N Ghost 15 delete files from the recover my files

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1

This is my first post where.

 

I'm using Norton Ghost 15 and I want to delete my old recovery files that I no longer need so I tried go to Recover my files and delete then, but I notice that Norton first recover the files to my temp folder and then delete then but on recovery it renamed the files file(1), file(2), etc those did not delete and didn't work on the folders, only on individual files, so I delete the backup folder itself but the files and folders remained on the recover my files.

 

Is there a better way to delete then without Norton recover then first?

2

Thanks for the quick reply.

But that still recovers the files and doesn't work on a single folder the delete option isn't available, so I tried to delete the backup folder

the files are still been listed in the Recover my files.

Gonna try delete the backup jobs and see.

 

For me it's a major bug, it's a nice prog and if they solved this kind of bugs it could be better.

3

This is my first post where.

 

I'm using Norton Ghost 15 and I want to delete my old recovery files that I no longer need so I tried go to Recover my files and delete then, but I notice that Norton first recover the files to my temp folder and then delete then but on recovery it renamed the files file(1), file(2), etc those did not delete and didn't work on the folders, only on individual files, so I delete the backup folder itself but the files and folders remained on the recover my files.

 

Is there a better way to delete then without Norton recover then first?

4
A_STAN wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply.

But that still recovers the files and doesn't work on a single folder the delete option isn't available, so I tried to delete the backup folder

the files are still been listed in the Recover my files.

Gonna try delete the backup jobs and see.

 

For me it's a major bug, it's a nice prog and if they solved this kind of bugs it could be better.

 

Hi A_Stan,

 

This does not actually recover files if you follow the process I mentioned. You access this through the Recover My Files link but this process does not actually restore the files.

 

And yes I know that there are limitations with this such as the lack of having a viable option to deal with directory level entries, etc.

 

Deleting the backup jobs will not get rid of file versions.

 

File versions can be deleted through Windows Explorer but this is problematic because of the way the backup file names are encoded and it is difficult to know what you are actually deleting. But it can be done, followed by re-importing the file and folder backup and rebuilding the catalog file Ghost uses.

 

If you want this procedure I can give it to you.

 

Allen

5

A_Stan,

 

By the way if you have already deleted things through Windows Explorer you now have an out of sync catalog file. If you have done this already please let me know and I can walk you through how to reimport the backups and creating a new in sync Ghost catalog database.

 

Allen

6

Yeah already tried that.

7

Hi A_Stan,

 

What did you already try?

 

Allen

8

the delete throught the explorer.

Even with the file backup  it still displays the files I no longer need.

9

Hi A_Stan,

 

Again, if you've deleted files through Windows Explorer you now have a Ghost catalog database which is out of sync from reality.

 

Question: how did you determine what you were actually deleting through Windows Explorer? The filenames are pretty cryptic such as 1ca7099d1207a1c.fbf.

 

I can explain how to get Ghost back in sync with the file backups which are left but before I do that I am curious how you chose what to delete through Windows Explorer.

 

Thanks

Allen

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Also with a new file backup I tried delete then, like stated above but it still places the files in my temp folder then I have to delete then from there.

11

I just delete the folder.

12

Hi A_Stan,

 

I can help you with this but you need to be more specific about what you have done. How did you determine which files to delete from Windows Explorer?

 

EDIT: Just saw your last response. Ok how did you determine which backup folder to delete? And exactly which one did you delete? Please give location and folder name.

 

Where are your file and folder backups stored? To find this go into Run or Manage Backups from the Tasks tab in Ghost. Then highlight the backup job for files and folders and click on Edit Settings. Then click Next and tell me what the backup destination is.

 

This is where all your actual file backups are stored. Deleting files from a temp folder somewhere is not going to accomplish anything.

 

So please be very specific about what you are doing.

 

Thanks

Allen

Message Edited by AllenM on 12-26-2009 12:30 PM
13

Hi thanks for the reply's and sorry about the trouble.

 

My destination folder is in a local network drive and the folder is simply named FILE.

 

So I just deleted everything inside that folder, not a good idea I know but it was the only one I had, that out of sync really caught me by surprise, but it really is strange on delete from the Recover my files, first Norton restores the files on my TEMP folder them deletes from the file list on the Recover my files, but the files remain on the TEMP folder.

 

Did the installation went wrong in some way?

 

Should I try to reinstall NG 15?

 

Anyway can you teach me how to get Ghost back in sync with the file backups.

 

Thanks and sorry about all the trouble.

14

Hi A_Stan,

 

It's not trouble, I just needed to understand what you are doing so I can provide better guidance.

 

I'm still not sure what you mean by " first Norton restores the files on my TEMP folder them deletes from the file list on the Recover my files, but the files remain on the TEMP folder."

 

Which temp folder are you referring to? If you are looking at files in some temp folder which might be created while deleting files through the Ghost interface, this is not the same thing as restoring your files. If your files were being restored, the actual file would be restored in whatever location it originally resided in. Say you had a file in Documents and Settings called myfile.txt, if Ghost were actually restoring this file it would be overwritten with the one from the backup.

 

The temp folder is kind of like a work area for Ghost while it is carrying out instructions you give it. But if you are deleting a file version using the procedure I outlined, the file itself is not being restored.

 

If your backups are all located in your FILE folder on some backup drive, and you deleted everything in there via Windows Explorer then you have essentially eliminated ALL backup files. I don't think this is really what you intended, correct?

