Problem with Mozy [October 4 Update]

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After 5 months of testing, back and forth with Mozy support and eventually being assigned a Mozy Macintosh developer to resolve my issues encountered I was finally able to backup my selected files to the Mozy server automatically.

This was all accomplished with version 0.6.2.4 of Mozy Client for Macintosh.

Today Mozy informs me that there is a new version (0.6.4.0 (24503)). Strangely my Mozy client did not know there was a newer version, even though the Mozy Preference “Install updates automatically” was set. I guess and hope this is because Mozy Client for Macintosh is still in Beta.

I downloaded the new Mozy Client for Macintosh and uninstalled my copy of Mozy deleting all configuration files. This is because I want to make sure I am experiencing the new Mozy Client like all other users would.

The following is what I noticed and issues encountered:

  1. It appears that Mozy have added a few more standard set of files to backup in their Configuration window. Given that Mozy Home (free version) only has 2GB of storage available, I do not believe Mozy should select the kind of files by default in the Configuration window.
  2. Also in the Configuration window some of the file types did not have the correct number of files and total size calculated properly. By this I mean that some of the file type were showing -8,xxx,xxx files and ridiculous size. This cleared up after I saved the configuration, restarted the Mozy Client for Macintosh and re-enters the Configuration window.
  3. I then clicked on the “Start Backup” menu item from the Mozy Menu, nothing seem to happen. The Mozy icon in the Menu Bar did not change. I then selected the “Show Status Window” from the Mozy Menu and the following is what shown.Mozy Status Window
    This is very strange, as I cannot believe Mozy would allow this latest version to going backwards in quality. So I clicked on “View Log File…” from the Mozy Menu.

    The Console application opened showing the content of the Mozy.log file. Apparently the Mozy Client is doing something, and what it is doing appears to be related to performing a backup. So I again selected the “Show Status Window” menu item from the Mozy Menu and it still displays, “No Backup Yet”

  4. A welcome change is that Mozy reorganized the Mozy Menu by grouping related functions together using a divider to separate the different groups.

I will be passing these findings to my contact at Mozy immediately and hopefully these issues require just minor tweaking.

I was about to give Mozy for Macintosh a “5 Thumbs Up” after a whole month of use, with uneventful successful backups, but now with the latest version I am reluctant to do so.

Please see my original article “Problem with Mozy” for background.

6 Replies to “Problem with Mozy [October 4 Update]”

  1. I’ve got a lot of trouble using mozy at the moment and don’t like it anymore.
    I tested the free account some month ago, liked it and bought the unlimited one.
    I’d like to backup about 30gig of my home folder, and upload for weeks now. Sometimes the software doesn’t count the size of the files to backup correctly. I uploaded about 25gig, next day there are only 7.4gig shown in my program and the homepage. Now, using 0.7.0, I can’t see/choose my home folder in the configuration anymore (in “Backup Sets” it works, but my home folder isn’t listed in “Files and Folders” anymore).
    Using 0.6.4 the software didn’t count my home folder, no difference if I chose this to backup or not.

    And why do you backup the trash?

    If this doesn’t get better, I will have to ask for a refund!

    Regards from Germany
    Sebastian

  2. Sebastian,

    Did you voice your complaints to Mozy? Based on your version number, I presume you’re using the Mac version of Mozy. As explained before you should direct all issues to macsupport@mozy.com rather than the regular Mozy Support.

    BTW: I would not rely on an online backup service as your only backup destination. In my opinion, I would only use online backup services like Mozy to automatically backup the content of my Mac that changes daily. I also have another schedule in my backup strategy where I backup my Mac’s internal hard drive to an external hard drive.

  3. I upgraded to the most recent version (0.9.4.2 Mac) two weeks ago and haven’t had a successful backup since then. I’ve emailed two of the support email addresses and supplied all of the asked for information and haven’t heard anything back. I chatted with two people today. I’m getting the same

    NSCFInputStream error: NSError “Error NSUnknownErrorDomain -9846” Domain=NSUnknownErrorDomain Code=-9846

    error that you reported a while ago. The people I chatted with said that Mozy did not think my hrad-drive was mounted, and that I just wasn’t able to get into the servers. But the emails were never answered again. Mozy has been very disappointing so far. I love the idea of set-it-and-forget-it, but I think with Mozy you’d better check it pretty often.

  4. Hi Peter,

    Unfortunately, I had stopped using Mozy since October 4.

    At the moment I rely on TimeMachine from Mac OS 10.5 along with TimeCapsule (you can use a regular external hard drive for this) to handle my daily backups.

    I then use SuperDupper (or Carbon Copy Cloner) to make a bootable image of my internal hard drive on an equivalent sized external drive.

    The above is a much simpler solution. Initially a bit more expensive than the Mozy solution, but in the long run I like this solution much better.

    As you and other readers know, I currently use a MacBook Pro as my main machine, so having TimeMachine automatically do backups each time I returns to my home network is great.

    PS: ever since EMC purchased Mozy their service had not been the same. As you can see from my documented account of my experience with Mozy since April 27, 2007.

  5. Mozy makes it clear that this is truly Beta software. They are upfront about current bugs and several times point out that their currently may be problems. They also point out that logs will be transferred, etc. and that if you prefer not to be involved in beta-testing that you wait until the final version is released later this year.I’m about to try it out myself, and expect to find things not working well here and there. The right thing to do if you are a BETA-tester is to try to help the developer improve the product, not be so negative in public. This kind of response is what keeps developers from having open beta-testing.

  6. You have missed read my intension of these series of posts about Mozy. I am trying to be factual and assist the Macintosh Mozy team to produce a great product that is usable and Mac like. As I too was a Macintosh developer for over 10 years.Mozy is no longer in Beta and had improved a lot since I began trying and testing this software. Although, since then I had changed my backup strategy, which does not include Mozy.

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