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EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it.

Description of my issue:

I read the documentation which says JPA is the recommended archive format, and I understand why it's recommended over, say, ZIP. However, I wondered if there's some sense in which JPA is preferable or recommended even over the JPS format?

Also - I did search and read through past tickets, and I gather that JPS can be slow to extract if a site gets large. Is that its only disadvantage relative to JPA?

I'm storing backup files offsite on Dropbox, without using something like Boxcryptor, etc., and thought JPS would be more secure. That's the reason I'd like to use it.

Thanks for your help.

You are correct, jps is preferred over zip because it is faster and therefor easier to use under PHP. For large files, Akeeba has to skip the CRC checksum in the zip format, which can cause the zip to be reported as corrupt with most commercial programs. Our own extraction programs all know about the issue and ignore the error.

Keep in mind that the backup archive stores the keys to the kingdom. Your database passwords are in there, and possibly your FTP passwords. Your access passwords are hashed, so they are not easily accessible. Admin Tools settings would be separately encrypted in most cases so they are not very vulnerable.

Whether or not you need the jps format depends on how much you trust Dropbox. I always use jps for the backup archives I store on S3. My paranoia has served me well over the years.

I appreciate the confirmation of my paranoia! I will use JPS so long as you all recommend it equally as much, more or less, as JPA, except for the greater time to process. Both process very quickly for me anyway, at the moment, the site is very small.

Thanks for your help.

You're welcome!