Hello CalamitySusan.
I will try and respond but before I do so I think there maybe at least two issues here. The first is your apparent desire to do a temporary backup to a USB drive until you can get your new external drive for long term use. The second is setting up your new external drive for long term use. I had not troubled about the latter before as you do not have the device.
CalamitySusan - I'm a little frustrated since I am trying to create a complete backup which will be automatic and continue to backup incrementally changed and/or added files or folders! I thought I would have to literally type each path of each file: I don't know what happens if you just include "main level" folders: i.e Do all folders and files within the "main level folder" get included regardless of the type of folder or file? This needs to be answered,,,Please???
I personally find the "What" screen of Norton's "Manage Backup Sets" unhelpful, however I think it is trying to make life simple by giving user groups that they can relate to, such as Office Documents, Emails etc. Unfortunately these groupings make assumptions as to which types of files are which and you need to carefully check the file types that are included if it is to work. The way I use it is to uncheck all the boxes on the "What" screen apart from the C:\ drive. Then I click on the "Add or exclude files and folders" and select just the folders that I want backed up. If you do this all files within a selected folder are backed up whatever the file type.
So, possibly counter intuitively I start off by EXCLUDING the C:\ drive (this means that only folders that I specifically include will be backed up). I then select the folders that I want included noting that if I select a folder with subfolders then those subfolders will be included unless I specifically exclude them. So as an example I choose to include my user files C:\Users\Mike\ but then exclude the AppData (i.e. C:\Users\Mike\AppData\) because this is something I do not think I will need to restore and may contain "encrypted" files. Once I have made the selection that seems right I run a "Preview" and see if the expected size of the backup is reasonable and of a suitable size to fit into the available space. If it is I run the backup and see what the report says. If all is well then great. If however it says that it had encountered an encrypted file I will look at this to see if I should specifically exclude that file or the folder it is in. I would add that I never try and backup program files as I think they are best reinstalled from the original source.
I do not know how Norton Backup defines "encrypted" files but they are files it does not like and it will, for whatever reason, not back them up. It does not appear to stop any other files being backed up but it does muddy the waters by giving a "failed backup" message and so it is best to get them out of the way.
I would also say that I always have at least two backup sets defined, and as far as I can manage it they do exactly the same thing. That is to say, they back up the same data, the only difference is that they back it up to a different backup file. The reason for this is that if one of the sets starts to run away in size (as they mysteriously do on occasions) I can delete that whole backup file and start that backup afresh, while still having the protection of the other backup set. Apart from when I choose to delete a set and start again, the backup should always be an incremental one just adding new or changed files from the folders you have selected. That is until Norton has one of those unexplained events and it does a full backup over the top.
Does this answer your first point?
CalamitySusan - I have plugged in the flash drive and it is recognized as Removable Disk (F):. I started by clicking all categories and then excluding C:. I added Documents as a "main level" included folder and excluding stuff from that from. I added Desktop to the list of folders that are included. I had tried to exclude shortcuts on the desktop from the list but the result was that the file or folder or game that the shortcuts referred to were excluded, not the shortcuts!
Hopefully the above should answer this unless you do not understand where your data is being stored in which case I probably cannot help and you may be better asking your "techie" when the new drive is delivered.
CalamitySusan - The end result was a backup that failed due to encrypted files. I excluded zip files and thought I was staying out of trouble. I did not take a snap of the message given at the time, but all I remember was 3 files were mentioned. I just don't remember which ones.
I need to know how to exclude encrypted files when I don't know that I have any!
As I hope I explained above there is not too much need to worry too much about the "encrypted" files provided this is the only reason that the backup failed. Certainly not on your temporary USB backup. However if it is troubling you, try to note what the files are and exclude them or the folder that contains them. Excluding program and AppData folders seems to help.
CalamitySusan - I was concerned about USB type because of differing flash drive types. The new flash drive isn't the same brand as the old.
This does not seem to be an issue. Your backup sees it that is all you seem to need.
CalamitySusan - The preview was less than 16 GB but something like 14 GB was available for the backup after device was recognized by Windows Vista SP2 and then Comcast Norton.
If the back up had been successful, would this have ensured that the backup was proformed correctly. After all, you said backups get backed up ontop of backups sometimes. How do I know when this has happened! This needs to be answered.
What is important on size is the the amount given in the "Preview" is less than the amount of space that the "Where" window of "Manage Backup Sets" says is available on the device. Then if you run the backup and the only reason given for failure is "Encrypted" files then all should be well. You can always check by looking at the restore option and seeing that the files you may want to recover are there. You could even try restoring a file to be completely sure the system works (this is always a good idea on a one off basis, and normally gives a warm feeling of re-assurance).
CalamitySusan - You need to indicate how I get backups after the initial one finally is successful. I need more help since my folders are not based on application but rather by "project", goupings of text documents produced to check out problems and placed in a folder, and folders containing photos from different photographer/friends.
I do not understand what you mean by "how I get backups after the initial one finally is successful". Do you mean how do I do further backups? If so that does not seem to be relevant for the temporary USB device but it would be relevant for the new drive. If that was the question then you just run the backup again, either manually or by letting Norton do the job automatically. When this runs it should (as said above) add any files that have been changed or added to the selected folders.
CalamitySusan - Please review my "silly" but serious questions about 2 "main level" folders in my previous post and try to answer.
Susan I only have so much time I can devote to this volunteer pastime and on this occasion I really have no time to got back to earlier posts. I'm sorry. However if you do just have two main folders of data (and particularly if those are all you are interested in) then exclude all of your C:\ drive and just "include" those two folders in your backup set.
I hope the above helps. If not maybe someone else here or your techie can help. If there is any point in the above that is not clear please feel free to come back.
Good luck.
