BT Cloud Won't Start

[Elmstead]

An email from one of the chief exec's minions today states: "We are currently working on an update to the client that should be rolled out in the next few weeks after its has been tested".

Next few weeks? I'm glad I wasn't holding my breath for the previously promised early January.

[JTS1]

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@rperc13wrote:

Hi John Sorry I have been rather busy. No the problem remains. BT Cloud is simply not operating. Apart from the mysterious appearance of the list of "Recently Updated" items in the box that pops up when  I click on the white cloud in the hidden icons, nothing has changed. Incidentally, the items that appear in that list, which seem wholly random, it says have been uploaded, the most recent ones it says three days ago. But when I go to BT Cloud via the web and find those items using the search facility, it says they were last modified many months ago. That tells me that that list of items is nonsense and that nothing has changed in my folders and files on BT Cloud since 1st December, except for the addition of the items i dropped in myself.

But that is by the way. I have had email and telephone contact from those in BT that are trying to sort things out. We are all aware that a new version is on the way (though probably not till the end of February at the earliest) and I am content to wait until then. As I previously said, I only use the cloud to back up my important files, in case of some disaster affecting my PC. I never intended it to hold everything on my PC. I am satisfied that all my files are still in the cloud, albeit not updated. I will continue to drop in updated versions from time to time while awaiting developments. I don't wish to make any changes that have the slightest risk of causing other problems.

But many thanks for all your efforts.

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Thank you for this feedback.

JTS1

[JTS1]

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@JTS1wrote:

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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

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Further to my message above:

To find all of your Albums, in order to bring one of them to the top of the Album list:

Log into BT Cloud – My Activity screen;

Click on the second icon down on the left – Photos & Videos;
Select Albums;

Select a photo in any of the displayed albums by click on it’s centre (don’t click the top right corner, as that selects the actual album) - A complete list of your Albums will appear on the left of screen;

Scroll down the list to the Album that you require and click on it;

Above the Files that appear, click on Manage Album – a screen will appear which contains  the Album Name & Media in this Album;

Amend the Name as shown here:  AAA Original Name - then click Done.  A screen will appear confirming that the change has been saved.

Now go to the Files that you wish to move and Select each one in turn by clicking on their top right corners, or if it is a bulk move at the top of the screen Click on Select all.

Then at the top of the screen Click on Add to Album, be patient until the entire Existing Album list fills.  The newly named Album - AAA Original Name, should now appear near, or at the top of the Existing Album list.

Click on AAA Original Name and then click the highlighted option Add.  An acknowledgement will be shown to you confirming that the File(s) have been added.  If there are multiple Files, it will tell you how many of these were added.

JTS1

[steveay]

Hi still got my question re does Oulook.pst files which used to fill the cloud so couldn't  auto backup.

However bigger question my PC has multiple user the ne Cloud client will not allow backups from another user as its a protected path. I cannot find the setting in windows as even when logged on as admin I need to contact my it admin. It is my own PC. This wasn't an issue previously any help  Please.

[Fellwalker]

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@Elmsteadwrote:

An email from one of the chief exec's minions today states: "We are currently working on an update to the client that should be rolled out in the next few weeks after its has been tested".

Next few weeks? I'm glad I wasn't holding my breath for the previously promised early January.

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"tested"

Wow!

[RKM]

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@JTS1wrote:
Anyway, whilst on the subject of the previous version, which I am less acquainted with, can you tell me what Collections folders were used for, as I still have two of these still visible on my laptop that I intend to delete.  These Collection folders have no contents.

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As far as I recall, the Collections folders were just used for group views of files that were already on the cloud.  So you might have thousands of image files backed up in your Photos folder, but you could group family photos to view in one Collection, or last summer's vacation in another.

Under the current situation, I doubt many people will have used Collections for that last suggestion.  😣 

Collections were "virtual" folders and their contents merely pointers to the files in the cloud, so they had minimal effect on the usage of your BTCloud allocation.  A bit like Windows10 Libraries, which point to several real folders on your hard drive as a single group rather than duplicating their contents.  It looks like you previously set up two such "Collections" in your BTCloud allocation.

I have no idea what would happen to such virtual folders when the new version was introduced.  Not containing any actual files they may well have been reproduced as empty folders with any links to real files or folders deleted.

Looks like you may have found yet another bug in the server software! 

[RKM]

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@steveaywrote:

Hi still got my question re does Oulook.pst files which used to fill the cloud so couldn't  auto backup.

