Is this a bug in ntbackup?

[Mike Matheny]

Ok, I run ntbackup, select the My Documents folder, and the checkbox turns
blue. I expand the My Documents folder, and all check boxes are blue. I
click on the check box next to My Music to deselect it, and ALL check boxes
turn gray! However, if I expand the My Music folder, all contents are
unchecked, and on all the other subfolders under My Documents, all boxes are
checked. However, this makes it darn near impossible to tell what is checked
or unchecked! Also, when I right click on a folder, the only option is to
deselect, the select option is grayed out (even on the My Music folder,
which has no selections in it!) This happens on every WinXP Pro PC I have
tried this on. BTW, this does not occur on Server 2003 - it works as it
should.

 

[Mike Matheny]

I take it back about server 2K3 - if I deselect a folder that has
subfolders, I can never reselect that folder again! And if I manually select
the files and folders under the folder I deselected, the check never changes
from gray. What the hey is going on with backup? I can't believe MS let
something as anti-productive as this go into production.

 

[ondago]

I am almost positive that this is NOT a bug. The Blue check means the
file or folder is "SELECTED", if it is Gray, it means the folder is
"EXCLUDED". Find your *.bks selection file and open it with WordPad.
You will see that the path names for Gray checked folders say "/
EXCLUDED" at the end, while the other Blue checked paths do not.

 

[Mike Matheny]

Read this again - if I deselect a SINGLE folder, the whole set of folders go
gray - not just that one I deselected! And you can never reselect it again
(at least the check mark doesn't indicate it!) I have several people
confirming this - this is not a bug, but a MAJOR flaw in this program,
making it almost unusable without a lot of manual checking to see what
exactly WAS selected.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Read this again - if I deselect a SINGLE folder, the whole set of folders go
gray - not just that one I deselected! And you can never reselect it again
(at least the check mark doesn't indicate it!)

If you go back to the upper level, containing these folders, and click
its selection box, do things come right again? If so, the matter may be
a precaution against accidents - if you were to accidentally deselect
something and not notice there might be serious consequences

 

[Mike Matheny]

No - just try it! If I deselect a folder level, the WHOLE tree goes gray for
ALL folders. I can go into the folder I deselected and select the
subfolders, but the parent folder check never changes from gray - I can't
even click again on the parent folder and select the subfolders again - if I
deselect a folder branch, only way to reselect the branch it to click on
EVERY subfolder under that branch! This absolutely sucks. On Server 2003 it
is slightly better - if I select the whole C drive for example, an then
deselect a subfolder, only the check by the C drive goes gray - however, I
cannot reselect the subfolder I deselected! The only way to reselect the
subfolder is to reselect all folders and files below that folder, or
deselect and reselect the C drive again! Hell, on a right click the select
menu item is grayed out! What the hell is this! Does MS WANT us to buy
another backup program? I mean, at least they could make one that worked
with limitations, not one that is FULL of bugs! Why after I deselect a
folder the select item on the rt. click context is grayed out is beyond me!


--

Mike Matheny

Read this again - if I deselect a SINGLE folder, the whole set of folders go
gray - not just that one I deselected! And you can never reselect it again
(at least the check mark doesn't indicate it!)

If you go back to the upper level, containing these folders, and click
its selection box, do things come right again? If so, the matter may be
a precaution against accidents - if you were to accidentally deselect
something and not notice there might be serious consequences