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LARGE Backup & Sync log causes long-running Time Machine backups and hammers Mac (can't disable it)

  • 11 July 2018
  • 8 replies
  • 144 views

To all the Time Machine users out there, you REALLY want to exclude the file "/Users/{YourUserName}/Library/Application Support/Webroot/BackNSync/log-BnS-FE.txt" from your backups.
 
To the Webroot developers: PLEASE a) provide a way to disable "Backup & Sync" on the Mac, and/or b) use log rotation for your logging.
 
Background:
 
I've been fighting a problem for MANY weeks where my Mac seems to always be running hot, fans always continuously on, CPUs almost pinned. I was actually starting to research getting a new laptop because this one really wasn't usable anymore - _something_ was just killing it too badly.
 
I finally traced a big part of the problem to Time Machine, but why was Time Machine backing up 160+ MB of changes every hour, even in the middle of the night when I'm wasn't using the machine, and hadn't used the machine for days? And because my Time Machine backup goes over a wireless network, over a PowerLAN bridge, to a Synology NAS, that 160 MB backup takes 25-35 minutes every time it runs, so every hour, 24x7, and it seems to throttle my machine while it's running.
 
Apparently most of the culprit is the "Backup & Sync" log file. 
 
I don't use "Backup & Sync", but every 3 seconds since I installed Webroot 6 months ago, it has been logging the message "NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication" (among other things) to its log file. Every 3 seconds.
 
The log file is now 120 MB in size -- in barely 6 months -- and because it changes every 3 seconds, every single Time Machine backup backs it up. Every hour, for 35 minutes. (Of course, I'm sure the backing up of this 120 MB file, every hour on the hour, has also pushed a large amount of useful files OUT of my real Time Machine archives as space ran out in there, but that's another problem.)
 
So ... I've now excluded the "Webroot/BackNSync/log-BnS-FE.txt" log file from my Time Machine backups, and my machine is once again usable.
 
However, since I don't use "Backup & Sync", and don't plan on using it, is there any way to completely disable Backup & Sync on my Mac? 
 
Also as a suggestion for the developers, rather than using one massive and ever-growing log file, could the log file be rotated periodically instead? Using one single log file will cause this same problem for anyone doing any sort of incremental or differential backup. My "remote Time Machine" backup situation just made it more obvious and painful.
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Best answer by ProTruckDriver 31 August 2018, 03:14

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8 replies

Userlevel 7
Hello @ Welcome to the Webroot Community Forum. Sorry for the late reply on your problem with Backup & Sync. Looks like your post was overlooked for some unknown reason. 
 
Please look at Managing Backup & Sync on Mac's
 
If this does not solve your problem, Please submit a Support Ticket or Contact Webroot Support to sort this problem. This service is FREE with a Paid Subscription.
Support Ticket System is Open 24/7
 
Note: When submitting a Support Ticket, Please wait for a response from Support. Putting in another Support Ticket on this problem before Support responses will put your first Support Ticket at the end of the queue.
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
@ wrote:
Hello @ Welcome to the Webroot Community Forum. Sorry for the late reply on your problem with Backup & Sync. Looks like your post was overlooked for some unknown reason. 
 
Please look at Managing Backup & Sync on Mac's
 
If this does not solve your problem, Please submit a Support Ticket or Contact Webroot Support to sort this problem. This service is FREE with a Paid Subscription.
Support Ticket System is Open 24/7
 
Note: When submitting a Support Ticket, Please wait for a response from Support. Putting in another Support Ticket on this problem before Support responses will put your first Support Ticket at the end of the queue.
Thank you @.....this post was certainly missed sorry to say. 😞
Unfortunately, the documentation simply explains how to use Backup & Sync. There is no way to actually disable it on the Mac.
 
I did try opening a support ticket, but I received what seemed to be just a canned reply that gave me instructions on uninstalling Webroot and reinstalling it, and suggesting that I join the community forums. (This was in spite of my support request referencing my own forum post and including a link to the post...)
 
Meanwhile Backup&Sync continues trying fruitlessly to log in every 3 seconds. My "BackNSync" log file is now over 171 MB, having grown another 11 MB in the past 6 weeks.
 
(At a minimum, they REALLY should use a logging system that rolls over to a new log file periodically so at least the old log files stop growing and stop pushing useful files out of everyones backups.)
 
- Bill
Userlevel 7
Sorry to hear you still have a problem with Backup & Sync. I use the Backup side of WSA and not the Sync so I haven't run into the problem you are having. Did you try turning off the B&S by way of the GUI:
 


Let me ping our Community Manager @ about this problem. Webroot Support should not be sending you a canned message reply on a problem like this. 
Looks like I'm in a bit of a Catch-22. Seems like I can't actually get to that screen without first creating a Backup & Sync account and logging in. My screen only lets me get this far:
 


 
Ironically, it looks like I need to create an account and log in just so I can disable the service that I don't want to use, but I don't want to give it permission to copy my files offsite at all.
 
Of course, what it keeps repeating over and over to the log file is this:
 
2018-08-31 23:27:07 NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication
2018-08-31 23:27:10 NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication
2018-08-31 23:27:13 NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication
2018-08-31 23:27:16 NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication
2018-08-31 23:27:19 NoCredentials or NeedsAuthentication
 
- Bill
 
Userlevel 7
Sorry for the delay on getting you a solution from the Webroot Employees.
I do not believe you should be getting the logging that you're seeing if you never logged into the Backup & Sync side of WSA.
Let me ping a few of the Employees to see if we can get you some help with this problem that you are having. This is a long weekend so it may be Tuesday before they see this. Sorry for the inconvenience this has cause you with your Mac Computer.
@ @ @ @ @
Userlevel 7
Badge +35
@, our support team would like to have you call or submit a ticket so that they can assist you better. Please contact them at your earliest convenience and they will be happy to help. 
Userlevel 7
Thank you Anna.

   
 
 


 
 

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