Outlook .pst files are still being backed up by the new Client App, if they are in a backed up location.

Previously, I had advised on writing a batch file to copy .pst files from a non-backup to a backup location and running that every couple of weeks in the Task Scheduler, thus avoiding the issue of ever increasing history versions of these continuously changing files from filling your BTCloud allocation.  Since the new BTCloud software only retains a maximum history of 4 versions of any file, overfilling your allocation should be less of an issue now.  However my suggested batch file approach, if you are capable of writing that sort of thing, is even more important now to achieve backup security.

For example like many users, my Outlook syncs with the server every 10minutes, updating the .pst file when it does so.  So 4 history versions of the file gives a backup spanning all of 40 minutes.  If Outlook is ever corrupted (and I have experienced this some time ago when a drive started to fail) it could be a lot longer than 40 minutes before you notice and hence your .pst file, and all of its history versions, stored on BTCloud would be copies of the corrupted .pst originals, rendering the Backup completely useless.  Running the batch file every 2 weeks under the Task Scheduler ensures a backup history spanning 8 weeks, during which time I am more likely to have noticed any corruption.  Its a lot less than it used to be, but 8 weeks versus 40 minutes version history is much more secure, especially for such an important file.

[JTS1]

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@steveaywrote:

Hi still got my question re does Oulook.pst files which used to fill the cloud so couldn't  auto backup.

However bigger question my PC has multiple user the ne Cloud client will not allow backups from another user as its a protected path. I cannot find the setting in windows as even when logged on as admin I need to contact my it admin. It is my own PC. This wasn't an issue previously any help  Please.

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I could be wrong, but I believe from other messages in the Forum that Selective Syncing is one of the feature of BT Cloud Version 20.6.1 that is not working correctly. 

There is a Version 21.1.1 that is currently being tested by BT Engineer prior to its release.  Some Forum members are also involved in the testing process, so you may wish to look at some of their more recent Messages about their observations.

It is highly likely that your problem, of not being able to backup Outlook.pst files, may be caught up in this.

I would advise you to wait for the new Version 21.1.1.

JTS1

[steveay]

I posed question re .pst files and more importantly re  not being able to backup folders for other users on same PC because of a protected path.

NB before I comment further I am on Client 21.1.1  as BT gave me the link. I think the folders it knows about are backing up testing underway.

Re PST thanks to answers.

Script I could probably work oyt/ I have a lot of work colleagues who are software or script writers.

If the copies are limited to 4 all my PST files notionally come to 10GB so 40 GB is fine out of 1 TB. I tend to read emails on phone using Blue mail in POP 3 format delete from server most of junk then let PC pull deleting from server leaving copy of important stuff on phone. I have other backups.

Multiple PC Users is a pain if we cant get a solution there mainly for anything on admin account, The other users don't use PC as much. It should work though dis before.

Secondary on here every time I post I have to delete send updates of this forum by email. Is there a setting to say don't do this ever. Thanks

[JTS1]

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@RKMwrote:

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@JTS1wrote:
Anyway, whilst on the subject of the previous version, which I am less acquainted with, can you tell me what Collections folders were used for, as I still have two of these still visible on my laptop that I intend to delete.  These Collection folders have no contents.

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As far as I recall, the Collections folders were just used for group views of files that were already on the cloud.  So you might have thousands of image files backed up in your Photos folder, but you could group family photos to view in one Collection, or last summer's vacation in another.

Under the current situation, I doubt many people will have used Collections for that last suggestion.  😣 

Collections were "virtual" folders and their contents merely pointers to the files in the cloud, so they had minimal effect on the usage of your BTCloud allocation.  A bit like Windows10 Libraries, which point to several real folders on your hard drive as a single group rather than duplicating their contents.  It looks like you previously set up two such "Collections" in your BTCloud allocation.

I have no idea what would happen to such virtual folders when the new version was introduced.  Not containing any actual files they may well have been reproduced as empty folders with any links to real files or folders deleted.

Looks like you may have found yet another bug in the server software! 

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Thanks for your reply.

On the contrary RKM, I think that you have identified something of real interest.   

I am still using version 20.6.1, and in some of my earlier messages to other Forum Users using this version, who were saying that the couldn't find their Backup Folders and Files, I tried to repeat what they said they were doing and I could find them, but the Folders had not appeared as I had expected, they appeared (together with their contents), as Grey Virtual Folders.  They appeared along side my original yellow Web folder and other folders, all of which had similarly changed to Grey. 

The Web folder contains a single file named  .BackupManager

JTS1