topic Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes in Norton 360

Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:46:29 GMT

Hello,

I'm a newbie at this but am looking for help in the same area. My problem with Comcast Norton Backups on Computer is that the backup process freezes and I get a msg that says "Another backup operation is running. Please try again later". This has been an ongoing problem; alternating between stretches of working fine and then not working at all. Restarting clears the message, but the next backup freezes the process. The call center's only solution has been to reload Security Suite, but that is not a solution. I've lived with this for several years. Can anyone help?

Guy

[Clarified subject.]

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:13:53 GMT

Gsmith wrote:
Hello,
I'm a newbie at this but am looking for help in the same area. My problem with Comcast Norton Backups on Computer is that the backup process freezes and I get a msg that says "Another backup operation is running. Please try again later". This has been an ongoing problem; alternating between stretches of working fine and then not working at all. Restarting clears the message, but the next backup freezes the process. The call center's only solution has been to reload Security Suite, but that is not a solution. I've lived with this for several years. Can anyone help?
Guy

[Clarified subject.]

Welcome,

I am sorry that you've waited so long to seek help. The Comcast product and the Norton product have a few differences but in this cast it shouldn't matter. I'll need a bit of information before I can make any real suggestions.So here goes; operating system, are your operating system and NSS both current, how many backup sets are you using, are there any schedule conflicts between the sets, is the Windows backup routing being used, are there any backups listed in the windows task scheduler?

That should be a good start.

Thanks

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:34:42 GMT

Hi Dick,

Thanks for looking at this problem. I'm running Norton Security Suite 5.2.0.13 on Windows XP. I don't know if NSS is up to date or not and I don't know how to update it except for the security threat update.

When I look at scheduled tasks, there are 5 Google update tasks scheduled. They all appear to be updating separate files and there is a warning that the updates shouldn't be turned off. There is a Registry Booster task scheduled each day, but my issue with B/U was going on long before I installed Registry Booster.

I have 3 sets that are set for automatic B/U. Patriot is 143 MB in size, Set A has 1316 files and is 780 MB in size. Set B2 has 7611 files and is 13.1 GB in size. When I manually initiate a backup of Set A, I can watch the progress as the files are being located. When it is working well it takes just a few minutes to locate and backup the 1316 files. When it is not working well, it finds files up to about the 85% point and then stops there and 10 minutes later it's still looking. Selecting SKIP doesn't work and it won't recover. I think the "still running' attribute gets set and never clears. If the B/U was still running it seems like the windows task manager would show Norton running, but it doesn't. When I leave it on Automatic B/U, which I normally do, it probably does the same thing--I'm guessing.

Guy

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Pi — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:37:25 GMT

Gsmith wrote:

Hi Dick,

Thanks for looking at this problem. I'm running Norton Security Suite 5.2.0.13 on Windows XP. I don't know if NSS is up to date or not and I don't know how to update it except for the security threat update.

When I look at scheduled tasks, there are 5 Google update tasks scheduled. They all appear to be updating separate files and there is a warning that the updates shouldn't be turned off. There is a Registry Booster task scheduled each day, but my issue with B/U was going on long before I installed Registry Booster.

I have 3 sets that are set for automatic B/U. Patriot is 143 MB in size, Set A has 1316 files and is 780 MB in size. Set B2 has 7611 files and is 13.1 GB in size. When I manually initiate a backup of Set A, I can watch the progress as the files are being located. When it is working well it takes just a few minutes to locate and backup the 1316 files. When it is not working well, it finds files up to about the 85% point and then stops there and 10 minutes later it's still looking. Selecting SKIP doesn't work and it won't recover. I think the "still running' attribute gets set and never clears. If the B/U was still running it seems like the windows task manager would show Norton running, but it doesn't. When I leave it on Automatic B/U, which I normally do, it probably does the same thing--I'm guessing.

Guy

Hi Gsmith, you can get all the latest updates by running LiveUpdate until it says there are no more left. You might need to reboot too.

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:24:25 GMT

Gsmith wrote:
Hi Dick,
Thanks for looking at this problem. I'm running Norton Security Suite 5.2.0.13 on Windows XP. I don't know if NSS is up to date or not and I don't know how to update it except for the security threat update.
When I look at scheduled tasks, there are 5 Google update tasks scheduled. They all appear to be updating separate files and there is a warning that the updates shouldn't be turned off. There is a Registry Booster task scheduled each day, but my issue with B/U was going on long before I installed Registry Booster.
I have 3 sets that are set for automatic B/U. Patriot is 143 MB in size, Set A has 1316 files and is 780 MB in size. Set B2 has 7611 files and is 13.1 GB in size. When I manually initiate a backup of Set A, I can watch the progress as the files are being located. When it is working well it takes just a few minutes to locate and backup the 1316 files. When it is not working well, it finds files up to about the 85% point and then stops there and 10 minutes later it's still looking. Selecting SKIP doesn't work and it won't recover. I think the "still running' attribute gets set and never clears. If the B/U was still running it seems like the windows task manager would show Norton running, but it doesn't. When I leave it on Automatic B/U, which I normally do, it probably does the same thing--I'm guessing.
Guy

Guy,

Pi has some good advice. Is there a specific reason why you are running file and folder backups rather than drive backups? For whatever reason the F&F backup routine appears to be a bit mor fragile than the drive backup portion.

