BT Cloud beta client 21.2.3

[TimHervey]

Hello

Yesterday  (17/03/2021) my BT Cloud started giving an 'Unexpected error' notification every 10-15 minutes and continues to do so today: "The BT Cloud: An error occurred, the application cannot continue and will be paused."

The night before (16/03/2021), I had an update installed which is shown in the Update history as "2021-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for v64-based Systems (KB5000802)". I noticed yesterday, that Microsoft Edge told me about a new feature to pin webpages to the taskbar (which I didn't do) and assume this was part of the update K5000802.

However, I think that Update may also be why the BT Cloud Unexpected error notifications are given.

Will the BT Cloud beta client 21.2.3 resolve my issue? Should I install it or wait for the general release update to be released? Or should I install the beta and then the general release once available?

Thanks for any help you can offer

[vuum]

The update installed and started (no indication that install had been successful or finished) but after opening the system tray I could see it running. Note this was an update to 20.6.1 and I did not uninstall the previous version, just updated it.
My findings.

1. The overall time it took to complete my relativly small number of backup folders took much much longer than before. (I only sync 8 folders containing 4127 files in total). For example it took 3 hours & 18 minutes to complete the first folder that contained only 382 files of which only 3 needed to be uploaded. (50Mbps connection, i7 CPU, solid state drive) It then took a further 1 hour & 49 minutes before it uploaded files from the next selected backup folder, during this time the icon was showing "all files synced" incorrectly.
Note, as I did not uninstall version 20.6.1 the delays were not because of the "initializing metadata" you see when the program is run for the very first time.

2. The top left icon that is either green (all files synced) or blue (syncing) is pretty much useless as it spends most of the time green (all files synced) when in fact the syncing process is still running on the current folder. Surely it would be better if this icon should display "syncing" until it has finished the backup folder it is on rather than after each file it has uploaded.
The only reliable way of identifying if the program is still syncing is to view the process in task manager, not ideal.

3. Memory usage is very high at close to and sometimes over 1000MB (CPU is fine for me once it's finished scanning the local folder structure for changes)

4. When opening preferences, as before the window takes ages to finished loading the local folder structure (ssd drive). During this time the GUI is unresponsive. Would it make more sense for preferences to open to the settings tab rather than the backup tab allowing the loading of the folder structure to run in background on it's own thread? I suspect most users would want to initially go to settings anyway once their backup folders were setup.

5. (minor GUI issue) The words "Pause Syncing" is now truncated and reads "Pause Syncin" (last letter g truncated)

6. (future update request) Can a tooltip be added to the synced files list to show the file's path when mouse hovering over it? Currently you can click on the text and it will open an explorer window but this has the annoying consequence of closing the backup program window.

[GarethDrakes]

Sean - please can you confirm exactly which version of Edge is required to make BT Cloud function correctly - one of my laptops appeared to attempt an update, the other one did not, but as far as I can see both still have the same version..

Version 89.0.774.54 (Official build) (64-bit)

with a message alongside says "Edge is up to date"....

[SueW2]

Edited: I've done another download today and I've got 21.2.3 plus the system is keeping me signed in which it wasn't before. Progress!

[GeoffSmith]

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@TimHerveywrote:

Hello

Yesterday  (17/03/2021) my BT Cloud started giving an 'Unexpected error' notification every 10-15 minutes and continues to do so today: "The BT Cloud: An error occurred, the application cannot continue and will be paused."

The night before (16/03/2021), I had an update installed which is shown in the Update history as "2021-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 20H2 for v64-based Systems (KB5000802)". I noticed yesterday, that Microsoft Edge told me about a new feature to pin webpages to the taskbar (which I didn't do) and assume this was part of the update K5000802.

---

I had problems with other software after KB5000802 was installed, so I uninstalled it and turned off updates for a couple of weeks. All the problems went away.

[TimHervey]

Thanks @GeoffSmith. I've not noticed any other problems so far but will bear that in mind.

