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The server part (JSON API) needs to encode the archive file's data with base64_encode before sending them to Remote Control. This is a time consuming process. It looks like your server is timing out while it's doing that. Sorry, the only way to download the backup archive is currently doing that manually :(

Thank you for posting the solution! :)

Sure. Most likely you have mod_security Apache module installed on your server. One of its features is protecting the server against Denial of Service attacks. The way it works is something like that: if a request to the same URL from the same IP occurs more than X times over the last Y seconds, all requests from that IP will be responded with a 403 error for Z seconds. X, Y and Z are configuration options in mod_rewrite's configuration.

Since this is a server-wide setting (think of it as something which affects all sites served by that specific machine) it can't be changed by you. It can only be changed by your host. Will your host change it, ever? There's not a cat's chance in hell he will. If he wanted more lax security settings, he'd have already enforced them. You just can't do anything.

Can I do anything about it? Nope. If I try to download the entire archive in one go, you will either see the application freezing or get an application crash due to insufficient memory. If I try to use an external program to perform the download, crashes are very possible unless you have the exact Operating System versions I am testing with. Can I test with all possible hardware and OS configurations? Sure, if I start charging each copy of ARC a few thousand dollars, because that would be a monumental and VERY expensive task.

The only thing I can do is to tell you to wait. I want to rewrite the application using a different cross-platform framework which would allow me to provide a better download experience. That needs time to do. Time that I don't currently have because I have to continue developing and supporting my Joomla! software. The recent survey showed that only 10% of users use ARC and none of them is really interested in paying. So, I'm sorry, but I have to do stuff which actually allows me to make some money to take care of my family and put a new ARC version on the backburner for a while :)

You're welcome, Randy! Most people tend to use CRON jobs directly on the server together with a cloud storage engine (e.g. Amazon S3, which really rocks), therefore they have no reason to download the backup archives.

I am working on a different approach in the meantime. The idea is to have a PHP script perform the backup and download the archive file. You can even run it on a schedule, without having an application open all the time. The drawback is that it requires a configuration file to be produced. I try to tackle this issue by creating a cross-platform application which allows you to edit the configuration file and run a backup against that configuration. The end result will be much more powerful than Remote Control but it'll have a less polished interface. Well, I do prefer functionality over presentation, but I hope I will come up with a good idea to combine both, essentially withdrawing Remote Control and replacing it with a much better solution :)