Still Trying To Do A Blessed Backup

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Very dissatisfied customer experience so far.

 

It started with Windoze 7. I wanted to do a backup of all my user files. Simple enough. Have done that for decades. Could not get it to work with the crap that comes with Windoze 7. Will go a variable number of DVDs and then inexplicably die. Tried researching it, and tried several different "fixes." No luck. Cannot do a blessed backup. Really?!?

 

So, I bought the Roxio stuff. Should not have to pay extra to buy software to do a backup. Already my B.P. is inching up from this fact alone.

 

It does not work. Same crap. The backup just dies. Roxio gives the absolutely unhelpful message, "An error has occurred." My computer and DVD rw drive work just fine, use them all the time. For the record, no other software was running at the time of backup. It had written about 8GB of compressed data to the first DVD in the series before it died.

 

I just don't have time for this crap. Need a reliable backup system. So, after wading through the tedious designed Roxio site, there appears to be no technical support available unless you are willing to pay for it. Yes, I am willing to pay extra for help to get the software to work. No, I'm not, that was sarcasm.

 

Can any USER since NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE give a simple reliable fix for this crap or is the solution to just take it back to the store?

 

Richard

[beebo]

Well I certainly don't work for Roxio, and can vouch for at least one of the others as not working for Roxio. I think we all can and do, understand how these programs can raise your BP, but accusations most likely will get you no help at all. The folks on this forum just like to help people. And speaking for myself, it helps me learn when I try to help others.

 

I've never used Acronis. I don't use backup software. Most of the time, if not always, you have to retrieve those backed up files with the same program, which I don't care for. I always have Windows and thats what I use to back up. To an external drive. I agree with what I think the others are saying. I don't think the problem is Roxio. I've had LOTS of problems with Roxio over the years. I don't defend them. Have you tried other burning software? I would try another data burning/backup software. I'm sure you can at least find a free trial of some kind on the net. If that don't work, I would look at your PC as the culprit

[Unhappy Customer 2]

I finally broke down and got an external hard drive but it still does not work. It looks like issue must be an incompatibility between BackOnTrack 1.3.0 from 2007 and Windows 7.

 

Richard

[Unhappy Customer 2]

No update path is available.

[Unhappy Customer 2]

...That must be it.

[bimicher]

It would help if you were to put your responses outside the quotes or at least highlight your responses. At the moment it is hard to figure out what your responses are.

[Jim_Hardin]

...

You say it fails on a file then later a different one. You NEVER said what the failure is? Error Message?

 

More detail on the failures might give us a better picture.

 

One thing with a laptop, Never Burn from Battery! Always have it on AC

 

 

Yes, am doing backups with laptop plugged in.

 

 

Are intentionally ignoring the questions I have asked?

 

If you are unwilling to provide more details I cannot be of any more assistance this matter ~ best of luck with it

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Have repeatedly answered your questions. Look at post #16 and others. That is one of the issues, Roxio will not say. Please look at Paragraph #4 of Post #18. Somehow, in your "editing" of my post you mangled it so that my response to your questions is included with your post. You will find my answers in Paragraph #4 of your post.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard

 

 

Yes, am doing backups with laptop plugged in.

 

(edited to get response out of the quoted post )

[Unhappy Customer 2]

I responded throughout your post, and that is part of the confusion. But my response was on a separate line to your paragraph, prior to "editing". I have been reading through my posts and seeing responses of others at the relevant points in each post.

 

Take home lesson is that I am happy some Roxio folks are at least reading and responding. Hoping someday we may be able to directly contact technical support about an issues such as this. Maybe you can tell me how to get specific error info from Roxio, about what is causing it to fail to be able to backup a photo?

 

Cheers,

 

Richard

 

Have repeatedly answered your questions. Look at post #16 and others. That is one of the issues, Roxio will not say. Please look at Paragraph #4 of Post #18. Somehow, in your "editing" of my post you mangled it so that my response to your questions is included with your post. You will find my answers in Paragraph #4 of your post.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard

[sknis]

No matter what you won't be happy, take it back ! There are other good back up programs out there. Many of us use Acronis.

 

The real question is why doesn't the back up in Windows 7 work? Did you do a clean install of W7 or did you install it over a previous OS?

[sknis]

Perhaps I can answer that. Usually when you have a problem with software, you will get a pop up window that will tell you about the error. There may be some text and also a error code number. Are you seeing any of this?

 

If not, try this. Windows -Start- (Type in ) Event log - open that. Go to the applications logs and see if you have a red notice. What does it say when you look at the event?

 

Here is an example of one:

[bimicher]

Very dissatisfied customer experience so far.

 

It started with Windoze 7. I wanted to do a backup of all my user files. Simple enough. Have done that for decades. Could not get it to work with the crap that comes with Windoze 7. Will go a variable number of DVDs and then inexplicably die. Tried researching it, and tried several different "fixes." No luck. Cannot do a blessed backup. Really?!?

