Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech... Could Not Find Technical Support.

[Petetech888]

The Title Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech... Has No Technical Support. Should read... Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech... Has No Technical Support on website. Do not have time to wait for return email.

I am kind of stuck.
I brought Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech because it saves so much time when reinstalling or putting a clients account settings and data onto a new system, but recently I have had problems finding some of the information I selected (which should be saved automatically by default) after Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned all data to the original locations.
Several times now I have saved the profiles of customers using Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech but find it hard to locate some if not all of the emails, despite selecting the default folders after checking manually for their existence in the default folder files .pst files etc do not show up when I go to import them from the folder Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned them to.
I sometimes will also choose the specific "additional folders" they are in by default to ensure I can recover them to the new email account.
I have too many times had to go searching for their email account settings and lost emails among the folders and at time have had to recover reconstruct the files from a reformatted drive or a drive so dead its puffing cemetery HDD dust out of its dying ROM chip nostrils.
There is no product support on the website that I have found and the original manual is not very helpful apart from first learning how to use the software.
Anyone have a similar problem or who has found a workaround for this?
Or am I doing something completely wrong?
Thanks in advance.

 

[red12049]

I am kind of stuck.
I brought Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech because it saves so much time when reinstalling or putting a clients account settings and data onto a new system, but recently I have had problems finding some of the information I selected (which should be saved automatically by default) after Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned all data to the original locations.
Several times now I have saved the profiles of customers using Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech but find it hard to locate some if not all of the emails, despite selecting the default folders after checking manually for their existence in the default folder files .pst files etc do not show up when I go to import them from the folder Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned them to.
I sometimes will also choose the specific "additional folders" they are in by default to ensure I can recover them to the new email account.
I have too many times had to go searching for their email account settings and lost emails among the folders and at time have had to recover reconstruct the files from a reformatted drive or a drive so dead its puffing cemetery HDD dust out of its dying ROM chip nostrils.
There is no product support on the website that I have found and the original manual is not very helpful apart from first learning how to use the software.
Anyone have a similar problem or who has found a workaround for this?
Or am I doing something completely wrong?
Thanks in advance.

Did you check the Fab's restoration log to see what Fab's had done with those files?

Rick

 

[Petetech888]

Hi Rick, thanks for the reply.
Yes and all the settings were restored. There were no copying errors listed at all in relation to the emails or the .iaf files etc, so it kind of makes it even more of a mystery.

 

[red12049]

Hi Rick, thanks for the reply.
Yes and all the settings were restored. There were no copying errors listed at all in relation to the emails or the .iaf files etc, so it kind of makes it even more of a mystery.

Don't know for sure about V.4, but the earlier ones can't restore Outlook files, so they dump them in a folder in the M.D. folder. Might take a look around.

Rick

 

[Petetech888]

Cheers Rick, appreciate it.

 

[GRIMTECH]

Are you tring to import .pst files from a 32bit to a 64bit version of windows? because I know that doesn't work when doing a backup with Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech.

 

[Petetech888]

Thanks but no, that's not an issue.
The address book from outlook in this last instance does not exceed the size of 173KB which is standard for an unused wab file associated with no addresses in an outlook express address book.

 

[glricht]

I am kind of stuck.
I brought Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech because it saves so much time when reinstalling or putting a clients account settings and data onto a new system, but recently I have had problems finding some of the information I selected (which should be saved automatically by default) after Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned all data to the original locations.
Several times now I have saved the profiles of customers using Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech but find it hard to locate some if not all of the emails, despite selecting the default folders after checking manually for their existence in the default folder files .pst files etc do not show up when I go to import them from the folder Fab's AutoBackup 4 Tech has returned them to.
I sometimes will also choose the specific "additional folders" they are in by default to ensure I can recover them to the new email account.
I have too many times had to go searching for their email account settings and lost emails among the folders and at time have had to recover reconstruct the files from a reformatted drive or a drive so dead its puffing cemetery HDD dust out of its dying ROM chip nostrils.
There is no product support on the website that I have found and the original manual is not very helpful apart from first learning how to use the software.
Anyone have a similar problem or who has found a workaround for this?
Or am I doing something completely wrong?
Thanks in advance.

Pete, I use Fab's 4 all the time on machines with Outlook and may be able to help.

For future reference, your original post is lacking information. I assume the problem area is Outlook (you mention .pst files), but you don't say so, and you don't say which Outlook (e.g. 2003, 2007, etc). In addition, you don't specify the OS for the backup and the OS on which you did the restore (XP, Vista, 7, 32/64bit, etc)

Fabs 4 is an outstanding tool, but it is weak in how it handles Outlook. Backup/restore of .pst files works fine IF: a) the original .pst file is in the default location, and b) the default .pst location in the backup-from OS matches the default .pst location in the restore-to OS. (In other words, backing up from XP and restoring to XP; or backing up from Vista/7 and restoring to Vista/7.)

As Fab explained it to me when I was beta testing Ver 4 and reported issues with how it handled Outlook, Outlook stores into the registry the location of the .pst file as an encrypted binary value and Fab's is unable to decrypt this value to determine the actual location. This results in the following limitations:

• By default, Fab's will look only in the default folder to locate/backup the .pst file. There is an option in the Outlook section where you can ask that it search for .pst files, but if you don't use it, it looks only in the default location (in XP: \Docs&Sets\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook, and for Vista/7: \Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook).
  
