Norton and Windows OneCare don't like my NAS drive for backups

[lewist57]

I apologize if this belongs elsewhere, but I had to start somewhere. This has been posted at the Norton forum, and other software forums, but I thought I'd run it past the hardware gurus for their input.

I have a home network with wireless router & 4 ports. I have just installed a 500G network drive (Galaxy Metal Gear 3507 LR-SA) wired to the router. I have 3 PCs, each with WinXP SP3; two are desktop units wired to router, the third is a wireless laptop. The intent of the network drive is to use it as backup for the 3 PCs, and as common storage. All three PCs have the network drive as a mapped drive, and have no problems reading and writing to the network drive via Windows Explorer.

Desktop 1 has Norton Save & Restore, and it accepted the network drive as a destination source, and backups without a problem.

Desktop 2 also has Norton Save & Restore, and depending upon which way you try to set it up, the program eithers insists on me providing a user name and password to access the drive (although none has been established on the network drive), or it simply says the network drive is offline or unavailable.

Laptop (PC 3) has Windows OneCare, and it says "Unsupported network share name. The network share name you have entered is not supported, only SMB shares are supported. Please change the share name and try again."

Surely these two basic technologies can co-exist without having to delve into the basic guts of Windows to make them talk to each other. And by the way, technical support from Galaxy is virtually non-existent, and two different techs tried to get the drive working from Norton (my congrats for them spending over an hour each trying, if not suceeding), and I have not yet found "the solution" by Googling, which also suprises me that either I am the only one with the problem, or the others that have solved it have not posted it on the web.

In any case, any help appreciated. Ask any question and I will answer to the best of my abilities. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[thiggins]

Desktop 2 also has Norton Save & Restore, and depending upon which way you try to set it up

What do you mean by this? If you set Norton on Desktop 2 the same as it is set on Desktop 1 does it work?

Just a guess. Go into My Network places, select all the shares you see and delete them. Then rebuild the list by browsing to the share.

Also does backup work if you use the IP address of the NAS instead of the host name?

 

[lewist57]

I was able to step through the Norton Save & Restore setup to backup Desktop 1 to the NAS drive without being prompted for a user name and password, and without any vague error messages about the drive not being accessible. And the backup worked just fine, no problems.

When I attempt to follow the same setup procedure on Desktop 2, S&R either prompts me for a user name and password (although none has been established on the drive or folder) or it tells me the drive can not be accessed.

With regards to the laptop running Windows OneCare, evidently that product has known issues working with NAS drives as a backup.

Disconnecting mapped drives and re-establishing new mapped drives has no effect. Have not tried using IP address, will try that tonight.

 

[scotty]

Regarding Desktop 2 - I've come across this a couple times with various programs not liking the mapped network drive until you connect to it or put in credentials. What you could probably do to resolve this is a simple batch script, which you can set as a scheduled task in XP if you like (to run a minute before your backup).

The batch would be a command something to the tune of (the syntax isn't exactly correct, be warned):

net use X: /disconnect
net use X: \\NAS-Name\Share /usernameassword

This essentially force disconnects and re-connects the network drive, hopefully making the backup program run more successfully. The other thing which I like to do, as tim says, is map using IP's instead of shares (i.e. \\192.168.1.155\Share. Windows works a lot better and faster when using direct IP's.

 

[thiggins]

Disconnecting mapped drives and re-establishing new mapped drives has no effect. Have not tried using IP address, will try that tonight.

Be sure to also try removing all shares that show in My Network Places.

 

[lewist57]

Thanks guys, will establish a static IP address for the NAS drive and try addressing it directly, and blowing away the shares on the Network Places.


I am still wondering is this a problem with poor design of the NAS, poor design of the backup software, or just two (relatively) new technologies not getting along?

I am not a networking expert, can anyone explain in simple terms why Windows Explorer can read/write to the NAS without a hiccup, and the backup programs are having problems? Thanks.

 

[scotty]

Thanks guys, will establish a static IP address for the NAS drive and try addressing it directly, and blowing away the shares on the Network Places.


I am still wondering is this a problem with poor design of the NAS, poor design of the backup software, or just two (relatively) new technologies not getting along?

I am not a networking expert, can anyone explain in simple terms why Windows Explorer can read/write to the NAS without a hiccup, and the backup programs are having problems? Thanks.

Usually it's just backup software that wasn't specifically written or tested to write over a network share, or generally buggyness relating to networks. I've seen some backup programs that are fantastic at backing up over mapped network drives and UNC shares, and others not so much. Most consumer level software likely wasn't written with the network in mind. I've been on the phone with a few tech support agents over the years for software companies, and sometimes that've openly admitted that their software wasn't designed for x/y/z. *shudder, [older versions of] Yeosemite's "backup" software*.

And to re-emphasize, I pretty much always deal with direct IP's on any sort of home style network. Windows Network browsing is slow and generally painful, so when I need to connect to a share, I just slam \\192.168.1.X into the Run dialog box and it comes up almost instantly. I dont like using browsing or UNC names unless your in a larger network environment where you have proper internal DNS set up.

 

[thiggins]

I pretty much always deal with direct IP's on any sort of home style network. Windows Network browsing is slow and generally painful, so when I need to connect to a share, I just slam \\192.168.1.X into the Run dialog box and it comes up almost instantly. I dont like using browsing or UNC names unless your in a larger network environment where you have proper internal DNS set up.

For this to work reliably, you'll need to use Static IPs or reserved IPs if your DHCP server supports them.

 

[lewist57]

Unfortunately, while establishing a static IP address for the network drive really shortened access time, that and clearing out shares did not fix the basic access problem.

Two last <?> questions before I try new software:

1) could any settings in the router or the antivirus software interfere with the backup programs talking to the NAS?
2) the NAS has both SMB and FTP server capability (although the FTP server is disabled). Could it be that the backup software still thinks I am trying to talk with a FTP server when it keeps asking me for my login credentials?

Thanks for your input and help.

 

[thiggins]

1) could any settings in the router or the antivirus software interfere with the backup programs talking to the NAS?

Router: no. Software: Uninstall the programs and find out.

2) the NAS has both SMB and FTP server capability (although the FTP server is disabled). Could it be that the backup software still thinks I am trying to talk with a FTP server when it keeps asking me for my login credentials?

Doubtful. Again, uninstall (not just disable) the software and find out.

 

[lewist57]

PROBLEM SOLVED. Removed Norton Save & Restore (using their own removal program, how many companies have to provide their own removal program to get their programs off your computer?), installed NovaBACKUP, works like a charm, no more problems. And I don't have to build my own server (for the time being).

thanks to all for your help and input!

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for reporting back. I stopped using Norton / Symantec products years ago after one too many problems. They need to stop making bloatware and get back to basics.