 

So, I bought the Roxio stuff. Should not have to pay extra to buy software to do a backup. Already my B.P. is inching up from this fact alone.

 

It does not work. Same crap. The backup just dies. Roxio gives the absolutely unhelpful message, "An error has occurred." My computer and DVD rw drive work just fine, use them all the time. For the record, no other software was running at the time of backup. It had written about 8GB of compressed data to the first DVD in the series before it died.

 

I just don't have time for this crap. Need a reliable backup system. So, after wading through the tedious designed Roxio site, there appears to be no technical support available unless you are willing to pay for it. Yes, I am willing to pay extra for help to get the software to work. No, I'm not, that was sarcasm.

 

Can any USER since NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE give a simple reliable fix for this crap or is the solution to just take it back to the store?

 

Richard

 

Get a proper backup program such as Acronis. In my opinion backing up to DVDs is a waste of time and money unless you have only a few GBs to backup. Get a portable HD drive and do your backups to that

 

Why don't you expect to pay extra for a proper backup program?

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Exactly. Wod expect an exception to be thrown and a useful error code displayed. Just the generic msg. Will get exact quote next time, and will check out the application error logs.

 

Cheers,

 

Richarx

[Brendon]

Easy CD and DVD Burning [the software this forum deals with] is a reduced ability version of Easy Media Creator 10, and thus is very cheap.

 

Don't expect it to be able to reliably backup your system if Windows 7 has problems doing that. Your computer and DVDRW don't work 'just fine' if Windows 7 can't complete the task properly.

 

Take the software back.

Get your computer checked to see why Windows 7 fails.

Follow the advice of Sknis and Myguggi.

[Brendon]

Jim,

 

Here is an important part part of Richard's first message.

 

Very dissatisfied customer experience so far.

 

It started with Windoze 7. I wanted to do a backup of all my user files. Simple enough. Have done that for decades. Could not get it to work with the crap that comes with Windoze 7. Will go a variable number of DVDs and then inexplicably die. Tried researching it, and tried several different "fixes." No luck. Cannot do a blessed backup. Really?!?

 

I have told him that he needs to work out why his system cannot work properly with the software provided in his Operating System. Since it won't work with the Roxio software either, I think his system has a problem which should be addressed first.

 

He appears to have chosen to ignore this.

 

Brendon

[Unhappy Customer 2]

No matter what you won't be happy, take it back ! There are other good back up programs out there. Many of us use Acronis.

 

The real question is why doesn't the back up in Windows 7 work? Did you do a clean install of W7 or did you install it over a previous OS?

 

I have been unable to do backups since I bought the NEW Toshiba laptop about a year ago. My research suggests it has something to do with certain active system processes and the backup simply fails rather than cleanly handling the existence of a process it does not know how to backup. I have everything stopped at the time of doing backup, so any system process is just...a system process. For decades, all the backups I have done have managed to work around any such issues.

 

It seems to me that the system back (and Roxio backup) just are not sophisticated enough to handle actual real-world usage on Windoze 7.

 

Now, part of my reason for posting is that I am hoping that presumption to be wrong. Since Roxio and Microsoft neither one will help me to make their backups work without giving them $$$, hoping some guru out there knows how to get around this blockage. Would for example, be nice if could get some sort of clues out of either one, as to what system process (for example) is causing the issue for it. The generic, "backup failed" kind of message is not helpful either.

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Get a proper backup program such as Acronis. In my opinion backing up to DVDs is a waste of time and money unless you have only a few GBs to backup. Get a portable HD drive and do your backups to that

 

Why don't you expect to pay extra for a proper backup program?

 

Suspect Acronis will have the same problem. I have already paid extra for a proper backup program but actually expected the system software to work just fine. In either case, saying that this version of Roxio is at the cheap end of their spectrum in no way excuses it from not working.

[grandpabruce]

Suspect Acronis will have the same problem. I have already paid extra for a proper backup program but actually expected the system software to work just fine. In either case, saying that this version of Roxio is at the cheap end of their spectrum in no way excuses it from not working.

 

Huh? Buy cheap, buy twice.

[bimicher]

Suspect Acronis will have the same problem. I have already paid extra for a proper backup program but actually expected the system software to work just fine. In either case, saying that this version of Roxio is at the cheap end of their spectrum in no way excuses it from not working.

 

Yes, Acronis may well have the same problem since you systems seems to be screwed up if you cannot even use the W7 backup.

 

What "proper' backup program" did you pay extra for? I don't consider EasyCD&DVD a backup program.

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Huh? Buy cheap, buy twice.

 

Look, all I need to do is backup some photos and docs across multiple DVDs. You folks that are responding are clearly trolls working for Roxio to defend Roxio not being able to do this. I spent several HOURS today trying to get Roxio to just backup one folder of 12GB of photos. Could not do it. It would keep dying on a different photo. I would remove that photo and it would find another one on which to die. I took the photos, they open fine, they are fine. Not asking to backup the system files across multiple networked drives.

