auto backup fails, manual backup ok (mgf)

[Mike F from TN]

Vista Business 32 bit
eMach T5048
P4 @ 3GHz, 1.9GB Ram
160GB hard drive
250GB external drive

Until two days ago, I have been backing up to the external drive manually
each week. No problems at all. Two days ago I set the Auto Backup to ON and
scheduled it for 2 am daily. Next morning I checked and got the message that
last backup failed because Vista could not find the backup drive location. I
re-booted and tried the procedure again last night. Same result. I then
clicked TRY AGAIN. This time the backup went smoothly.

Question: why was the program unable to backup automatically at 2 am but did
it when I clicked on Try Again?

 

[John Hanley]

Perhaps your system is in a Sleep mode at 2 am; I am not sure whether Vista
will wake up the external drive from a sleep mode in order to perform a
backup (I don't think it will unless you make some provisions with Task
Scheduling, but not sure of that). Suggest you try scheduling your Auto
Backup to occur during a time when you are sure the system is not in Sleep
mode and see how it works. I would like to know this answer myself.

 

[AlexB]

It might wake Vista up but he has to find a switch to do it.

For hardware devices it is the Device Manager, for things like backup, there
might be a place in Services, perhaps.

If he sets this switch up (if one exists), he will get the best of both
worlds: sleeping Vista that wakes up when for as long as necessary, like a
bear in hibernation to go to the bathroom.

 

[Mike F from TN]

Thanks, guys. That sounds right. I do have Vista set to sleep when it is idle
for a certain amount of time. Will make adjustments and get back to you.
Mike

 

[Mike F from TN]

John & Alex, I selected "never" for sleep mode, now auto backup works. Thanks
for suggestion. Would like to use sleep mode in future. Where do I find
Services, Alex? Could not locate in Control Panel.

John, I will need step-by-step help for scheduling a task to keep pc awake
during backups. I am just a user, not very smart about doing this stuff, but
always willing to try. Mike