Problem with Mozy [October 4 Update]

Mozy Logo

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. Continue reading “Problem with Mozy [October 4 Update]”

Problem with Mozy [August 28 Update]

Mozy Logo

After being assigned a specific contact, Ben, from the Mozy Macintosh Support, the responses from Mozy has become much more efficient and specific. I hope this is something that Mozy has recognized and changed for future Mac users.

Anyway, on with my experience on this version of Mozy for Mac (0.6.2.2 (23015)) which Mozy released on August 24, but I was not able to try it out until this morning. Continue reading “Problem with Mozy [August 28 Update]”

Problem with Mozy [August 22 Update]

Mozy Error Message

Today I received a reply from Moyz Support on my last report of problems with their Mozy for Mac version 0.6.2.0 (1.0). This time it only took 3 days for them to reply.

The one thing different about this, is that during the past 3 days, someone from Mozy sent me an email saying that a specific Mozy Macintosh Technical Support representative (Ben) will follow up on my issues. Continue reading “Problem with Mozy [August 22 Update]”

Choosing a New iMac (August 2007)

iMac 2007As many of your may have heard Apple Inc. released new versions of the iMac line last night (HK time).

It had been an upgrade that was anticipated and over due for the past 12 months. In my opinion, they did not disappoint.

They changed the industrial design of the machine but kept the machines the same thickness as the previous versions. There are 4 standard models to choose from, plus Built-to-order (BTO) versions, where you can choose different internal hard drive capacities and memory combinations; with the 24″ model able to upgrade the default processor also. You can see the chart below and click on it to see an enlarged version.

As I always say, one should always choose a computer based on what they intend (plan) to use the computer for, rather than choosing based on price and MHz. Having said that I will start off by describing three hypothetical users.

A. A first time computer or Macintosh user

This user will use his computer for general Internet surfing, visiting information sites, online banking sites and photo album repositories. They will have a web based email account. He will download photos from his digital camera and manage his collection of audio CDs on his computer.

B. A user who may have used the Macintosh before but definitely a computer

This user has the same requirements as user A, with the following additions. He will upload and share photos on online repositories (ie. Flickr), he will download and edit videos that he had taken with his DV (digital video) camera.

C. A user who had used the Macintosh before

Like user B, will have the same requirements as A and B, with the desire to use the computer as a primary video viewing platform.

Now based on these three hypothetical users I will now recommend the appropriate iMac (August 2007) for each. In all cases, I would suggest a minimum of 2GB of memory. Depending on where you purchase the new iMac, you can probably find cheaper memory upgrade from reseller other than Apple. If you do choose that route, make sure these memory chips (RAM) come from reliable sources and a respectable manufacture. If you have faulty RAMs that’s more problems than you will ever want to deal with.

Let’s jump into the recommendations. For User A I suggest the basic model for him. The reason is because he does not have a great need for video and hence quick redraw of the screen for images. As a result the entry level iMac (August 2007) with 2GB of total memory will be sufficient.

For User B I suggest the minimum the 2nd “standard Apple model” of the iMac (August 2007) (aka. “the 20″ model with the 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor”, since I do not want to emphasis the MHz differences of the models). This is not because of the slightly faster processor, it is mainly due to the much faster (almost twice) video card in this model. Due to this user’s need for editing and processing his home videos on his new Mac, this is the minimum configuration I would recommend.

Finally, for User C I recommend he purchase the 3rd “standard Apple model” of the iMac (August 2007) (aka. “the 24″ model with the 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor”). This is because his need for using the computer as the primary video viewing device. With the 24″ it has the screen pixel resolutions to support full HD (High Definition) video content.

Speaking of HD video content, the new line of iMacs all have video capabilities to playback protected HD video (HDCP).

I am sure your needs and computing requirements will be different than User A, B or C, but I hope you find this useful and if you need, please feel free to contact me with your specific “computing requirements” and I am happy to brainstorm the perfect Mac for you.

iMac 2007 SpecsiMac (August 2007) hardware specifications

Problem with Mozy [July 19 Update]

Mozy Error Message

When the set up and scanning of my Mac went some what smoothly I thought Mozy has finally corrected all the problems for this “Alpha class” software for the Mac.

