Backup directory size no where near size diagnostic reports , attachments not copied at all

[fxfactorial]

Great tool - thank you

iOS on 17.5.1 created unencrypted backup on macOS 14.5. iMessage diagnostic says

Attachment diagnostic data:
    Total attachments: 4989
        Data referenced in table: 39.96 GB
        Data present on disk: 36.75 GB
    Missing files: 167 (3%)
        No path provided: 0
        No file located: 167

but directory created by iMessage-exporter contains no attachments directory & its total size is only 6.3M. No errors, no warnings.

No idea why the attachments aren't coming over from the backup

[ReagentX]

What command did you run to generate the export?

[fxfactorial]

$ imessage-exporter -f txt -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup/00008110-000158422692801E -a iOS -o backup_export

[ReagentX]

You need to specify --copy-method to include attachments:

• Instructions
• Examples

[fxfactorial]

Ah perfect - that was it thank you.

two things:

1. It deviates from macOS backup which I did find attachments even without --copy-method given.
2. Efficient sounds like some processing happening anyway but efficient actually means copy as is.

[ReagentX]

1. That is not accurate, --copy-method is always disabled by default.
2. efficient does not perform any processing on attachment copies; compatible converts attachments to be more compatible (i.e. web-friendly).