 

Just asking to put the files on a series of DVDs without me having to individually figure out how many files I can put on a DVD and manually doing it all for a total of about 60GB.

 

Was really hoping some guru would be able to sort through this, but have you folks figured as being Roxio employees/agents.

[Unhappy Customer 2]

Look, all I need to do is backup some photos and docs across multiple DVDs. You folks that are responding are clearly trolls working for Roxio to defend Roxio not being able to do this. I spent several HOURS today trying to get Roxio to just backup one folder of 12GB of photos. Could not do it. It would keep dying on a different photo. I would remove that photo and it would find another one on which to die. I took the photos, they open fine, they are fine. Not asking to backup the system files across multiple networked drives.

 

Just asking to put the files on a series of DVDs without me having to individually figure out how many files I can put on a DVD and manually doing it all for a total of about 60GB.

 

Was really hoping some guru would be able to sort through this, but have you folks figured as [in effect if not intent] being Roxio employees/agents. Thought someone might have insight into why a backup function in Roxio cannot back up a simple .jpg file. Using new DVDs, have tried rebooting several times, have tried removing the "offending" photo. Also, is there a way to get at any sort of Roxio log, that would give an actual message as to what the problem is? Lastly, would there be any way to access Roxio technical support without paying for it, to get their program to work?

 

Cheers,

[Unhappy Customer 2]

 

Oh, and have been using the "compressed" and "verify data" options. Maybe the problem is with one of them? Will try doing a backup without them selected (though will take 2x the DVDs, and they will not be assured as being restorable, grrrr).

[grandpabruce]

Look, all I need to do is backup some photos and docs across multiple DVDs. You folks that are responding are clearly trolls working for Roxio to defend Roxio not being able to do this. I spent several HOURS today trying to get Roxio to just backup one folder of 12GB of photos. Could not do it. It would keep dying on a different photo. I would remove that photo and it would find another one on which to die. I took the photos, they open fine, they are fine. Not asking to backup the system files across multiple networked drives.

 

Just asking to put the files on a series of DVDs without me having to individually figure out how many files I can put on a DVD and manually doing it all for a total of about 60GB.

 

Was really hoping some guru would be able to sort through this, but have you folks figured as being Roxio employees/agents.

 

Not one of the folks, who have posted in this thread, are Roxio employees.

[bimicher]

Oh, and have been using the "compressed" and "verify data" options. Maybe the problem is with one of them? Will try doing a backup without them selected (though will take 2x the DVDs, and they will not be assured as being restorable, grrrr).

 

Why don't you simply get a portable hard drive and copy the files to it instead of wasting time and money on DVDs.

As far as I know none of the gurus use the Roxio backup.

Backup across multiple discs is a crap-shoot.

 

BTW, none of us work for Roxio even if you don't believe that.

 

Forget about compression or verify, they create more problems then they are worth.

[Jim_Hardin]

Oh, and have been using the "compressed" and "verify data" options. Maybe the problem is with one of them? Will try doing a backup without them selected (though will take 2x the DVDs, and they will not be assured as being restorable, grrrr).

 

Not a good method to use... if one disc fails, even partly, the Roxio Compression is proprietary and nothing else can crack it

 

Well I certainly don't work for Roxio, and can vouch for at least one of the others as not working for Roxio. I think we all can and do, understand how these programs can raise your BP, but accusations most likely will get you no help at all. The folks on this forum just like to help people. And speaking for myself, it helps me learn when I try to help others.

 

I've never used Acronis. I don't use backup software. Most of the time, if not always, you have to retrieve those backed up files with the same program, which I don't care for. I always have Windows and thats what I use to back up. To an external drive. I agree with what I think the others are saying. I don't think the problem is Roxio. I've had LOTS of problems with Roxio over the years. I don't defend them. Have you tried other burning software? I would try another data burning/backup software. I'm sure you can at least find a free trial of some kind on the net. If that don't work, I would look at your PC as the culprit

 

I mostly agree with beebo, although learning to use the software eliminates 99.9% of any 'problems'

 

Backup is very complex issue and while I have found a method that suites me, I am not completely happy with it...

 

Through the years I have found that ALL Backups need to include Two Separate Sets of them Only when you try to restore something you will find sooner or later that your backup can fail! Hence 2 copies.

 

But copies take time and non of us like to wait... - I do mine on the first of the month and here we are on day 3 and guess what I haven't done yet

 

If you keep everything in Windows Libraries (doc, pics, video & movies) it simplifies your requirements, maybe 40 GB vs 600 for HDD...

 

First figure out what it is you really want/need to backup. Then figure out how much space that requires.

 

Tell us what that is and we can make some sensible suggestions at that point

[Jim_Hardin]

Jim,

 

Here is an important part part of Richard's first message.

 

 

 

I have told him that he needs to work out why his system cannot work properly with the software provided in his Operating System. Since it won't work with the Roxio software either, I think his system has a problem which should be addressed first.

 

He appears to have chosen to ignore this.

 

Brendon

Yes! Good point Brendon.