[Matt_St]

I have THREE cloud systems on the go. BT Cloud is one...not really used since December's mess, and one I call O.D. and the other G.D. (I'm sure you can guess the identity of them).

Anyway, having not bothered with BT for a while I was pleased to see the beta announcement and did a wee check by creating a document (that's ONE document) with text and a picture included on my local directories for each of my cloud providers.

My hardware comprises One Desktop and two Laptops - all with latest Windows 10, up to date etc etc.

So... saving the document to my O.D and G.D local folders, Immediately triggered an update to the cloud repositories and within a second or two the servers had been updated and the document had been additionally downloaded to my other local folders on my two lap tops. (This is crucial for me).

BUT....BT Cloud??? Nothing. Silence. No transfers. .....Everything had been synced according to status and messages.

So being a reasonable sort of bloke, I tried the same routine using the laptops as the main update source. Still BT Cloud sat their mute....intransigent and stubbornly telling me all was well, when it was plainly obvious that it wasn't. O.D. and G.D. had as before done the business.

S0...I went for a run, leaving all machines on and logged in.....8.56 miles later, twisted ankle throbbing, (fell in a pothole) and eventually got home to find that the Clooud screen that I had left on, had timed out. I relogged in and checked the status......ta ra!!!! It had updated 40 minutes after I had left....but still had not transferred the latest document versions to the other machines.

I restarted all the machines from scratch and this time....it updated across the board.

So take 3....tried it all again with a new document and .........it all came to grinding halt once again....well not good old O.D and G.D. They are my best pals now.

I'll have a look again after the 29th March release....but I think that I may be living in forlorn hope that this simplest of cloud based processes will be fit for purpose. Synchronisation is absolutely key to my modus operandi and Synchronisation does not work with any consistency.

BT now echoes as an an acronym for Broken Technology!

Hopefully my ankle will also be better by then; although I suppose it might be a Bust Tendon!

[daweshome]

Hi Sean,

As a further update, the application continues to run.

However, the directory that is being sync'd is 40Gb, and after 3 days the cloud store is only 4k in size....

I created a new directory for the new app, but I'm wondering whether there is a cache somewhere that isn't sync'ing files as it thinks that they were already backed up in the previous working version in Nov ??

If so how do I clear such cache ?

Note that the same behaviour is true for both "Sync" and "Backup" options - new files xfr up to the cloud, but old historic files that have transferred previously in different silos do not appear in the new cloud directories.  Just thankful that I didn't delete the old one prior to checking this was working....

Thanks

Mark

[Earthling]

I'm new to BT Cloud and installed the beta two days ago.  No problems initially just syncing the default Docs and Pics but when I added folders from my mapped NAS, after working OK for a few hours, it crashed the NAS connection later that evening and the same again last night.  Should it work with folders on mapped network drives?

[PaddyB]

Hi @GarethDrakes,

Thank you for your feedback. Something doesn’t seem right. I would like to get your details and the logs from your Cloud and then I will raise a ticket to find out what is going on.

In terms of which version of MS Edge browser, we would recommend having the latest version of MS Edge installed as that will be the most secure. The update required for Edge will be included in your normal Windows update

I've tried to PM you but it looks like your PM's have been turned off? 

To get the logs

** How to get the Application Log file **

Go to %userprofile%\AppData\Local\BTCloud-Data\Logs

A file will exist for each day the application has been running. We'll need the latest file.


** How to get the DB files **

Make sure to exit the application (click the three dots on the BT Cloud client and then select Exit)

Go to %userprofile%\AppData\Local\BTCloud-Data

Zip all the files in this folder together (do not include sub folders) and send them to us.

** How to get MS Info **

To get this go to the Start Menu and type MSINFO and open the application. Then save the file to your desktop (do not click export). This file will contain some information about your machine specifications which can help us diagnose the issue.

Once you've been able to do that please drop me a Private Message with your details and I'll give you and email address where you can send those files.

Thanks,

Paddy