Hi everyone. I have Norton 360 version 3.0, and I recently deleted an old backup set, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, none of the files were deleted! Thus, Norton came up with a message saying that I had used all of my backup space, which of course was untrue -- Norton simply did not delete the files as I requested from the online backup, frustratingly.
Next, I tried to delete the old files manually by going to Backup --> Manage Backup Sets --> Where Tab --> Delete Previously Backed Up Files. Sure enough, you CAN delete files, but you CANNOT delete folders. Even more infuriating, if I check "C:\" to delete everthing, it does not automatically select ANY files within the C:\ drive. I must manually go through every folder on my hard drive, select all files within each folder, and repeat. This process would take me probably a good 12 hours to do.
Does anyone else find this exceedingly stupid? I've already wasted several hours on this.... need a solution that doesn't require me to manually check every file on my system that was in my old backup set for deletion. In summary, my questions are as follows:
1) Why when I deleted a backup set did nothing get deleted from that set on the secure online backup storage? This should occur, and if somehow Norton designed it not to, it seems they're trying to trick people into buying more storage when they actually don't need it!
2) Why when I check "C:\" does it select NO files for deletion? This is moronic.
3) Tied in with 2 -- why must I delete the contents of each folder individually rather than subfolders (and their contents) being deleted automatically? Again, this is insanely dumb.
As you can see I'm quite frustrated with the amount of time this has wasted. If anyone has a solution, please let me know.
I’ll third this. It should be as easy to delete folders as files, and there should also be a way to delete entire backup sets from online storage rather than leaving empty ones which is a bit untidy.
I will try to answer your questions in order however if I miss anything please feel free to post again.
The reason that when you clicked "Delete Backup Set" that your files were not deleted. Delete Backup Set is actually deleting your configuration data. So your computer will no longer perform backup's however any data associated with that backup will still exist.
To delete the actual data I would recommend that you use the Norton Backup Drive. The Norton Backup Drive is a virtual drive under My Computer that will allow you to delete/restore/view all of the data in your backup. To access the drive all you need to do is navigate to the Secure Online Storage section and you should see any backup sets that you have created. From here you can right click any file or folder or even the entire backup set and click the delete button.
I'll keep on trying to get in to the online storage via Windows explorer but so far it's just hangs and then Windows explorer crashes. Tried it 3 times. It's possible that something is just timing out with respect to connecting to the server.
Anyway, the main reason I was writing this is because I was hoping you can change the interface in future versions. I like Norton 360 overall, but the backup leaves much to be desired.
Also, if you could answer questions (1), (2) and (3) I posted above, that'd be great. So far you've answered only part of (1), sort of...
Message Edited by skibum1981 on 08-17-2009 10:02 AM
Explorer crashes for me on W7RTM, I know I'm not using an RTM'd version of 360 but thought it would be interesting to drop that in.
I've thought for a few years that the backup feature could be improved somewhat. v3 is a little more intuative but this area of 360 remains somewhat slow, and as such i avoid it more than use it regularly.
I'm afraid that the questions you are asking relating to sub folders in the delete page are as designed usability for version 3. We are always looking for new ways to improve both usability and customer experience so I can pass your comments on for notes for future releases.
It is possible that the Norton Backup Drive is taking a while to connect to the server to pull down your backup data. Particularly for online storage the speed of your internet connection to the backup servers can slow this process down. Explorer particularly can be very picky if you attempt to click inside of the windows or on any menu's while it is performing a time sensitive operation so my recommendation would be to try to navigate into the Secure Online Storage location and wait some time and it might retrieve the data.
What type of internet connection do you have?
Thanks.
Message Edited by John_Brockway on 08-17-2009 01:46 PM
John_Brockway -- Why on Earth would you design it so that when you check the C:\ drive to delete the entire C:\ drive, nothing gets selected? The functionality you've created is the opposite of the intended functionality of checking something!
Think about it: checking C:\ really means checking nothing. How does this make any sense?
Hi everyone. I have Norton 360 version 3.0, and I recently deleted an old backup set, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, none of the files were deleted! Thus, Norton came up with a message saying that I had used all of my backup space, which of course was untrue -- Norton simply did not delete the files as I requested from the online backup, frustratingly.
Next, I tried to delete the old files manually by going to Backup --> Manage Backup Sets --> Where Tab --> Delete Previously Backed Up Files. Sure enough, you CAN delete files, but you CANNOT delete folders. Even more infuriating, if I check "C:\" to delete everthing, it does not automatically select ANY files within the C:\ drive. I must manually go through every folder on my hard drive, select all files within each folder, and repeat. This process would take me probably a good 12 hours to do.
Does anyone else find this exceedingly stupid? I've already wasted several hours on this.... need a solution that doesn't require me to manually check every file on my system that was in my old backup set for deletion. In summary, my questions are as follows:
1) Why when I deleted a backup set did nothing get deleted from that set on the secure online backup storage? This should occur, and if somehow Norton designed it not to, it seems they're trying to trick people into buying more storage when they actually don't need it!
2) Why when I check "C:\" does it select NO files for deletion? This is moronic.
3) Tied in with 2 -- why must I delete the contents of each folder individually rather than subfolders (and their contents) being deleted automatically? Again, this is insanely dumb.
As you can see I'm quite frustrated with the amount of time this has wasted. If anyone has a solution, please let me know.