Datto Mac Agent Information
Topic
This article contains system information for the Datto Mac Agent. The Datto MAC Agent is End of Life, and should no longer be installed.
The Datto Mac Agent is End of Life as of October 2020 and is no longer supported. This article is provided for reference purposes only. An alternate solution to Mac backups can be found in Backing Up a Mac to a NAS Share on a SIRIS or Datto NAS
Environment
- Datto Mac Agent
Description
System requirements
| OS | Datto has tested the Mac Agent for compatibility with the following operating systems:
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| Hardware | The macOS must be running on genuine Mac hardware. Attempting to back up a macOS install running in a non-native environment may produce unreliable results. |
| Disk permissions | The Mac must have disk permissions verified and repaired if necessary. |
| Disk space requirements | Each volume that you wish to back up with the Datto Mac Agent must maintain free space equivalent to 10% of the total size of the volume or 3 GB, whichever number is smaller. |
| Network |
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| Anti-virus exceptions | Ensure that you have allowlisted the Datto Mac Agent in any antivirus solution you are running on the production machine. |
| Compatibility | The compatibility of this backup solution with any hypervisor environment or operating system not listed in this article is untested and may yield unreliable results. |
NOTE When updating the Datto Mac Agent, a reboot of the production machine may be required. Datto recommends only performing updates during scheduled maintenance windows.
Warnings
- Due to their mobile nature, Datto does not endorse or support backing up laptops. Laptops must be inside the LAN, and not on a wireless network, to perform backups promptly. Attempts to back up laptops are at your discretion. Due to the wide range of touchpad drivers, custom drivers, and hardware configurations available for both laptops and all-in-one workstations, restoration support for these platforms is 'best-effort' only.
- Avoid using spaces in protected volume names (e.g., C:/Volumes/Server Backup instead of C:/Volumes/ServerBackup). Spaces may cause issues with mounting and unmounting file restores.
- If you purge data, you may experience large backups in macOS 10.12 (Sierra).
- If you update a protected machine to macOS X to version 10.12.5 from an earlier version, you may need to force a new full backup of the agent for continued compatibility with the Bare Metal Restore process.
- Datto's Mac Agent backs up macOS systems to Datto appliances. With the resulting backups, you can perform a File Restore or Bare Metal Restore to Apple hardware. Due to legal limitations, you cannot virtualize a Mac or restore to non-Apple hardware.
- Datto does not support the Apple File System (AFPS) for file restores, so restored AFPS files will not properly inherit permissions. For assistance with Mac file restores, contact Datto Technical Support.
- The Datto Mac Agent is not compatible with Fusion Drive and FileVault setups. It is possible to non-destructively turn off FileVault by following Apple's official guide (external link).
- Because the Datto Mac Agent's driver sits at a level within the I/O stack that is above the encryption layer enabled by FileVault, the driver will see the disk contents as encrypted, making the Datto Copy-On-Write file inaccessible during the snapshot process.
- The Datto Mac agent does not support RAID configurations or the Apple File System (APFS). Also, the Mac Agent has known conflicts with DeepFreeze and Symantec Encryption Desktop for macOS X.
Installation on older MAC systems
The Datto MAC Agent is not compatible with the current MAC OS. Although you may be able to download and install the last produced version of the Datto Mac Agent on an older system, it is no longer supported and should not be used under normal circumstances. The download link is slated to be removed in the near future. I
If you are using the Datto MAC Agent on an older system, see Backing Up a Mac to a NAS Share on a SIRIS or Datto NAS for alternative solutions.
