Hi Product Hunt! 👋 I’m Yen-Ting, a former Physiology & Kinesiology Professor turned indie developer, and the creator of ChronoVault Pro. I’m thrilled to share a project born out of lost research memories, travel panic, and my quest to build the ultimate Mac backup system.

### 💔 The Backstory: The "30-Day Trash Purge" & Travel Backup Gap

For years, I relied on Apple’s built-in backup tools alongside an external hard drive and home NAS. But during a trip away from home, disaster struck.

While organizing files on my MacBook on the road, I accidentally deleted a folder containing precious vacation photos and project files. At the time, I didn't even notice.

Weeks later, long after returning home, I went looking for those files—only to realize they were gone. Cloud sync (iCloud / Google Drive) had silently propagated the deletion across all my devices. Because more than 30 days had passed, the cloud trash bin had automatically auto-purged them permanently.

I rushed to plug in my external backup drive at home, but because it had been sitting miles away disconnected during my trip, the missing files were never captured in any local snapshot. There was zero way to get them back.

Combined with having experienced external backup disk failures twice in the past, I learned two painful lessons the hard way:

1. Cloud Syncing is NOT Cloud Backup. (30-day trash windows will catch up to you!)

2. Local-only backup drives leave dangerous coverage gaps the moment you step away from your desk.

### 💡 The Solution: Real-Time Cloud Backups + Deduplication

I wanted seamless historical versioning that works anywhere in the world over Wi-Fi, straight to affordable cloud storage like Google Drive (with recent 5TB plans) or Amazon S3/B2.

Requirements:

1. Client-side Encryption: Zero-knowledge protection so not even cloud providers can read my files.

2. Chunk-Level Deduplication: My wife and I share thousands of family photos across our separate Mac Photo libraries. Duplicacy’s deduplication engine intelligently references shared chunks across different folders, saving hundreds of gigabytes!

I initially set up Duplicacy CLI and wrote a custom background script using macOS `launchd` `.plist` automation (which I open-sourced on [GitHub](https://github.com/cerebellum92/macOS-duplicacy-gdrive-backup) for anyone to use).

### 🛠️ Why I Built ChronoVault Pro

While CLI scripts handled background tasks well, data restoration was a nightmare. Trying to remember complex CLI parameters or re-initialize remote targets during an emergency restore while traveling was nerve-wracking. Duplicacy's official web GUI exists, but it doesn't feel like a native macOS app.

So, I built ChronoVault Pro—a pure, native Swift/SwiftUI app designed from the ground up for macOS:

⏱️ Snapshot Explorer: Browse historical revision trees and restore single files directly to Finder instantly.

🛡️ 3-2-1 Multi-Destination Matrix: Seamlessly replicate backups across Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, SFTP, and local NAS.

🔐 Mac Keychain Integration: Automatically stores S3/B2 credentials securely in Apple's native Keychain with scoped auto-cleanup upon removal.

🚀 Native & Lightweight: Zero Electron bloat, minimal CPU footprint, and fully responsive dark/light theme UI.

### 🎁 Special Product Hunt Launch Offer!

To celebrate our Product Hunt launch, I’m offering 50% OFF on all Pro licenses (Monthly, Annual, and Lifetime)!

👉 Use promo code `PH50` at checkout (valid through August 31st).

### 🛣️ What’s Next?

I’m actively building a comprehensive documentation Wiki on [www.chronovaultapp.com](https://www.chronovaultapp.com), covering:

- Getting Started Guides: Step-by-step 3-2-1 backup setup & multi-storage configuration.

- Advanced Integrations: Custom Google Drive API client setup to bypass rate limits.

- Automations & Alerts: Real-time Telegram bot notifications & system-level `launchd` customization.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or feature requests! Thank you so much for your support! ❤️

### ⚖️ Open-Source Engine & Commercial Licensing Disclaimer

ChronoVault Pro is an independent native macOS GUI manager for the open-source Duplicacy deduplication backup engine.

- Personal Use: Free under Duplicacy's Open Source License for personal use.

- Commercial / Corporate Use: If you are using ChronoVault Pro for business or organizational data, please check out Duplicacy's official commercial licensing terms at [duplicacy.com](https://duplicacy.com).

(ChronoVault Pro is an independent software project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Acritox LLC / Duplicacy).