BT Cloud Won't Start

[Granger3]

Having downloaded the Cloud update, although the shortcut was shown, it would not open the app on my laptop. However it was still functioning as new documents were uploaded onto Cloud. The big problem was that it seemed to 'kill' my broadband speed when my  laptop was running. I deleted the app but having reinstalled it, the same situation repeated. I have now removed the Cloud app, and Broadband is back to normal  I have also now seen the posts about this on the Forum and hope BT are quick in resolving these Cloud issues.

[Jules68]

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@abbersboltonwrote:

I too am not sure why the perfectly functional app, even if it was quite out of date, was replaced with what is an untested beta version. There is a perfectly good BT trials community that could have tested this first! 

Anyway, my issue is that one one computer the sync is totally ignoring the changes in settings made and is still trying to sync really large files I didn't want it to download. 
Then on my other laptop it's saying Account FULL! when hovering over the system tray icon, and a red Error cloud icon shows up on the popup and NaN% of 0b used in the quota section. It doesn't sync my folder changes. 

So annoying as I was in the process up backing up files for a PC reset. This should not be happening to an important software service like this, regardless of whether it's free with BT broadband or paid for.  

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The implication from the BT person's post ('This upgrade was needed to ensure BT Cloud kept working.')  suggests some sort of force majeure (technical or commercial) was in operation here - that BT's hand was being forced rather than this being fully planned and tested. (As it clearly wasn't). When my load first failed (it worked after I rebooted the machine and loaded before opening anything else) I got a long script of feedback including reference to my machine not being suitable for beta loads - which suggests this is what it actually is. Which would fit with BT having to act precipitately for some reason. Not an excuse, obviously, but maybe an explanation?

[kencridland]

I am posting this in case it is helpful to others having a problem for when they get going again. In my case, BT Cloud did update, but then did not work properly. Clearly BT messed up badly on this update. This is the 10 point plan which seems to have got it largely working properly. Also, as we all have much less trust in BT now, it ensures that it is doing what it should. Post 253 by one moderator has some useful information in on how to find your way around the update. Post 68 by another moderator was pretty useless - and I would love to hear from the majority who he says have upgraded smoothly according to that post!

Ten Point Plan.
1) Starting BT Cloud. There was a new shorcut on the desktop which I right clicked and used the 'Pin to Start' choice. I don't have BT Cloud running continously, and that is how I start it running. A little white cloud then appears on on the bottom right taskbar (system tray). When you click on that you get pop-up window A. If you click on the cog wheel in that, you get a second pop -up window for Preferences, B.

2) The Laptop went mad. Downloads to the laptop then started from the Cloud with files from several years ago appearing in A (when there was nothing new to download). Task Manager showed heavy use of resources. I clicked on the Pause Syncing button on A to stop this.

3) Selecting Preferences. Using B I did the following -
* In Settings, I unticked 'Launch on start-up' (for the time being at least) and Saved.
* In Sync, I unticked 'Enable BT Cloud sync' for the time being and Saved.
* In Backup, the update mess had forgotten what folders needed backing up. I used the + folder to browse my laptop and find all the folders which I had previously been backing up. (You can check in your cloud storage which those were if needed).
* Hovering over each folder, a cog wheel appears to the right of it. I clicked on it and checked that the direction was only 'Upload', not 'Download', as I did not want files previously saved by BT Cloud downloading, especially ones I had deleted from my laptop.
I then unticked all the folder boxes so that nothing was being backed up and Saved.

4) I then made an exit from BT Cloud using A and the 3 dots there, and waited a few moments. I then restarted BT Cloud using the shortcut (or the Start Button) and then opened A and then B. I checked that everything had been saved properly in B and all the folders to back up were still there, though unticked. I then checked A and found nothing happening because I had unticked everything in B. A tick in the white cloud appeared to show all files were synced.

5) In B I chose a Backup folder where there were no new files in the laptop since last time I backed up, and put a tick in it and clicked Save. I checked that the white cloud settled down with just a tick and that no files were being dealt with in A. I repeated this with all the Backup folders in B where no change had been made and ticked them one by one. Once again the white cloud settled down with just a tick.

6) Then I chose a Backup folder in B where with new or changed files in my laptop and ticked it. The tick in the white cloud now disappeared and files I had been recently working on started to upload to the cloud according to A. I looked carefully at A and could not see any double saving or other problems. I waited, and after a while A stopped changing and the tick reappeared.