• When the Outlook .pst files are restored, they are placed into the same folder that was used to backup the files. This means if you're going XP-to-XP or Vista/7-to-Vista/7, no problem. BUT, if you're going from XP-to-Vista/7, the .pst files are stored using the XP-based folder structure. If you look in that folder, you'll find the files.

In my case, whenever I'm using Fabs 4 with Outlook, I let Fabs copy the account info, rules, sigs (etc), but copy and restore the .pst files manually.

Hope the above makes sense and helps.

 

[Petetech888]

Pete, I use Fab's 4 all the time on machines with Outlook and may be able to help.

For future reference, your original post is lacking information. I assume the problem area is Outlook (you mention .pst files), but you don't say so, and you don't say which Outlook (e.g. 2003, 2007, etc). In addition, you don't specify the OS for the backup and the OS on which you did the restore (XP, Vista, 7, 32/64bit, etc)

Fabs 4 is an outstanding tool, but it is weak in how it handles Outlook. Backup/restore of .pst files works fine IF: a) the original .pst file is in the default location, and b) the default .pst location in the backup-from OS matches the default .pst location in the restore-to OS. (In other words, backing up from XP and restoring to XP; or backing up from Vista/7 and restoring to Vista/7.)

As Fab explained it to me when I was beta testing Ver 4 and reported issues with how it handled Outlook, Outlook stores into the registry the location of the .pst file as an encrypted binary value and Fab's is unable to decrypt this value to determine the actual location. This results in the following limitations:

• By default, Fab's will look only in the default folder to locate/backup the .pst file. There is an option in the Outlook section where you can ask that it search for .pst files, but if you don't use it, it looks only in the default location (in XP: \Docs&Sets\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook, and for Vista/7: \Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook).
  
• When the Outlook .pst files are restored, they are placed into the same folder that was used to backup the files. This means if you're going XP-to-XP or Vista/7-to-Vista/7, no problem. BUT, if you're going from XP-to-Vista/7, the .pst files are stored using the XP-based folder structure. If you look in that folder, you'll find the files.

In my case, whenever I'm using Fabs 4 with Outlook, I let Fabs copy the account info, rules, sigs (etc), but copy and restore the .pst files manually.

Hope the above makes sense and helps.

Yep brilliant, cheers glricht. I actually discovered my problem about 3 hours ago, it was both clients telling me they had outlook express, I assumed they knew the difference between that and office outlook 2007. Too many jobs similar going on at the same time, one bled into the other.
It was a amateur error of assuming my clients knowledge being above novice versus spending the time actually finding out for myself.
One OS was Vista 32bit the other XP home 32 bit, both fresh installs and things kind of got screwed up.
Working on it now, will update later.

 

[fabs]

Hi everyone,
I am the software developper.
Gary explained the thing pretty well about Outlook handling. It is not perfect but it can be handled quite easily.
Here is my method for PST files from XP to Vista/7 :
- Backup PST files and the Windows messaging profiles (contains accounts, pst files locations, etc...)
- Restore to the new installation. Outlook must not have been used with this user account prior to restore job).
- Launch Oultook
- When prompted for the PST location, I type "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Outlook", hit "enter" key and I select the required pst file.
- I do it for every PST file (most of the time, there are "outlook.pst" and "archive.pst")
- Finally, type the accounts passwords if needed.

About the technical support, telling that it does not exist is wrong. There are contact forms on the website and on the store. I always reply to emails and the fixes are made as quickly as possible.

Cheers,

Fab

 

[Petetech888]

Hi Fab, first I would like to say that I really like your program, it has saved me lots of time and I applaud your efforts, so no offence meant.
I could not find any support for your product on the site other than a contact form. I am using technibble as a resource asking other techs if they have struck this same problem themselves and not gripping about your program, as I have said I enjoy and appreciate it. Most often when I need an answer I dont have time to wait for one person to answer an email and would rather use a resource of hundreds of other techs online.
My only issue was that the absence of some instructions on your site or in the manual (which you have included here, thanks by the way) on restoration of outlook, outlook express and other email program files which twice now has delayed my getting a job out on time.
Trying to locate or get the programs to recognise the pst files does not always go smoothly, whether its my limited knowledge of the inner workings of most of the major email programs and their default storage locations or not its irrelevant.
Glricht definitely helped me out and now you have filled a gap. Thanks Fab, great program, next time I have a problem I will post it with you first if I have time.

PS. I have altered my original post but cannot change the original title to be a little more descriptive.

 

[fabs]

No worries,
I did not think that you were pesting against me or my program. Sorry if you thought that. My english is not perfect

I have just installed a forum for technical support on my website because you are right : a community would be great.

 

[fabs]

Hi,

just to tell that the support forum is installed on my website.

Cheers,

Fab

 

[transisto]

I purchased Fab's software and I am a bit disappointed.
I used it on my own pc and it was to no use whatsoever.
It is useful for "regular" PCs, and be cautious if the user didn't use the "Regular folders"

Wishing it could also move;

iTune library.
Logitech and Microsoft mouse/keyboard settings.

Ps : Is it moving only Desktop wallpaper or themes ?

 

[Methical]

PS. I have altered my original post but cannot change the original title to be a little more descriptive.

I can change original title; so can all other mods.

PM me, or one of them, if you need a title changed.