You might want to delete and recreate the backup sets to see if that improves performance. Remember than if you do that you will have to tell NSS where the old backups are.

Keep us in the loop

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:02:48 GMT

Are you suggesting that I back up the entire C: drive; which is about 52 GB in size? What other options do I have?

Guy

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Pi — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:19:19 GMT

Gsmith wrote:

Are you suggesting that I back up the entire C: drive; which is about 52 GB in size? What other options do I have?

Guy

I agree on trying another backup set instead of the old one. You don't need to back up the whole C: drive. Do you really need the whole thing?

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:08:48 GMT

Gsmith wrote:
Are you suggesting that I back up the entire C: drive; which is about 52 GB in size? What other options do I have?
Guy

Guy,

As Pi suggests a new backup set might solve the problem. I backup my whole "C:\" drive once each month and then do incremental backups of it twice a week. I use a 1T external USB drive for that purpose. What and how you do your backups is strictly your business. I can only suggest what has worked well for me and seems to be a versy stable system.

We'll be here

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:14:57 GMT

dickevans wrote:
Gsmith wrote:
Are you suggesting that I back up the entire C: drive; which is about 52 GB in size? What other options do I have?
Guy
Guy,
As Pi suggests a new backup set might solve the problem. I backup my whole "C:\" drive once each month and then do incremental backups of it twice a week. I use a 1T external USB drive for that purpose. What and how you do your backups is strictly your business. I can only suggest what has worked well for me and seems to be a versy stable system.
We'll be here

PS: My backup is between 75 and 80 GB. The drive also keeps the previous month's backup until the current month is completed.

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:11:01 GMT

To Pi and Dick,

It took me a while to figure out you were both answering my questions. Thanks for the advice and I'll try to set up a C: drive backup set and see how that works. There are only a few types of files that change everyday for me and that's what I need to back up every day.

I don't have any problems with the internet security part of NSS and I'm very happy with it. I realize the backup part is a freebie and I can't complain too much about it, but here is a thought for Symantec to consider. I've gone through the call center at least 3 times and turned my computer over to someone to control while they go through the Norton backup management sets to see how I have them set up. They've never made a comment about backing up the C: drive rather than the files. Their solution is to download NSS again and send me on my way. Of course each time I've had to set up my backup sets again. I think it would be a good idea to send this subject along to the call center so that they are in sync with your ideas.

Thanks again for your advice and I'll report the results.

Guy

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:29:58 GMT

Guy,

You should be able to configure your backup set so that it backs up each day. After the first day it will only backup the files that have changed. This sounds like what you are looking for. Monthly you should start over with a new full backup and then go to daily incremental backups. NSS will do all of this for you if you set the different parameters correctly. Have no fear NSS will not delete the old backup until the new full backup is firmly on the disk.

We'll be here when you need us

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:54:30 GMT

Dick and Pi,

I set up a new backup set per your instructions and I get identical results. Backup sits at 99% complete for 3 hours and does not finish. When I cancel the job it says "another back up is running. please try again later". Where do I go from here?

Guy

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Pi — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:56:31 GMT

Gsmith wrote:

Dick and Pi,

I set up a new backup set per your instructions and I get identical results. Backup sits at 99% complete for 3 hours and does not finish. When I cancel the job it says "another back up is running. please try again later". Where do I go from here?

Guy

Let's try this. Don't back up everything. Just do some files and folders like your important data. Maybe you can narrow down to see what is getting stuck on.

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 03:08:51 GMT

I might also add - let the backup start by itself. Do not start the backup manually.

[wild suspicion on my part]

Had a mouse that stuttered and when I though I was clicking once it double clicked, sometimes.

The auto start should eliminate that possibility and might eliminate the error message.

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:58:27 GMT

Dick and Pi,

Regarding my inability to complete back up of the reconfigured backup set (C), I can see it in my backup folder on the external drive and it looks like it did back up to that point. The file is 19.3 GB in size. However, when I look at Start\My Computer\Other\Norton Backup Drive, the new set C is not shown like my old sets are. Do you think the hangup could be in the registering of set C in Norton Backup Drive? I still have the notice from last night that says "Another backup set is running. Please try again later".

Guy

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

Gsmith — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:01:49 GMT

To Norton Forum,

Through trial and error, I've developed a procedure for dealing with this problem and would like to attach it for other people's use.

Thanks for your help,

Gsmith

Re: Comcast Norton Backup freezes

dickevans — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 02:06:05 GMT

Gsmith wrote:
Dick and Pi,
Regarding my inability to complete back up of the reconfigured backup set (C), I can see it in my backup folder on the external drive and it looks like it did back up to that point. The file is 19.3 GB in size. However, when I look at Start\My Computer\Other\Norton Backup Drive, the new set C is not shown like my old sets are. Do you think the hangup could be in the registering of set C in Norton Backup Drive? I still have the notice from last night that says "Another backup set is running. Please try again later".
Guy

Guy,

Is there any chance that you have a backup scheduled in the Windows scheduler?

{another wild thought]