Can anyone help?? I needed to restore all my files on 07/02/13. Norton360_Backup file 'Properties' (stored on my portable HD, on which Norton360 had been doing it's auto-backups for years) said that there were 220GB of backed up data/files, so I thought everything must be there and it should be safe to return my PC to 'factory settings' due to a system 'crash').
Norton360 Restore was run and I found that 3/4 of my video files were missing. The 'Restore' was run again remotely by a Norton technician and the data was placed in a folder on my Desktop. The folder of restored files 'properties' said: 36.7 GB of data, including a few of my video files. The remaining video files were still missing. 'Restore' was repeated again; but still only 36.7GB with the video files still missing!
By now I thought it might be worth sending the HD to a data retreival company? Meanwhile Norton360 went and did another large backup yesterday and used almost all of the remaining space on my 500GB portable HD!! When I heard of the possible costs of data retrieval, I thought it might be wiser to try the Norton Community and/or ring the Norton Backup Helpdesk!
In summary: Norton360 had been doing auto-backing-up for years & placed 220GB of backed-up data on my external HD; it restored 36.7GB of data; how can I get at the remaining 183.3GB of data, particularly my irreplaceable videos? Presumably Norton360 compresses backup files, but what goes in must equal what comes out? Am I ignorant or missing something? Can anyone help?
Can anyone help?? I needed to restore all my files on 07/02/13. Norton360_Backup file 'Properties' (stored on my portable HD, on which Norton360 had been doing it's auto-backups for years) said that there were 220GB of backed up data/files, so I thought everything must be there and it should be safe to return my PC to 'factory settings' due to a system 'crash').
Norton360 Restore was run and I found that 3/4 of my video files were missing. The 'Restore' was run again remotely by a Norton technician and the data was placed in a folder on my Desktop. The folder of restored files 'properties' said: 36.7 GB of data, including a few of my video files. The remaining video files were still missing. 'Restore' was repeated again; but still only 36.7GB with the video files still missing!
By now I thought it might be worth sending the HD to a data retreival company? Meanwhile Norton360 went and did another large backup yesterday and used almost all of the remaining space on my 500GB portable HD!! When I heard of the possible costs of data retrieval, I thought it might be wiser to try the Norton Community and/or ring the Norton Backup Helpdesk!
In summary: Norton360 had been doing auto-backing-up for years & placed 220GB of backed-up data on my external HD; it restored 36.7GB of data; how can I get at the remaining 183.3GB of data, particularly my irreplaceable videos? Presumably Norton360 compresses backup files, but what goes in must equal what comes out? Am I ignorant or missing something? Can anyone help?
I'm now on my 5th. Norton Help technician (as of yesterday) & he advised me to talk to the Norton "Backup Dept." I'll try them after writing this.I've looked at the list of files that the Norton people listed under "Restore Files" and the missing video files were not there.
I'm not sure I follow your suggestion for "...trying to work out what has gone wrong..."? In 'Manage Backup Settings', under file types, "Video" was selected. It seems odd that a few of the videos were restored, but not all of them? Everything else (documents, email folders, Firefox bookmarks) has been recovered.
As you can see, I'm far from being "a computer person", but even I thought/think I had set up Norton360 correctly do its auto-backups. 5 years ago I used to back up important stuff (such as precious videos) manually, then when I got Norton360 I removed the manually backed-up files to make space. I understand that specialists can look into HDs & possibly find copies of these deleted files, but Norton360 is continuing to fill the HD with GBs of something (??), so I presume anything that might have been discoverable is written-over? Also the cost of the specialists made me think twice and I don't like the idea of handing a HD containing personal data to people who can find/open anything!!
Some of the video files were big (~2.3GB - old VHS tapes that had been digitalised), however Norton360 would have had years to back them up & anyway some of the video files that were restored are of the same size? All the videos were in the same folder, so why did Norton360 "pick-and-choose"?
Anyway, thanks for your support; it seems to me that the digital jungle could be made easier to slash our way through - given that we have to try and go through it!
Good luck with the Norton "Backup Dept." Do let us know how you get on.
Sorry if my earlier post was less clear than it might have been, but I did say that the Manage Backup settings can be less than intuitive! What I had been thinking about with the file types was that - when you select "Video" (under Manage Backups) you will notice that there is a "Configure" option to the right. If you select this you will see that it gives a long list of video formats that it will aim to include. However if the video format of your file does not have an extension that is listed it will not be backed up. You can get around this if you are aware that you have an unusual file format by specifically adding it to the list under the "Configure" option.
Do you know what the file extension was on any of the files that have mysteriously not been backed up?
A "Level 2" Norton technician [Removed] rang me yesterday and offered a possible solution. He found that a .db file on the backup HD (put there by Norton to "organise" it's encrypted files during a restoration) was corrupted and was producing part-restorations. He moved the file out of the backup drive and then proceeded to do a successful restoration of all my video files + my wife's missing Outlook folders & Documents! It took 3 hours but I was very pleased, even though I missed my supper! You would need to talk to him to find out the exact details of what he did.
I come from a quality background (drugs/pharmaceuticals) and it's always seemed to me that the production of computer software could benefit from a more robust system for making sure that it's 'fit-for-purpose'.
All my files were .mpg or .AVI.
Anyway I'm mighty glad that the Norton man cracked it! It took 7 days, 7 phonecalls & 5 technical people. By the way, your responses helped to give me the will to pursue this matter, as I felt at times that I was in unknown waters! Thanks.
I'm glad you got everything restored and you know the importance of a good backup,
You also found out how expensive it would be to even try to recover data.
You may want to consider a second removable drive because redundancy is cheep insurance in protecting your data.
Even if the second drive is not updated as fequently having most of your data is better than having none of your data.
Ideally the second drive should be kept "offsite" to also protect your from (hevan forbid) fire, flood, theft, or other disasters.
Most people have places to keep another drive if they think about it. A place at work, the gym, golf course, relatives, anywhere you have a place to store something that you go to on a regular basis.
You were lucky in the sense it was just the catalog file corrupted and not everything corrupted or a hard drive problem.
In this case redundancy would have only saved you a week and several hours of your time but remember the old saying about never keep all your eggs in the same basket.