BT Cloud Won't Start

[Jules68]

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@M-Mwrote:

BT Cloud still unusable & sitting exactly as it was beginning of December. Tray icon doesn't work, paused in error mode, no syncing, says the account is full when it is no where near! Nothing will budge.

Tech people rang us before Xmas but said that we had to wait for the next  updated version to be released sometime in January after it has been tested, & that hopefully it will sort things....hmm. Still waiting & in the meantime can't access the files in the cloud to update them. Yes we can view them...but that's not much use.

Any updated information yet on what is happening?

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BT appear to be updating the server software ad lib (which is why, for some people, things seem to have got better)- but they are still testing the next version of the desktop/ task-bar client (the one you would see) - this seems to be taking longer than they had anticipated, but if they are using the time wisely that may be all to the good. 

At the moment people's experiences aren't consistent - for some people (me, for instance) it is working 'not too badly' - things do update - although I've just noticed a large batch of updated files which are rubbish, so somethings are being saved which shouldn't be. But, as I've said elsewhere, careful study of BT Cloud behaviour hasn't been something I did a lot of in the past - it forms only a small part of my attempts to save key files from loss - or back-up strategy. For other people however it just isn't working. BT has said, and no one has disproved this, that data has not been lost, although I believe that some people may have subsequently lost data through their own actions in trying to 'put things right'. If you can, leave well alone until the next desktop app is fit for purpose and released.

[Teeaagguue]

Same, had a call last week saying may have to wait, I've tried on 3 pcs now, app opens syna meta data for 30 seconds then closes, just missed a call off bt who are meant to be ringing me back for an update but not holding my breath, had enough of it now, can't get my files off the cloud as even Dow loading from the Web interface doesn't work properly 

[AndyHB]

Hi John (JTS1),
I have found the files and the photos as per your direction. Thank you.
However, I have noticed that there are pictures in the wrong files both in the cloud and on my PC.  I have checked my original source - Android and they are OK and in correct folders. 
Is this one of the issues within the current Cloud ?
Is it a case of going through the photos on the PC and and letting the cloud re-backup ?
Thank you.
Andy 

[RKM]

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@Jules68wrote:
BT has said, and no one has disproved this, that data has not been lost, although I believe that some people may have subsequently lost data through their own actions in trying to 'put things right'. If you can, leave well alone until the next desktop app is fit for purpose and released.

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BT have certainly claimed that no data has been lost, but that is not really true.  It is also not true that "no one has disproved" BT's claim.

As previously reported several times in this thread, the new version (either the Client App or the Server Software, or both) is incompatible with the earlier version's file history records.  As a consequence, any file which is updated by the new version will have its historical versions permanently deleted from the cloud.  This is an irrecoverable data loss, and BT are fully aware of this.

The new version will develop its own file history starting from scratch, but is capped at a maximum of 4 versions of any file.  Previously this was limited only by your cloud space allocation.  The backup feature is therefore much less secure.

Before everyone rushes to install the latest update when it is finally released I recommend that you think very carefully about which files may have historical versions which you want to recover and download these from the cloud first.  Unless BT fix this bug before releasing it, and they have made no commitment to do so, then as soon as you install the update it will commence deleting your file history on the cloud.

In addition to this degraded backup, the cloud is essentially Write-Only-Memory for anything that is stored in subfolders.  As such, whilst it is true that any data in sub-folders is still safe, it may as well have been deleted since it is essentially irretrievable and can only be recovered by manually mining each sub-folder! 

[JTS1]

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@andyholtenwrote:

"C:\ProgramData\HP\BTCloud\app-20.6.1\BT Cloud.exe"

This is all irrelevent, as the app was working (well, it was starting and uploading files when it felt like it) until yesterday, when it started being unable to connect to the cloud servers.  The app locations etc didn't change overnight. I have added the app to the firewall's allowed apps in case that made any difference, but it hasn't.

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It is relevant, as in your Message 951, you said that you had created the Desktop Shortcut BT Cloud icon yourself, so I'm trying to establish that the Shortcut that you created is using the correct Target address to start the process of communicating with the BT Cloud client (The Cloud) and hence put your Desktop BT Cloud folder into the correct place in your File explorer at C:\Users\HP\BT Cloud.

This folder would, for example have been removed from File explorer if you had disabled, or logged out of BT Cloud and could only then have re-added it if the correct path are being used.

Can you reconfirm for me that the Laptop User name is HP and that the Target path in the Desktop shortcut BT Cloud is "C:\Users\HP\AppData\Local\BTCloud\BT Cloud.exe" & that the BT Cloud.exe file is located therein. 

If any of these are not correct,  you would not be able to communicate with the online server.

JTS1

[RKM]

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@JTS1wrote: Can you reconfirm for me that the Laptop User name is HP and that the Target path in the Desktop shortcut BT Cloud is "C:\Users\HP\AppData\Local\BTCloud\BT Cloud.exe" & that the BT Cloud.exe file is located therein. 

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In addition to checking that the Target Path points to the correct .exe file, they also need to check that the correct folder is identified in the "Start in" box.

