Backup, Sync or both?

[Old_Deuteronomy]

Let's be honest, along with the 123 pages of another thread dating back to December 2020, the BT Cloud isn't fit for purpose.  I've just started trying to use it on a second device and that didn't want to work.  After some help getting it installed it still doesn't work and I'm still waiting to get a solution after about 3 weeks of trying.  During this, I discovered that my prime device (that has had the desk-top client problem from December) hasn't actually been syncing and no one seems to know why.  The two devices won't sync or talk to each other.  If not solved in the next few days, I'll have to buy Cloud services from a reputable supplier elsewhere and then (hopefully) delete all my record with BT Cloud.

[henryfm]

@SeanD @JohnC2 

Based on the date of 4th December 2020 for the current User Guide to BT Cloud, when a 'Horizon' version of BT Cloud was introduced, it is the 6 month anniversary of there being a properly working version of BT Cloud.

Horizon refers to the Post Office management system that was flawed, and known by some in PO/Fujitsi (the gurus) to be flawed, but which Management insisted was working perfectly.

Readers of the previous 230+ posts will appreciate that many users are having problems with BT Cloud. In some cases it is just inept, e.g. set to sync continuously but requiring a restart to initiate syncing. If syncing between 2 PCs, it sets the current file structure in aspic, new versions of files from the other PC being marked as Conflict versions.

Various well-meaning amateurs have done their best to offer help to users posting their experience and problems, sometimes identifying solutions but in general paliative rather than resolving the inherent problems of the software.  The 'Wall of Silence' of the BT Cloud employees (aka the moderators) is deafening. It seems that they know there is a problem, but dare not put anything in public as it would be against corporate policy to admit what we all know, the current version of BT Cloud is not fit for purpose.  The BT Cloud employees are intermediaries - until the gurus who have control of the underlying software admit their incompetence, the moderators have to hold their toungues and not undermine the corporate image that BT Cloud is world-beating software.  OMG.

When can we anticipate a correctly operational version of BT Cloud, as we had up to last December?

Of course, we could use Dropbox or OneDrive instead inter alia (which do work reliably and speedily) but with limitations on the number of devices and/or total volume synced without additional charges.  In contrast, the 1 TB Cloud allowance in my BT Cloud account is not Free but is included as part of my (not inconsiderable) monthly fee for BT Broadband. I believe I should be due a rebate for the inadequate functionality of BT Cloud.

[dapthorp]

Beautifully put @henryfm I totally agree. 

[cfpage]

I will add another whole-hearted vote to this sentiment. When will be told the full reasons why the change was absolutely necessary and why the replacement had not been fully tested before release? We also need to know when a fully reliable version that syncs as well as OneDrive will be released.

Charles

[Earthling]

Sync is the problem so if you don't really have a need for it don't wind yourself up by trying to get it to work.  I just need backup and that works well with the minor exception that file changes don't get backed up until the desktop app restarts.  However I do appreciate having such a huge backup space and a file backup system that works automatically.  I didn't have anything comparable when with previous providers, VM or TT.  Hopefully one of these days we will get a meaningful statement from BT as to what they intend doing about BT Cloud.

[rogerdoger]

I need the sync for certain files so I can access them on two machines, the bugbear is files on say PC1 don't sync until after a restart, so files on PC 2 remain "old" until the PC1 restart,  this needs sorting but BT seem incapable of doing so.

[Earthling]

I'm in the same situation but get around it by only keeping my files on one of the machines and using mapped network drives on the other.  Simple!  No need at all for syncing.

[JTS1]

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@rogerdogerwrote:

I need the sync for certain files so I can access them on two machines, the bugbear is files on say PC1 don't sync until after a restart, so files on PC 2 remain "old" until the PC1 restart,  this needs sorting but BT seem incapable of doing so.

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It is unrealistic to expect sync to occur instantaneously, if one of your PC's has been switched off for a long time and lots of Sync folders and/or files have been altered during that time, as the second PC's BT Cloud folder has to be restructured over the internet. 

The more files you have, the longer this will take.  Your BT Cloud Logs will show you when sync starts and this is usually after the initial Pre Check of your PC, but if you start making more changes whilst this is happening, it stops the syncing process until you finish what you are doing and then back goes into a new Pre Check. 

JTS1

[rogerdoger]

There's nothing unrealistic about expecting a file to sync when you save it and then the next day for it to have downloaded to another PC when you start that up, only to find it hasn't until you restart the original PC, leaving that on sleep isn't enough.

Fortunately the files that I sync which are two small size spreadsheets I now keep on Google drive, which as we know syncs from one machine to another as you watch, unlike the rubbish BT sync. My only use for BT Cloud is for backing up a large amount of files that are not required to sync and would exceed the free space on other platforms.

[JTS1]

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@rogerdogerwrote:

There's nothing unrealistic about expecting a file to sync when you save it and then the next day for it to have downloaded to another PC when you start that up, only to find it hasn't until you restart the original PC, leaving that on sleep isn't enough.

Fortunately the files that I sync which are two small size spreadsheets I now keep on Google drive, which as we know syncs from one machine to another as you watch, unlike the rubbish BT sync. My only use for BT Cloud is for backing up a large amount of files that are not required to sync and would exceed the free space on other platforms.

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The second PC does not require the first PC to be on at all for syncing to occur. 

Subject to sync preferences, BT Cloud Web provides the sync info that it has available to other repositories. 

However, if the first PC is switched off before the particular sync process has completed, it will have to be switched back on again, to allow it to do so. 

JTS1