log name, the newer the log file. For example, service.log.0 is the most recent service log name. (The service.log file is the most recent log for CrashPlan app 7.0.)
Log file descriptions
App.log
App.log contains general configuration information about your computer and the CrashPlan app. Information in the app.log includes:
- Operating system version
- Java version
- CrashPlan app version
- Licensing overview
- CrashPlan app settings
- Backup destination information
Service.log
Service.log is the main log file written by the CrashPlan service. It logs warnings and exceptions, so it is usually the main log file used for troubleshooting.
Backup_files.log
Backup_files.log contains a list of files that the CrashPlan app has attempted to back up. Information found in backup_files.log includes:
- Backup success or failure (an "I" means that the file backed up successfully; a "W" means that the file failed to back up)
- Date and time
- Destination GUID
- File name and path
- File size
Restore_files.log
Similar to backup_files.log, restore_files.log contains a list of file names and paths for each restore attempt.
History.log
History.log mirrors what you see in the History view of the CrashPlan app. It contains a high-level overview of what the CrashPlan app has been doing, including:
- Backups starting and stopping
- File scans starting or stopping
- Amount of data backed up
- Backup speed
Troubleshoot the CrashPlan app with logs
To read the files, navigate to the log folder and open the log with a text editor. More advanced users may prefer to use the Command Line or Terminal.
When reading through the logs, it is often helpful to search for WARN as a starting point.
Common errors found in service.log
Sample log messages are included below to illustrate how some common issues appear in the logs.
Unable to connect to the backup engine
If you see an "Unable to connect to the backup engine" message when you try to open the CrashPlan app, and the below error appears in service.log on Windows:
- Open services.msc.
- Open the CrashPlan Backup Service's properties pane.
- Set the "Startup Type" to "Automatic (delayed start)".
[03.29.13 12:51:12.872 WARN main com.backup42.service.CPService ] Unexpected IO Exception constructing selector engine - e=java.io.IOException: Unable to establish loopback connection, java.lang.RuntimeException: Unexpected IO Exception constructing selector engine - e=java.io.IOException: Unable to establish loopback connection
For more details, see Cannot connect to background service in CrashPlan.
Out of memory error
One extremely common reason for the "unable to connect to the backup engine" messages is that the backup engine is running out of memory. This is visible in the service.log ("OutOfMemoryError") as shown below. See CrashPlan app does not run for complete details.
[09.23.12 22:33:02.273 ERROR QPub-BackupMgr backup42.service.backup.BackupController] OutOfMemoryError occurred...RESTARTING! message=OutOfMemoryError in BackupQueue!
Client cache issues
Client cache issues can manifest themselves in a few different ways, including: some or all files missing from the Restore tab, stopped backups, incorrect reports, and incorrect file selection size.
[12.21.12 12:12:01.441 WARN W964862003_BckpSel m.crashplan.backup.manifest.ManifestManager] Exception initializing ManifestManager java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Malformed \uxxxx encoding.; MM[BT 525528945129975616>42: openCount=1, initialized = false, dataFiles.open = false, C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\cache\42]
[05.11.12 08:45:22.921 WARN W471137477_ScanWrkr com.crashplan.bplusj.BplusTreeIndexFile ] Exception calling Commit() while closing BplusTreeIndexFile@1379711510[ path = C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\cache\cpgft1x, keyLength = 20], java.io.IOException:
[05.16.12 13:03:06.109 INFO MQ-Peer-1 com.crashplan.backup.BackupClient ] BC[525528942342975616>42:: SYNC:: Manifest validation failed.
[05.16.12 13:03:06.110 WARN MQ-Peer-1 com.crashplan.backup.BackupClient ] BC[525528942342975616>42:: SYNC:: Replacing empty local target manifest files with remote server files!!
Real-time file watching problems
Real-time file watching can have issues that manifest slightly differently on Mac and Linux. For more information, see Understand and troubleshoot backup issues with Mac file watching services and Linux real-time file watching errors in CrashPlan.
Mac
File System Events file watcher:
FSEventsWatcherDriver dropped one or more events. Any missed events will be detected by the periodic scanner.
Linux
12.06.10 04:29:40.426 WARNING W449507565_ScanWrkr com.backup42.jna.inotify.InotifyManager.watch ] Unable to add watch for path /home/erik/Desktop/foo.bar, errno: 28
Identify what files are backed up with backup_files.log
Files fail to back up
Lines that begin with a "W" indicate files that are failing to back up. You can also identify these files by searching backup_files.log for the string "Unable to backup".
A file that is failing to back up looks like this:
W 01/06/13 12:00PM 42 - C:\Users\John\Blackberry\Backup\BlackBerry Tour 9630-1.ipd
A file backing up successfully will have an "I" at the start of the line:
I 01/06/13 12:00PM 42 50cd0afdb853e65f1f47c31407ce9a4a 0 C:\Users\Jill\Documents\Outlook Files\outlook.pst (200483653) [1,0,200483653,0,0,0,0]
For recommended solutions, see the following articles:
Did my backup start over?
Using the backup_files.log, you can identify if a file is being backed up for the first time. The first two numbers summarize the CrashPlan app's analysis of the file:
- First number identifies new data blocks that need to be backed up
- Second number identifies old data blocks that have already backed up
If the first number is greater than zero, and the second number is zero, then it's a new file that's backing up for the first time. For example:
[22,0,689966,0,0,3,3]
If the first number in the bracketed sequence is zero, and the second number is greater than zero, then it's an existing file that has already backed up. There is nothing new to back up. For example:
[0,22,0,0,0,0,0]
If both the first and second numbers are greater than zero, then it's an existing file that has already backed up but there is a new version that needs backing up. For example:
[3,2,57488,0,2,6,4]