There are probably additional things to check, such as file and folder security permissions.

[JTS1]

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@AndyHBwrote:

Hi John (JTS1),
I have found the files and the photos as per your direction. Thank you.
However, I have noticed that there are pictures in the wrong files both in the cloud and on my PC.  I have checked my original source - Android and they are OK and in correct folders. 
Is this one of the issues within the current Cloud ?
Is it a case of going through the photos on the PC and and letting the cloud re-backup ?
Thank you.
Andy 

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Andy, I take it that you have now found your Folders that you had dragged into BT Cloud with files include and these appear as Grey Folders.  Is that the case?

If so, go to where you found these Grey Folders and instead of selecting it by using the small square box on the LEFT, click on the Grey Folders name on the RIGHT and this should then display all of the Files that it contains.  

If you then select all of these Files, a number of options will appear at the top of the screen, one of which is Add to Album.  You should then be able to see at least  the first few existing Albums, which in my case is only the first 50-100 in alphabetical order.  (be patient whilst they load)
If the Album is above these in alphabetical order, then you can you can temporarily rename it under Manage Album in the Albums section by adding AAAA in front of it's original name, to bring it forward in the list, but this must be done before you started looking for the Grey folders.

Please try this and let me know how you get on.

JTS1

[Jules68]

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@RKMwrote:

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@Jules68wrote:
BT has said, and no one has disproved this, that data has not been lost, although I believe that some people may have subsequently lost data through their own actions in trying to 'put things right'. If you can, leave well alone until the next desktop app is fit for purpose and released.

---

BT have certainly claimed that no data has been lost, but that is not really true.  It is also not true that "no one has disproved" BT's claim.

As previously reported several times in this thread, the new version (either the Client App or the Server Software, or both) is incompatible with the earlier version's file history records.  As a consequence, any file which is updated by the new version will have its historical versions permanently deleted from the cloud.  This is an irrecoverable data loss, and BT are fully aware of this.

The new version will develop its own file history starting from scratch, but is capped at a maximum of 4 versions of any file.  Previously this was limited only by your cloud space allocation.  The backup feature is therefore much less secure.

Before everyone rushes to install the latest update when it is finally released I recommend that you think very carefully about which files may have historical versions which you want to recover and download these from the cloud first.  Unless BT fix this bug before releasing it, and they have made no commitment to do so, then as soon as you install the update it will commence deleting your file history on the cloud.

In addition to this degraded backup, the cloud is essentially Write-Only-Memory for anything that is stored in subfolders.  As such, whilst it is true that any data in sub-folders is still safe, it may as well have been deleted since it is essentially irretrievable and can only be recovered by manually mining each sub-folder! 

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I must admit that neither of these causes me any problems.  Where I want to keep different versions of a file, I number the versions (useful if you are working on something which may require debate and discussion) - otherwise I only need an earlier version of a regularly updated file (say a finance file)  if my 'current' version becomes corrupted (often by me making a mistake). Then a choice of 4 previous versions would almost certainly be fine (and I back-up these files anyway in at least 3 places). Of my 'most frequently saved' files, keeping all versions would be ridiculously storage hungry and a waste of resource (remembering that Cloud Storage is a major contributor to power use). And if anyone is backing up Outlook files (surely not, on BT Cloud) well...! (I used to back up my Outlook folder once a week, overwriting the previous folder, on local storage and that was enough!)

[RKM]

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@Jules68wrote:
I must admit that neither of these causes me any problems.  Where I want to keep different versions of a file, I number the versions (useful if you are working on something which may require debate and discussion) - otherwise I only need an earlier version of a regularly updated file (say a finance file)  if my 'current' version becomes corrupted (often by me making a mistake).

I agree that manual numbering files avoids reliance on the automatic generation of history versions, but the whole concept of reliable backup is that you don't need to remember to do such things, which is often the case when you do make a mistake.

Also, the 4-file history is only reached after the app has made that many version backups.  When you first install the Client App it will clear your history entirely for any file it attempts to backup.  So you start with zero file history.

Short of deleting the entire cloud content, loss of file history is about as bad a data loss for a backup facility as can be and not only have BT have completely failed to warn their customers, they have claimed that all data is safe.  It clearly is NOT.

[jamieandangela]

Folks

One week ago from today I started a Test for  BT  using their  new Cloud version 21.1.1 . Until today the system seemed to work OK , the biggest single issue was occasionally I had problems with slow Broadband which could be resolved by pausing the Cloud.  Today however,  the problem was not just slow Broadband related but high CPU use by the Cloud, pausing the Cloud made no difference so I uninstalled the  Cloud  and my Laptop instantly to work as it should.

There are clearly ongoing issues at BT regarding their ability to get a working Cloud product, like a lot of Customers, I am disappointed,  angry and fed up. Add to that the failure by BT to communicate on the Cloud matters is nothing short of incompetence.  Endless waiting is not an option for me, I think a formal complaint to Ombudsman should be made by everyone who has issues with the Cloud.

Regards

Jamie