I've just returned from a family holiday in Italy to find that my offsite backup for non-essential files still isn't working. I thought I'd leave it after making some system changes and seeing if it resolved itself.
It's pretty simple - All it needs to do is take deltas of selected folders and ensure the latest changes are kept securely offsite. If a PC goes up in flames then I can just restore the important photo albums, etc without much hassle. For more important or critical backups I use other corporate solutions but for the low sensitivity stuff I use MozyPro.
So ever since I restocked a PC with a new SSD and rebuilt with Windows 8 Enterprise I've been having issues - not with the hardware or operating system - but with the backup software. It's not so much that the software is a problem but the support and offered solutions that I have a problem with (or perhaps more that people are being given such terrible advice).
So it started with an innocuous error message "FilesystemError4".... Nicely labelled but with no real indication of what it means in any of the application event items. It does, however, link through to the equally useless expansion of the error category:
So I clicked the Support link on the application settings page and was taken straight to the MyBusinessWorks page....with no hint of a support link. I tried the chat window only to be told by "James" that I had to contact MBW directly by phone on an expensive non-geographic number.....Not impressed at all. I even asked him for a geographic number to use instead but - either through ignorance or belligerence - he told me that there wasn't an alternative and that I could ask a support representative to call me back once I got through to the support desk.
Absolutely unacceptable!!! Say No To 0870 to the rescue - helped me translate 0845 608 0280 into 020 7253 1649: If anyone needs it, this gets you through to the parent company automated switchboard; select option 2 for MBW support. Good thing I'd not called the 0845 number as I hung up after being sat on hold for over ten minutes.
The fact I'm paying for this service makes me so much happier. Its good to see such bright and enthusiastic direct routes to problem resolution.
Bear in mind I've already bought the service (MBW) and the system (MozyPro) but am unable to raise a support ticket with Mozy, EMC or Decho because I have an indirect license. Awesome.
I'm now working my way through error log messages from the text log of the application. So far I've needed to do the following:
Its now getting further that the initial failure on backup start but it shows how inappropriate the error message is - a registry key read permission error designates a FilesystemError4. It looks like another failure during the actual backup relating to HTTPS chunked stream reads is failing, but then its reverting to the registry permission error. Will update the post when I have more but I think I'll be replacing Mozy Pro with a competitor very soon.
It's pretty simple - All it needs to do is take deltas of selected folders and ensure the latest changes are kept securely offsite. If a PC goes up in flames then I can just restore the important photo albums, etc without much hassle. For more important or critical backups I use other corporate solutions but for the low sensitivity stuff I use MozyPro.
So ever since I restocked a PC with a new SSD and rebuilt with Windows 8 Enterprise I've been having issues - not with the hardware or operating system - but with the backup software. It's not so much that the software is a problem but the support and offered solutions that I have a problem with (or perhaps more that people are being given such terrible advice).
So it started with an innocuous error message "FilesystemError4".... Nicely labelled but with no real indication of what it means in any of the application event items. It does, however, link through to the equally useless expansion of the error category:
So I had a look around, ran some check disks, used SanDisks own disk evaluation tools for the Extreme Pro....no hardware issues at all.
As there was little or no explanation from the application I tried a few searches and quickly discovered this was a reported issue back in 2010 - apparently with no resolution. People were being told to get a replacement hard drive from original vendors, run check disks, restart computers....For some it appears that netsh worked - Mozy actually suggested that people use the legacy version of their software to resolve the issue instead of attempting to diagnose the faults.
So I clicked the Support link on the application settings page and was taken straight to the MyBusinessWorks page....with no hint of a support link. I tried the chat window only to be told by "James" that I had to contact MBW directly by phone on an expensive non-geographic number.....Not impressed at all. I even asked him for a geographic number to use instead but - either through ignorance or belligerence - he told me that there wasn't an alternative and that I could ask a support representative to call me back once I got through to the support desk.
Absolutely unacceptable!!! Say No To 0870 to the rescue - helped me translate 0845 608 0280 into 020 7253 1649: If anyone needs it, this gets you through to the parent company automated switchboard; select option 2 for MBW support. Good thing I'd not called the 0845 number as I hung up after being sat on hold for over ten minutes.
The fact I'm paying for this service makes me so much happier. Its good to see such bright and enthusiastic direct routes to problem resolution.
Bear in mind I've already bought the service (MBW) and the system (MozyPro) but am unable to raise a support ticket with Mozy, EMC or Decho because I have an indirect license. Awesome.
I'm now working my way through error log messages from the text log of the application. So far I've needed to do the following:
- Create a new user with specific permissions on the PC
- Assign the new user rights to log on as a service on the PC
- Assign this new user logon to the Mozy service
- Enable read value / set value permissions to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MyBusinessWorks\Online Data Backup\scheduling key
Its now getting further that the initial failure on backup start but it shows how inappropriate the error message is - a registry key read permission error designates a FilesystemError4. It looks like another failure during the actual backup relating to HTTPS chunked stream reads is failing, but then its reverting to the registry permission error. Will update the post when I have more but I think I'll be replacing Mozy Pro with a competitor very soon.