After numerous attempts of the background Mozy application trying to back up my 2.2GB of data to Mozy server. I spent some time looking at the mozy.log (/var/log/) file that Mozy support and pointed me to previously. What I found was very disturbing. I see many many occurance of error:

2007-08-19 05:12:41.651 MozyBackup[7590] (triton) NSCFInputStream error: NSError “POSIX error: Operation timed out” Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=60
2007-08-19 05:12:41.651 MozyBackup[7590] (triton) disconnecting…
2007-08-19 05:12:41.653 MozyBackup[7590] (send) Batch failed: NSError “Error com.berkeleydata.Backup.ErrorDomain -2147483648? Domain=com.berkeleydata.Backup.ErrorDomain Code=-2147483648 UserInfo={
ErrorCodeNameKey = ConnectionError0;
ErrorMessageKey = “Unable to connect to backup servers”;
}

Over the 2 hours that the backup had ran so far, it encountered this error 8 times. The most disturbing part is that after each occurrence the backup would continue from an arbitrary spot.

Although, I have yet to find out from Mozy support what these errors means, but it is not making me feel secure that Mozy is a reliable backup mechanism.

My recommendation is still… DO NOT RELY ON Mozy on the Mac at the current version.

Hopefully more to come after I receive some responds from Mozy support.

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

Problem with Mozy [July 19 Update]

Mozy Error Message

When the set up and scanning of my Mac went some what smoothly I thought Mozy has finally corrected all the problems for this “Alpha class” software for the Mac.

After numerous attempts of the background Mozy application trying to back up my 2.2GB of data to Mozy server. I spent some time looking at the mozy.log (/var/log/) file that Mozy support and pointed me to previously. What I found was very disturbing. I see many many occurance of error:

2007-08-19 05:12:41.651 MozyBackup[7590] (triton) NSCFInputStream error: NSError “POSIX error: Operation timed out” Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=60
2007-08-19 05:12:41.651 MozyBackup[7590] (triton) disconnecting…
2007-08-19 05:12:41.653 MozyBackup[7590] (send) Batch failed: NSError “Error com.berkeleydata.Backup.ErrorDomain -2147483648? Domain=com.berkeleydata.Backup.ErrorDomain Code=-2147483648 UserInfo={
ErrorCodeNameKey = ConnectionError0;
ErrorMessageKey = “Unable to connect to backup servers”;
}

Over the 2 hours that the backup had ran so far, it encountered this error 8 times. The most disturbing part is that after each occurrence the backup would continue from an arbitrary spot.

Although, I have yet to find out from Mozy support what these errors means, but it is not making me feel secure that Mozy is a reliable backup mechanism.

My recommendation is still… DO NOT RELY ON Mozy on the Mac at the current version.

Hopefully more to come after I receive some responds from Mozy support.

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

Problem with Mozy [July 17 Update]

Mozy Error Message

I finally have time to try Mozy again. So I installed it again, followed the setup and allowed it to run in the background. After Mozy ran for 2.5 hours an error dialog appeared with the following message:

Unable to connect to backup server (ConnectionError0)

The dialog has a hyperlink on the error message, when I clicked on it, it brought me to a web page on Mozy’s site telling me that this is a rare error and that I should send the following information to Mozy (support@mozy.com):

  1. The operating system you use (i.e. Windows XP)
  2. The version of Mozy you are using. (Right click on the orange “M” icon in the bottom right by the clock and click “status.” When that window opens you should see a version like 1.8.2.3)
  3. Do you have any firewalls on your computer?
  4. Who is your Internet service provider?
  5. Do you have any anti-virus or spyware software?
  6. Which error code is displayed? (i.e. MozyClientError2, ConnectionError1)

Of course I again reported this to Mozy Technical support (macsupport@mozy.com). So now I just have to wait for Mozy to reply.

