I have a backup set created to do backups weekly. It seems as though the initial backup occurs and creates a rather large backup, and then some incremental backups get added on consuming very little space. Eventually, another full backup is created and the result is that the external WD drive gets filled and I the obvious consequence is that all backups fail from that point forward.
IS THERE A WAY to tell the backup to delete an older full backup if it needs the room? My experience has been that most all backup utilities give you the option to specify how many of the most recent backups you wish to save. That doesn't appear to be an option in N360.
When i run Norton 360 backup it gets an error, when i look at the log it shows ( encrypted file not backed up) but gives no name in the box to the left. i have called tech support 3 times still no help, this is my last resort can some one Please help me.
As I mentioned in an earlier thread Norton backup does not like anything it thinks is an encrypted file and you have hit one of those! Is the entry you show the only one that you have been able to find?
Unfortunately the blank text box before "Failed: Encrypted File" gives little help. If it had identified the specific file then you could have excluded that file from the backup. If the file before and after had been in the same directory that would have helped and you could have considered excluding that sub-directory. But in your case....
In my case, as I have experienced this problem on a number of occasions I just exclude the whole
C:\users\mike\AppData
or in your case the
C:\users\keith\AppData
folder.
This should get over the problem. It will mean that your AppData is not backed up, however if you are just trying to retrieve an odd few files that have been shredded by accident that is not an issue and if you are having to do a full system restore then you will probably not want to restore the old app data but to start again.
I hope that makes sense and is of some use. If not say so and we can try again.
I don't have an IT background so please forget me if I don't state this correctly. I'm using Norton 360 on Windows 8.1. I'm using the default backup setting (automatic / daily) to an external drive for well over a year. Everything works fine. My question is can I or how do I look for a folder/document that may have been deleted a month ago? How do I search back to a certain date to recover it?
This is the first time I've had to use the Norton's backup/recovery function. Yes, in this case it's a working excel file. C:/Users/Steve/Documents/Project/XYZ Matrix.xlsx. Over the past month it has gone through many updates and format revisions. I want to recover the copy from on or about 3/5/14. (Normal office procedure is when making major revisions to do a "save as" with name change and then make changes etc... This one slipped by.) I only want to restore this file to my desktop.
Sorry but if I understand you correctly you will not be able to do what you want with N360.
It does not keep versions. If you had deleted the file a few weeks ago but carried on with incremental backups then I think I might have got it back but if, as is the case I think you are describing, you updated the file then N360 will have saved the latest version and that is all you will be able to recover.
If you wish to have a system that allows you to go back to older versions of files you will need to use a different product.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
If you think I have misunderstood or that I may be able to help in any other way, just say so and I or others will do our best.
Thank you for responding, I appreciate youe help... Oh boy! Not the answer I wanted. I know this is over simplifying. So daily backup just capture/maintains an "as is" state. If I have a catastrophic drive failure, I can restore a new drive to the moment of failure. I'm I understanding you correctly, if I accidentally delete a folder or file today it is deleted from Norton backup on tomorrows backup as though it never existed? If this is correct then I have not configured backup properly. Does Norton backup allow me to do a weekly backup "stand alone" copy or does it just overwrite the previous weeks copy as does the daily?
First let me make a general statement to any future reader of this thread. If you are going to use a backup programme, DO NOT just assume it will work as you hope. Check it out! By which I mean, after you have run it first, look at what it has really stored and try a partial restore to find out how to do it, without all the pressures that will be on you when you really need it.
N360 is intended to be simple and does not try to save versions of files. So if you have a file called "test.txt" included in your backup, it will back it up. If you change "test.txt" it will back this changed file up, but it will effectively overwrite the original "test.txt". If you have a file called say "test.txt" included in your initial backup, which you subsequently delete and then run an incremental backup, you can still recover "test.txt" because it will not have been overwritten (so responding to your specific question - an accidentally deleted file or folder is not removed from the backup - provided it is a normal incremental backup). However if you re-run a full backup it will start again at the position it is then on your machine and if there is no "test.txt" on your machine at that time it will not be in that backup set. So in summary when you run a full backup (such as when you initially run a backup set) only the files then present and marked for inclusion will be included, subsequent incremental backups will overwrite any changed files but retain any deleted ones.
If you are uneasy with this, then you could consider either moving to different backup software, or you could have multiple backup sets under N360. So if you say, ran a backup set on the first of the month and then ran a different backup set on 10th of the month and a third set on 20th of the month, then you would have three sets enabling you to reach back to earlier file versions - to a degree. Be warned however that initial/full backups normally take far longer than the subsequent incremental backups.
Having multiple backup sets is also a safeguard against something going wrong with one of the sets - which can happen.
You referred to normally changing the names of your files in a form of versioning. Although you apparently did not do it in this case, presumably using this system you can recover a previous version of the file which may be of some help.
I hope the above is clear and helps somewhat. Let me know if you would like any more information or any clarification.
Thank you for your explanation. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on Norton backups. The help screen doesn't really provide in depth explanations. At lest for the lay person. My son informed me yesterday I was going in the wrong direction using expecting Norton backup to keep versions of past files of a certain date. He explained it much the same as you. That I should have been searching in Window 8.1 "File History". It has been running in background since day one. Everything was there folders and files searchable on date, day by day. (New to Windows 8.1, I was not aware it existed.)
My problem has been resolved. I wish to thank you and the member's of the community for jumping in to get me straighten out.
I realize this is not strictly a Norton question but if you could tell me what is a cheap but good externa hard drive that perhaps I could purchase on Amazon. The appliance, drugstores and others that would sell them have all closed in my area due to the pandemic.
Or could i save it to OneDrive or GoogleDrive? I have never used either one and don't really know what they are. None of it really interests me othen than people keep telling me to make a back up of the OS.
You would make these disc images to an external drive, or a cloud backup service that offers large enough capacity at a reasonable price.
Norton 360 backup is only designed to backup your important files and folders. It will not do an OS backup. If you know where your passwords you mentioned are stored, you can add those to your backup set.
If left on the default settings, your backup will run when your system is idle, and add any new files in the categories, or folders you have set up. If files are not of the types already selected, or are not in a folder you selected, they will not get added.
I have never done an OS back up and can figure normal things out well enough but where does this get backed up to? My laptop? Where? Since this is a defective and NEW computer, something will happen.
To protect against OS upgrade issues, you would be better off using a disc imaging program. A number of us here use Macrium Reflect free version. That will give you a backup of your entire hard drive contents and will allow a full system restore, including the OS.
