Feature request: Mounting with "allow_root" on macOS

Development
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There has been a similar request here: Spotlight indexing of FUSE volumes, but mine has a different background, so I opened a new topic.

I would like to schedule a regular backup to my Cryptomator-vault with Carbon Copy Cloner. This doesn’t work, however, because CCC runs as root and the Cryptomaotor-vaults by default mount only for the current user. Therefore access is denied.

I realize there is a way to enable “allow_root” myself via Terminal and I have checked that out. But I didn’t find any clear instructions (clear to ME) and to be honest, it’s a little too hot for me. I wouldn’t know exactly what I’m doing, so I won’t do it.

If there are no huge objections, could there be a feature to simply allow that mount-option in Cryptomator’s UI?

Thanks!

2 Likes
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I opened an issue on GitHub for this:

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Hi, I wish to use CCC to regularly backup Cryptomator vault as well. May I know how did you make it work ya? Thanks in advance for the help.

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Hi, I am new to this. And all this sounds like another language to me. How to I “allow_root” for cryptomator?
I have FUSE installed, but I am not managing to find the options to allow me to use it. I want to use it with Carbon Copy Cloner

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Double to Using Cryptomator with Carbon Copy Cloner - detailed instructions for newbies

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Just wondering, did this request has been solved? Can we know add allow_root flag to FUSE volume in order to do CCC backup?

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@CryptoAdvocate / @Oluwaseun_Abdul

Good morning,
I managed to use CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) thanks to Mac FUSE-T !!

I have :

NOW :

  • CCC works
  • Saving is faste r!
  • The apple search “Spotlight” works !
  • All without any assembly customization to do !
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Hello, may I ask you to precise what you mean by " The apple search “Spotlight” works !" ? I am also using FUSE-T, yet Spotlight still does not find anything in my mounted Cryptomator volumes…

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I’m not sure when this thread was started. It looks like a long time ago. It’s now 19 December 2023, and the problem described does not appear to have been fixed, at least not for the average user. In simple terms I want to back-up or copy files from a folder in my cryptomator vault (located on OneDrive) to a folder on a hard drive (HDD) attached to my computer. I want to use Carbon copy cloner (CCC) to do this. The error message is:

CCC cannot read the contents of the source volume because they are inaccessible to the System Administrator user account.
CCC cannot back up to or from an OS X FUSE volume mounted without the “allow_root” or “allow_other” option.

Also, if I try to use Hazel (another type of file management program) to backup files TO my Cryptomator vault I get error messages like the following:

Error moving file from /Users/myname/Documents iMac Pro/Newly scanned iMac Pro/test/Cats and Dogs PDF.pdf to /Volumes/lGrbaTii4aMX/Encrypted Files/Pdf files/test/Cats and Dogs PDF.pdf: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=1 “Operation not permitted”

[Error] Move failed: Could not move file Cats and Dogs PDF.pdf from folder /Users/myname/Documents iMac Pro/Newly scanned iMac Pro/test to folder /Volumes/lGrbaTii4aMX/Encrypted Files/Pdf files/test/Cats and Dogs PDF.pdf.

Whilst it is possible to use the standard Mac “Copy” or “Move” instructions, it seems that when using automated programs like CCC or Hazel, there is some kind of problem that I don’t understand how to solve.

These kinds of error messages make me very nervous about storing my files using Cryptomator. I worry the day will come when I can’t access my files for a reason which I won’t understand.

Sadly, this means that I am going to move away from using Cryptomator. The big problem is that it is hard find any useful alternative. Boxcryptor used to be a fantastic and valid alternative until they sold themselves out to Dropbox (I suspect financed by spymasters). I wouldn’t go near them now.

So I am left with the following alternatives:

  1. Use one of the many cloud drives without encrypting before upload. (Disadvatage: I’m low hanging fruit if the cloud service is hacked)
  2. Backup files locally on an external drive (Disadvatage: files are not available on other devices or in other places.
  3. Use Proton Drive which encrypts files locally before upload (Disadvantage: I can only use the Proton cloud storage. No option to use other clouds)