7) I repeated this one by one with the remaining folders until all the backup folders had been backed up, Finally, A did not show any more changes and there was tick in the white cloud. I was now fairly confident that my files were being backed up reasonably properly.

😎 I then returned to Sync in B and ticked the 'Enable BT Cloud sync'. Downloading to my laptop started according to A. I found that it was creating a duplicate and identical BT folder called BT Cloud (1) alongside my original 2014 BT Cloud folder which is clearly nonsense and part of the update mess. As it was less that 100 Mb, I let it finish. The white tick then reappeared.

9) Finally, I changed a file in my laptop slightly to see if BT noticed and also updated in the Cloud. It did. I changed it 4 times and it updated in the Cloud those four times. I visited BT Cloud, found the file, and used the preview in PDF facility to view that it had changed.

10) The update though is still not running completely properly. In B in Sync for instance, I cannot choose the second choice in the circles - it will not save and just reverts to the first. Also, some useful functions are not there any more.

I hope BT get themselves sorted after all this egg on their faces, and then everyone here gets up and running properly again.

[gj1404]

Thanks to previous contributors for their useful posts

I too had some of the same problems as other did following the upgrade, but most appear resolved now.

My needs are very simple: I only use Backup, not Sync, and I only backup my Win10 Pictures folder plus a video folder. My settings were preserved across the upgrade. I can now see my files via the BT Cloud web interface, and the total space used is what I would expect, so I'm reasonably happy that my backups are intact.

I have two comments:
1. Like some previous contributors, I have found in the new 'dashboard' a list of files that were backed up despite not having been modified in over a year. In my case these files are intentional duplicates: I had copied them within my main folder structure into separate folders for sharing with friends and family.

2. I have the same problem a previous contributor mentioned with public links. It may be unrelated to the current software upgrade, as I came across the problem about 2 weeks ago. I found that my public links were being deleted after exactly 24 hours. Meanwhile, links I created months ago still work just fine. I have emailed BT Cloud Support, but I guess they are a bit busy right now. Links that die after a day are of little use to me.

[Wantabetterservice]

What a mess. I can now access the Cloud on the web - but - the files are shown but not shown grouped in the Folders as on my PC - which makes it close to unusable. This means only sharing of a specific file and not the respective Folder containing the associated files. 

[New_To_UK]

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@Granger3wrote:

Having downloaded the Cloud update, although the shortcut was shown, it would not open the app on my laptop. However it was still functioning as new documents were uploaded onto Cloud. The big problem was that it seemed to 'kill' my broadband speed when my  laptop was running. I deleted the app but having reinstalled it, the same situation repeated. I have now removed the Cloud app, and Broadband is back to normal  I have also now seen the posts about this on the Forum and hope BT are quick in resolving these Cloud issues.

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Yes, the shortcut button is a bug - stated to be fixed in the upcoming version.

To avoid any broadband or laptop slowness related issues, allow the cloud app to run during hours you are not using it or at night. There could be a lot of content which once backed up will allow speeds to return to normal. 

[New_To_UK]

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@Wantabetterservicewrote:

What a mess. I can now access the Cloud on the web - but - the files are shown but not shown grouped in the Folders as on my PC - which makes it close to unusable. This means only sharing of a specific file and not the respective Folder containing the associated files. 

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If you have selected the folder for backup - it should show you on the web.

On the web - on the left hand bar  - there is a folder icon which if you hover says "All my Files"

Clicking on it should show your repository in this case - one of them should be your laptop. Clicking through it should show your folder structure exactly as your PC from the point of the folders you have selected for backup. 

[Caz11]

The issue regarding the files being lumped together and not mirroring the file directory on your PC has been passed to the team looking into this, as it's one of the problems I raised. 

[davisonb]

I installed the update as soon as it was released and realised that there were issues. I can only wait for a new version to be forthcoming as I have been unable to back up any files at all.

When I open the app all I get and all I I have got for the last 5 days is a message which says:

"We're initializing metadata, which may take a while. Please be patient, this will happen only once per account."

I have been very patient but exactly how long do I have to wait. 5 days is unacceptable !

[Cicero]

Have been looking at the Help. Firstly it says for my desktop if I right click the Icon I can access Show Dashboard. Really I don’t think so , no such option when I right click. The illustrations for IPad  bear no resemblance to what I get. How I find my videos is any ones guess. They are there if I use the web option from the desktop I can see them. My IPad is right up to date IOS 14.2.

I think the Help refers either to a past release that did work or a future one that might work, it doesn’t bear any resemblance to what we have been given.