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

Problem with Mozy [July 17 Update]

Mozy Error Message

I finally have time to try Mozy again. So I installed it again, followed the setup and allowed it to run in the background. After Mozy ran for 2.5 hours an error dialog appeared with the following message:

Unable to connect to backup server (ConnectionError0)

The dialog has a hyperlink on the error message, when I clicked on it, it brought me to a web page on Mozy’s site telling me that this is a rare error and that I should send the following information to Mozy (support@mozy.com):

  1. The operating system you use (i.e. Windows XP)
  2. The version of Mozy you are using. (Right click on the orange “M” icon in the bottom right by the clock and click “status.” When that window opens you should see a version like 1.8.2.3)
  3. Do you have any firewalls on your computer?
  4. Who is your Internet service provider?
  5. Do you have any anti-virus or spyware software?
  6. Which error code is displayed? (i.e. MozyClientError2, ConnectionError1)

Of course I again reported this to Mozy Technical support (macsupport@mozy.com). So now I just have to wait for Mozy to reply.

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

Problem with Mozy [July 15 Update]

Mozy Error Message

Mozy support finally replied to me on August 1st but there were two conflicting replies from Mozy support. One tells me to try the new version and the other the other instructed me to go into command line and execute the following:

$ cd /Library/Application Support/Mozy
$ sudo rm -f state.db

it is quite obvious the latter was taking the brut force approach to try to solve my long standing problems. It became apparent that “Karl” is the one who is correct, who asked me to try downloading the new version (0.6.2.0 (332))of Mozy for Mac.

I finally had a chance to reinstall Mozy today and now Mozy appears to be doing its thing. I had configured it to backup all my emails, System Preferences and Keychains. This had already cause it to reach the 2.2GB storage limit for a free account.

According to the Mozy Status window it still has another 4 hours to go. It had ran for about 10 minutes thus far, with a bitrate of approximately 80KB/s.

So what I’ve learned is that Mozy for Mac should be classified as an Alpha status software and not as beta.

One should send all technical enquiries relating to the Mozy for Mac to macsupport@mozy.com and not the regular support@mozy.com email address. You should always reply to the macsupport@mozy.com address even though emails from Mozy does not have that as their reply address.

During the backup, I quit most of the running applications, including Apple Mail, as I was asking it to backup all my emails. I wonder what would happen if I continue to use my Mac regularly and Mail keep downloading and deleting emails. Will these actions confuse Mozy backup?

More to report after the backup is complete.

BTW: some of you may notice in the comments of this article, there is a Mac user who had a great deal of problem retrieving the backup (approximately 30GB) from Mozy for a restore. Although, my backup strategy will not require me to have a large backup, but I do have emails dating back a far as 10 years ago in my Mail database. I would be interested in hearing more experience from Mac users who had tried to restore their Mozy backups.

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

Problem with Mozy [July 15 Update]

Mozy Error Message

Mozy support finally replied to me on August 1st but there were two conflicting replies from Mozy support. One tells me to try the new version and the other the other instructed me to go into command line and execute the following:

$ cd /Library/Application Support/Mozy
$ sudo rm -f state.db

it is quite obvious the latter was taking the brut force approach to try to solve my long standing problems. It became apparent that “Karl” is the one who is correct, who asked me to try downloading the new version (0.6.2.0 (332))of Mozy for Mac.

I finally had a chance to reinstall Mozy today and now Mozy appears to be doing its thing. I had configured it to backup all my emails, System Preferences and Keychains. This had already cause it to reach the 2.2GB storage limit for a free account.

According to the Mozy Status window it still has another 4 hours to go. It had ran for about 10 minutes thus far, with a bitrate of approximately 80KB/s.

So what I’ve learned is that Mozy for Mac should be classified as an Alpha status software and not as beta.

One should send all technical enquiries relating to the Mozy for Mac to macsupport@mozy.com and not the regular support@mozy.com email address. You should always reply to the macsupport@mozy.com address even though emails from Mozy does not have that as their reply address.

During the backup, I quit most of the running applications, including Apple Mail, as I was asking it to backup all my emails. I wonder what would happen if I continue to use my Mac regularly and Mail keep downloading and deleting emails. Will these actions confuse Mozy backup?

More to report after the backup is complete.

BTW: some of you may notice in the comments of this article, there is a Mac user who had a great deal of problem retrieving the backup (approximately 30GB) from Mozy for a restore. Although, my backup strategy will not require me to have a large backup, but I do have emails dating back a far as 10 years ago in my Mail database. I would be interested in hearing more experience from Mac users who had tried to restore their Mozy backups.

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