I have just set up my My Passport Ultra drive. I aborted my first backup when it was partially complete. After that I could not get it to continue the backup so I took the folder that it had already created and moved it to another location just in case I needed to restore it.
I then managed to completely back up my PC - yay. However, firstly the software is not updating my changed files even though I have it set to continuous backup. I deliberately changed two files and nothing has changed on my backup. Secondly, when I try to delete the partially backed-up folder that I moved, it tells me that I need administrator permission even though I am the administrator.
In summary, I can’t delete folders from my drive and the software isn’t backing up continuously as it should. What am I doing wrong?
Hello and welcome to the WD Community.
Are you running the latest version of the software? If not, please try updating the software.
Regarding the software that is not allowing you to delete, please try taking ownership of the folder.
See if the following link helps
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/308421
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Hi there and thank you for your reply.
Your reply was very helpful. Your link pointed to a defunct link for Windows Vista which is no longer supported but after a quick search I found this link http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/access-denied-to-2nd-hard-drive-in-win-7/35013321-4244-4095-a295-c778bc2f22a3 which led me to this pdf http://www.preyerplanning.com/take-ownership-of-entire-hard-drive-in-windows-7.pdf I managed to take ownership of the f: drive and assign myself full permissions.
However, it still won’t let me delete the folder or any of its subfolders. It tells me that I need permission from myself in order to do this - very frustrating but I am allowed to delete files, so I have gone through the myriad of folders and deleted the files. All I have now is a bunch of empty folders.
The back-up software seems to be working though I don’t know what time frame it is using to update the files. When I checked periodically yesterday, there was no change to the files that I had changed but today they are changed.
In summary, the back-up software is working (although at its own pace) and I am still unable to delete the the previous aborted back-up folder or any of its subfolders, though I am able to create and delete folders of my own creation.
Not a major issue right now but if you have any more ideas that would be great.
Maybe try booting your computer in safe mode (restart it, and press F8 before the Windows logo appears) and then connect your drive and see if you can then use Windows Explorer to get rid of the folders. That may help if some other program is using them and preventing them being deleted.
For the back-up, also Smartware won’t back up files which are in use, it will put them on the “pending” list and do them later when they are available again. Even if you think you aren’t using them, some of the sub-surface bits of Windows (especially the indexing services) can still have their claws in them and prevent access to them for backup.
Thanks for that Darren. I followed your suggestion and tried to delete the folder in safe mode but I get the same error messsage Folder Access Denied - You need permission to perform this action. You require permission from SMR\Susan to make changes to this folder.
I am logged in as Susan with full administrator priveleges so i don’t get it.
If you right-click on the top level folder and select properties and then security, can you confirm that your user there has the full set of priv’s on the folder. That may be what you’ve already done (I can’t read your linked pdf file, as I’m at work and it’s proxy-blocked), but just to be sure. Also check that you’ve not got it set for the admin accounts to have permission but your user account to be denied them, as the latter may overrule the former.
Another option could be to create a second new user on your machine, give it admin rights and rights over that folder and then try deleting it with that account (and remove the account afterwards).
If all else fails a final option could be to make yourself a Linux live CD, boot from that and then use that to nuke the folders. There should be no question of Windows priv’s getting in the way there, as it isn’t Windows…
Thanks Darren. Just tried that and that doesn’t work either. What is weird though is that it came up with a pop up saying that my recyle bin is corrupt and do I want to empty it. So I did.
I’m thinking maybe it would be easier to reformat and start again. What do you think? If I did this can I just copy the system files that are currently on the drive to another location and then copy them back once reformatted, or is there somewhere that I can download them.
It’s probably a sensible option yes, if you don’t have other stuff on there (or you can move it off temporarily to another location whilst you format). The recycle bin comment would perhaps indicate that something’s got screwed up anyway, so a format could be a good idea (or the Linux option).
By system files, do you mean the install files for Smartware etc that come on the drive? If so then yes you can move them off, or download them from the WD support website ( here).
