diff --git a/Deployment/master.conf.template b/Deployment/master.conf.template
index 9a14ea5..7f1596e 100644
--- a/Deployment/master.conf.template
+++ b/Deployment/master.conf.template
@@ -780,7 +780,25 @@
     declare -A PROFILE_EXCLUDE_DIRS=(
         [arrs_stack]="logs *.tmp"
         [critical-data]="logs *.tmp *.log nginx/temp nginx/cache __pycache__ notification.txt"
-        [critical-fallback]="logs *.tmp *.log nginx/temp nginx/cache __pycache__ notification.txt *.db-wal *.db-shm"
+        # appendonlydir and mariadb-bin.* are excluded for the same reason as *.db-wal: they are
+        # written continuously by a database this profile copies WHILE IT RUNS. The exclusion had
+        # SQLite's WAL and nothing for Redis or MariaDB, and both broke the mirror on 2026-08-17.
+        #
+        # The failure is not a torn file, it is a surviving pointer to a missing one. The manifest
+        # and the index are a few hundred bytes and land instantly; the data files they name are
+        # large and are still in flight. The mirror ends up holding a promise nothing can keep:
+        #   Redis   appendonly.aof.manifest → appendonly.aof.30.base.rdb   (absent) → exit 1
+        #   MariaDB mariadb-bin.index, 265  → mariadb-bin.000265           (absent) → Aborting
+        #
+        # Excluded rather than repaired: neither is needed for the engine to START. Redis rebuilds
+        # an empty AOF, MariaDB begins a new binlog sequence. On a fallback mirror that is the
+        # right trade — those files exist for persistence and replication, and a database that
+        # starts empty beats one that cannot start at all.
+        #
+        # NOT a guarantee that a live-copied InnoDB is consistent. It happened to survive both
+        # times. The honest fix is a DB-layer dump synced as a file; this stops the observed
+        # breakage without pretending to be that.
+        [critical-fallback]="logs *.tmp *.log nginx/temp nginx/cache __pycache__ notification.txt *.db-wal *.db-shm appendonlydir mariadb-bin.*"
         [important-data]="logs *.tmp"
         [emby]="logs transcodes cache crash*"
     )