The new Smartware update version 1.6.0 doesn’t properly backup the pst file in Outlook. Prior Smartware versions worked just fine. I reinstalled Smartware version 1.5.4.5 to resolve the problem on my Windows 7 PC. WD should promptly work out a patch or fix the latest Smartware version and notify customers of the fix.
Will try this later on today…
In the meantime trying posting on the issues board so WD can take a look at this
Please see also the ‘.pst files are not backed up? Or are they?’ string for more discussion on this.
In short the symptoms I’ve experienced are that my .pst file appears to be backed up once every 24 hours (a design feature!) and is shown as backed up in Windows Explorer. However, SmartWare shows that it is not backed up because ‘File pending backup’. I have reported this WD Support and await reply.
I’ve received the same “file pending backup” on several files, only in my case they are all video files.
Other videos in the same directory backed up fine. Is there a file-size, or other limitation?
Some explanation would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I don’t know if size is one of the issues but I get the ‘file pending backup’ message with a 260MB file. How big was your video file that is ‘pending’ and how big were the largest that were backed up satisfactorily?
Did the file which is ‘pending’ have the same file extension as the ones which were backed up? A list of supported files for Category backup is at http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3644.
Have you used Windows Explorer or My Computer to look at the folder ‘WD SmartWare.swstor’ on your external WD drive to see if the video has in fact been backed up, despite SmartWare saying it is pending?
Hope this helps.
I am a new user and have smartware 1.6.0 installed.
Backs up outlook files at first instance, but will not backup subsequently.
Going by the threads here, I did not open outlook 2007 for over 24 hours and it still does not backup .pst files.
As a safety, I shutdown outlook and copied the whole directory that stores .pst files which SmartWare then backed up.
But to ensure you have the latest backup, you have to keep copying it to new directories and really thats not how backup software should work.
WD should fix this. Surely it should be easy enough to work out that outlook is not running and so it should backup the files (maybe a simple check to see there are no temporary open .pst files or the process is not running)
SmartWare is useful from what I have seen, but this should be fixed.
I’m also a new user on version 1.6. I agree with WATCHFUL that the “non-backup” or “file pending backup” is actually not an error. It is a design architecture, although I’m not sure if it is the best design. It is very confusing. But once u understand the concept, it is a matter of accepting.
My own experience is this → ALL my files are BACKED UP eventually, including ALL the pst files. What I encountered is that ALL my files are backed within the minute I connect the device, EXCEPT the open PST files. Like WATCHFUL said, all files are initially backed up, but why “error” appears because SW are not able to back-up open PST files. So when does it back-up ? My own experience is that it is about 12-15hrs AFTER Outlook is closed. WATCHFUL indicate about 24hrs, but I don’t experience that long. However, I question the need to wait > 12hrs after Outlook is closed for SW to start backup. But for me, for now, since I understood the way the software works, I’m ok with it.
