Chinese Tech Support

I am not pleased with the backup program in Windows 7. Earlier versions of Windows mostly had excellent backup programs. (And I'm not just saying that because they were written by the company I worked for. Okay, maybe a little.)

So I scrounged around the internet and found a free backup program that looked like what I wanted. I downloaded it and am pleased with its functionality and speed. I did have one problem and sent the company support an email. I heard back from them the following morning - and it was a real person, with real information (although I doubt her name really is Megan). As it happens, the problem was on my system and  I had already found it. But to get that level of service for a free piece of software is pretty remarkable.

The funny part is their web site. It's clumsy English, as you would expect, but the great bit is some of the "reviews from their users." I never take such quotes seriously, and consider them possibly made up, but these are excellent.

Quote :

" Have just got the pro, and make hay while the sun shines. All to my satisfied; I have tried operating system backup, file sync and disk clone. Brilliant! "

John Stevenson
  — From US

Quote :

" I was thinking about strengthen security of my computer staff while my friend suggested me to use backupper to back up all important items. So I did. "

Emily Smith
— From Sydney

Quote :

" I have been using its free edition for over half year and am always looking for a chance to pay less for more features. Here it is! "

Edward Lauren
— From England

Well, I gave up on the Chinese software. Good as their tech support was, I found an error in their scheduling. It was an unusual condition which probably would be very rare, but I give software exactly one problem. Two problems and I remove it.

I went to Acronis software, which I was familiar with. Excellent programs, but with an  unfortunate interface. Everything now seems to be designed for people who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Fortunately, Acronis allows the user to access settings that make their programs more useful for informed users.

As for their support, I received an email a few days ago telling me that my "trial" software would expire in fifteen days. I actually paid money for the program and registered it. So I sent an email asking what was the deal. I got a phone call this morning - from an actual human being - explaining that the email only referred to the trial of their "cloud" backup that came with the purchase. When I told him that the email never mentioned the "cloud," he said that he would contact the people in charge and tell them they should change it. That's pretty good support - a real, live person.

What kind of an error in their scheduling? AM/PM confusion, February 29 confusion, Daylight Savings Time confusion?

Scheduled backups run in the background, with no notice given. That's standard and okay with me. Acronis does the same.

I defined a backup to run at 4 every afternoon. A few days later, I deleted that backup and defined a different configuration to run at 4 every afternoon.

I found that the backup only ran sometimes.

I checked the scheduler and found that the first (deleted) backup schedule had not been removed. So I had two backups scheduled for the same time, but one of them had no associated control file (it had deleted that, as it should). The backup program did not throw an error when the control file was missing; I verified that it just sat there in the background doing nothing. It was random which one of the backups would be started first, so sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

Odd.  A scheduler without a control file is pretty much a doorstop.

The scheduler was fine. It worked. It launched the backup program correctly. The control file was for the backup program to know what to do.

Exactly.

Did you follow the correct procedure in deleting the control file instead of the scheduler?  Couldn't you have pointed the existing still-active scheduler to your new configuration-control file?

I created the jobs within the backup program. I deleted the job within the backup program. It is the responsibility of the program to delete the control file and the entry in the scheduler. It deleted the control file. It did not delete the entry in the scheduler. The program fucked up.

Sounds like a pebcac to me.

Really? You think so?
Well, you are wrong. It is not a fucking pebcac.

You say.

Are you eating enough fiber, Howard?

Okay, smart guy. Tell me exactly what I did incorrectly.

Bought Communist software.

"Bought"?

Howard wrote:

So I scrounged around the internet and found a free backup program...

By installing that Communist software, you gave Chairman Mao your address, birthdate, SSN, credit card # and the keys to your new car.

Expect some visitors at your front door in Coolie hats.

So it's like dealing with Apple?

[grin]Well played.[/grin]