 

If you did this and this was not your intent, then you might be able to restore those files from the Recycle bin and we could then proceed to delete what you had really intended to begin with.

 

So please confirm the following questions:

 

1) Which temp folder are you referring to when you say that the files remain in the temp folder?

 

2) Did you indeed delete everything in the FILE folder on your backup drive? When you go into Run or Manage Backups and then Edit Settings and click Next, what is the exact path of the backup destination?

 

Thanks

Allen

15

Well, the backup folder I define is named FILES  on the network drive \\server\FILES and Norton creates a folder named File Backup Data,

\\server\Files\File Backup Data.

the File Backup Data is the folder I deleted(bad idea, out of sync)

 

When I press delete in the Recover my Files, it shows  that it's recovering to my windows 7 TEMP.

What appends is:

i limited the file versions to 2

so lets say I a file like this

in the listing of files in the Recover my Files

file.txt

file.txt

on delete both version

 

shows message that is recovering the files

 

on my  windows 7 TEMP it shown

file.txt

file(2).txt

file(3).txt

file(4).txt

 

after shows message that is deleting the files

 

in the listing of files in the Recover my Files

file.txt ->deleted

file.txt ->deleted

 

on my  windows 7 TEMP it shown

file.txt  -> deleted

file(2).txt -> not deleted

file(3).txt -> not deleted

file(4).txt -> not deleted

 

i hope this explains better

what i really need is a bypass of the recovery part (if this only happens to me maybe reinstalling ghost will solve it?)

and how to fix the out of sync

16

Hi A_Stan,

 

I think I know where the confusion is now. When you choose to delete some files there is a brief dialog which says something about restoring files and then goes on to the dialog about deleting those files. The part which comes up briefly saying something about restoring files is misleading, the files are NOT actually being restored. I just got through doing some testing on this.

 

If you select some files to delete and actually monitor the original directory those files came from you will see that nothing is actually being restored.

 

Understand too that the files which are being deleted are NOT the actual files themselves but the backup of that file. The source file will never be deleted by Ghost.

 

So please don't be confused about that window that comes up briefly about files being restored, they are NOT being restored.

 

This may seem counter-intuitive that you delete file backup versions through the Recover My Files link and I would tend to agree that this alone makes it confusing. I wish Symantec would add a separate task called something like Delete Backup Files or some such but for now, it is what it is. Just understand that when you delete through the method I outlined, NO files are actually being restored.

+++++++++++

 

Having said that, let's get back to the issue at hand shall we? :smileywink:

 

So if I understand correctly you have now removed everything in the backup destination folder is that correct? This would essentially mean that you have NO file backups any more. Is this what you want?

 

Depending on how you deleted this directory, it might still be in the Recycle Bin. If so, do you want to restore the directory you deleted or not? If you want this directory back you can double click on the Recycle Bin and then right click on the directory you deleted and select Restore.

 

Ok, now once you have given this some thought and made your decision below is the procedure to ensure that the Ghost database catalog is in sync with the actual file backup location.

 

Access start menu and type in the word services in the Search box (Windows Vista/Windows 7) or services.msc from the start menu/run box (Windows XP). When the services window comes up please search for the entry for Norton Ghost. Highlight this entry and Stop the service; this option will be located near the top left of the screen.

Then go into Windows Explorer to the following path:
C:\ProgramData\Symantec\FileBackup (Windows Vista) or

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\FileBackup (Windows XP)

Rename (do NOT delete) the catalog.dat file to something else.

From the Service window, click Start to start the Norton Ghost service again.

Bring up Norton Ghost and select Recover My Files from the Tasks tab.

Then from the File menu select Import Backup Destination. Browse to the parent directory where your File and Folder backups are located. Ghost will now import from scratch all the files and folders you have not removed. This will rebuild the catalog.dat file you previously renamed.

Please let me know how it goes.

 

Thanks

Allen

17

Allen

 

Thanks for everything. The re-sync went well, just to know is it safe to delete the old catalog file?

You were right the file don't return to the original directory, but yet again I conformed that the files are being restored to the windows Temp folder and not been deleted from the the Temp Folder, is this actually normal for NG?

18

Hi A_Stan,

 

Thanks for the update. Yes, if you are satisfied with the results you can remove the renamed catalog.dat file. Please make sure and remove the one you renamed and not the new one. :smileywink: The recommendation is to always start with renaming it so that if for any reason you want the original catalog back again you can do so. 

 

The temp directory you refer to is a working directory and yes it is normal to see what are you are seeing. I do wish Ghost would clean up those temp files at the end though but I do see the same behavior so it is normal with the current design.

 

Those files can be removed from the temp directory without harm. I don't know if you have something like Norton Utilities or some other utility which has a clean operation. One of the things these kinds of utilities excel at is removing temporary files like this which do nothing but clutter up your hard drive. I would recommend looking into a utility like this if you don't already have one.

 

Please also check your Ghost configuration and ensure that the number of file versions to keep is set to a value you are happy with as well as setting Ghost to monitor disk space usage on your backup drive. Ghost can then either inform you that you have exceeded the allotted backup size or automatically optimize whichever you prefer.

 

If your questions have been answered to your satisfaction please mark the relevant post which you believe contained the solution by clicking on the green Solution button that only you can see. This will allow others to know the problem is solved and quickly get to the solution when they search the forums.

 

Thanks

Allen

19

AllenM

 

Yeah everything is great the temp folder is annoying, but maybe there will be a patch for it.

 

Thank you for your help