Hi,
I use Macrium Reflect to automate backups of different computers.
These backups are stored on external harddrives, which are connected to the computer only for this reason.
So when a backup starts, the harddrive is presumably not connected and the backup fails.
In v6 I wrote a script that prompts a message giving the user a chance to connect the drive and retry.
In v7 this doesn't work, because there is no user interaction available when using the SYSTEM Account.

Can you please integrate this option (requires user interaction) when creating schedules within Macrium Reflect?
Or is there another way to do this?

Thanks.
Pirby

Hi Pirby,

Within Reflect you can configure a display notification that tells you a backup is about to start. From the menu, select "Other Tasks - Edit Defaults" and select the "Advanced" tab. In the "Advanced Backup Options" you need to ensure that "Display backup notification delay" is checked.

Thanks,

Mike.

Hi Mike,
thanks for your answer! I think this is what I'm looking for.
But could it be that there's something broken with the notification's duration? I activated and set the duration to 60 seconds, but when the notification pops up, it starts to count down from 20 seconds (this was the default value I think).

Regards
Pirby
[I corrected some nonsense I wrote ]

Hi Pinby,

We have discovered an issue with the scheduled backups running as SYSTEM trying to read the delay notification value from the registry. This is now fixed and will be released soon. If you need a workaround before the next release PM and I will see if I can fix this for you.

Thanks,

Mike.

Hi Mike,
I can wait for the next release. That's ok for me

But if I understand the purpose of the duration correctly, a value of 0 seconds doesn't make much sense, does it?
So I have an idea for future releases: A Duration of 0 seconds could display the notification until the user makes a decision (cancel backup, postpone it or run it now).
This would be great for users who need "more" time to understand the meaning of the notification (In my case: connect your backup harddrive!).
That would be great.

Thanks for your help!

Regards
Pirby

Hi Pirby,

I've put forward your recommendation and will be considered for a future release of Reflect.

Thanks,

Mike.

Hi Mike,
my recommendation was implemented in V7. Thanks again

Now that I upgraded to V8, I see this functionality is broken. When selecting a duration of 0 seconds, no notification is shown and the backup starts without any delay.

Would you please check this issue?

Thanks,
Pirby

+x

 

Pirby - 16 June 2021 6:37 PM

Hi Mike,
my recommendation was implemented in V7. Thanks again

So I have an idea for future releases: A Duration of 0 seconds could display the notification until the user makes a decision (cancel backup, postpone it or run it now).

Now that I upgraded to V8, I see this functionality is broken. When selecting a duration of 0 seconds, no notification is shown and the backup starts without any delay.

Would you please check this issue?

Thanks,
Pirby

The behavior you're describing was actually "fixed" during the V8 beta as it was considered a bug.  The release notes for V8 beta 8.0.5607 contained the following:

Backup Start Countdown
If the number of countdown seconds was set to zero, then the Backup Start dialog would not be dismissed. This has been resolved.

The context of this was that a separate bug that was discovered with the settings export/import feature at that time caused a settings import to change the countdown to zero, even if the imported settings had originally been exported when the countdown was set to something else.  That bug combined with the behavior of the dialog when the countdown was set to zero meant that beta testers who imported settings subsequently found that their scheduled backups no longer ran unless they manually clicked OK -- which could be a problem in server backup scenarios where there might not even be anybody logged in to do that.  The export/import bug was fixed, but the discovery also led to a change in the behavior of the dialog when the countdown was set to zero specifically to avoid the outcome that was observed.  If the previous behavior of the backup waiting indefinitely when the countdown was set to zero was implemented deliberately at some earlier time during V7, that's news to me.

Having a scheduled backup wait indefinitely, and thus potentially also prevent other backups scheduled later from ever starting, seems like a case of the risks outweighing the rewards.  Reading over your reasoning in your earlier post where you suggested that behavior, could you not simply specify a sufficiently long timeout to process the information being presented to you and take the necessary action?  I would argue that if your destination disk isn't already connected at least most of the time, then that already puts your use case somewhat at odds with the concept of a scheduled backup.

Thanks for your reply.
Ok, I understand that this has caused problems with other functions.

But I would really appreciate if you consider to bring back this feature somehow.
Maybe setting the delay to -1 or add a new switch for this or somehting like that.
Or allowing a maximum delay of 60 *Minutes*

On the other hand I don't understand the intention of a 0 second notification delay because this is equivalent to completely turning off the notification delay.
Or am I missing somehting here?

Regards,
Pirby

You’re not missing anything. I’ve seen threads from other users saying they wanted a way to suppress the postponement dialog completely. They didn’t like having a dialog popping up and pulling focus from whatever they were doing, and instead wanted Reflect to just get on with the scheduled backup. But yes, there is also the option to simply uncheck the box to show the postponement dialog in the first place, which indeed does the same thing as setting it to zero — at least for now. Maybe Macrium will revisit this quandary.