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Carbonite not working...

  • 20 February 2023
  • 18 replies
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MajorHavoc
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I am going to ask this question here, because whenever I try and ask a question on Carbonite’s support page, I get a pop up that says, “Your case was unable to be submitted at this time due to an error. Please try again or contact us through chat or phone between the hours of 9:00am and 8:00pm ET (excluding U.S. holidays). We apologize for any inconvenience.” It seems there is ALWAYS an error on this site, and I can never get a question submitted for an answer. Not impressed here. Do the people at Carbonite support know abhor this? Anyway...

I recently migrated my M1 Mac to an M2 Mac, migrating everything over to the new machine. I have formatted the old machine and gaven it to someone else, so no longer are running Carbonite on that machine. When Carbonite tries to run, it stays on “connecting” for a long time, finally saying "Your account has been disabled."

My account expires in 38 days, and is set to auto renew (although I am reconsidering that right now)  so still active. Perhaps it thinks this is a second computer and cannot be backed up since I do not have a Pro account?

 After a search for an answer in the forum with no luck (I am amazed that no one else has had this issue!), can someone  please tell me how I move my active subscription over to this new machine and off of the previous one? Other single systems like this have a deactivate option to reset the license so it can be reused. I cannot find anything like that in the settings. 

Anyone know how to do this?  Thank you. 

icon

Best answer by MajorHavoc 20 February 2023, 20:27

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- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.

18 replies

russell.harris
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Hi @MajorHavoc 

I had a similar issue when I used Apple’s Migration Assistant to move from my old Intel MacBook Air to my new MacBook Air M2.

I had to do the following :

  1. Log into your account at https://account.carbonite.com
  2. Click on the ‘Backup’ tab and there is an ‘Options’ pull down menu where you can ‘move my subscription’.

Worked for me. Have you tried this?

Otherwise, hopefully Tyler or someone will have an idea or point you in the right direction.

Good luck

"The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back!"
MajorHavoc
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Oh, just to pour salt on these wounds, I tried calling today. The wait time is EIGHTY SIX MINUTES! I want to support these products, but if you are going to treat your customers so badly, I am going in search of an alternate backup solution.  And please stop telling me my call is important to you. If it was important, you would have more people answering the phone!

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
MajorHavoc
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Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Hi @MajorHavoc 

I had a similar issue when I used Apple’s Migration Assistant to move from my old Intel MacBook Air to my new MacBook Air M2.

I had to do the following :

  1. Log into your account at https://account.carbonite.com
  2. Click on the ‘Backup’ tab and there is an ‘Options’ pull down menu where you can ‘move my subscription’.

Worked for me. Have you tried this?

Otherwise, hopefully Tyler or someone will have an idea or point you in the right direction.

Good luck

Hi Russel, 

Thanks.

Yep, that is what I did. Still says disabled.

But did you have to uninstall the app which is already on the computer first and reinstall? I guess I can try that. 

And that “move” wants me to restore first before proceeding but I do not wan to restore, I just want to continue backing up on this new computer.

Sorry, very frustrated wth this. If  I cannot figure it out, how does a non-technical person figure this out? No wonder the wait times are 86 minutes. If this were my product, I would argue a very poor UI on both product and website.  SIGH!

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
MajorHavoc
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Ok, I uninstalled the app completely. Clicked on the download button and then ran the installer. It has been stuck on “Connecting to the registration server” now for over 25 minutes. This is just said for what used to be such a good product. 

Update: after 45 minutes, it finally finished. Wow. 

BUT...

I am now given two choices: I can recover all my old files to my new machine, which I do not need to do, or I can start a new backup, which will delete all my previous files in 30 days. EXCEPT: Most of these files are what are on the machine. Why is there not a third option: Continue to backup? I just want my backup to continue since the cloud already has 90% of all these files, and I would rather not start backing them all up again, which over the network, can take weeks for a 2 TB drive.  just stupid!

And if I do not pick one of these options, I cannot continue. I either have to download all the files, or start a new backup to continue, other wise Carbonite is not “active” on this machine, which is basically just a migration of the previous machine to a new box. 

Is there a way to get it to just continue? 

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
ProTruckDriver
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Userlevel 7

WoW! I’ll ping @TylerM maybe he can do something on the back end. I don’t use the Carbonite Backup. The last Webroot backup I used was Webroot’s awhile back. We’ll see what Tyler has to say about this.

Late 2015 ~ 5K ~ 27 inch iMac ~ macOS Catalina 10.15.7 ~ Clone & Backup with: SuperDuper - Time Machine & iCloud. PWM: RoboForm.  "An Apple a Day, Keeps Microsoft Away." 
MajorHavoc
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Thank you.  I appreciate that.

This was/is a very frustrating experience. Be very difficult to recommend this software to a client after this. Just a 90 minute wait for customer support would be sufficient, but not being able to submit a ticket on line because “an error occurred” which happens every time is just wrong. 


I did mange to find an email address and send my issue to that address, and was told to allow at least 24 hours to get an answer. They need some customer service help badly. 

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
russell.harris
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Oh, just to pour salt on these wounds, I tried calling today. The wait time is EIGHTY SIX MINUTES! I want to support these products, but if you are going to treat your customers so badly, I am going in search of an alternate backup solution.  And please stop telling me my call is important to you. If it was important, you would have more people answering the phone!

🤦🏻‍♂️ You’re not having much luck. 

"The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back!"
russell.harris
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @MajorHavoc 

I had a similar issue when I used Apple’s Migration Assistant to move from my old Intel MacBook Air to my new MacBook Air M2.

I had to do the following :

  1. Log into your account at https://account.carbonite.com
  2. Click on the ‘Backup’ tab and there is an ‘Options’ pull down menu where you can ‘move my subscription’.

Worked for me. Have you tried this?

Otherwise, hopefully Tyler or someone will have an idea or point you in the right direction.

Good luck

Hi Russel, 

Thanks.

Yep, that is what I did. Still says disabled.

But did you have to uninstall the app which is already on the computer first and reinstall? I guess I can try that. 

And that “move” wants me to restore first before proceeding but I do not wan to restore, I just want to continue backing up on this new computer.

Sorry, very frustrated wth this. If  I cannot figure it out, how does a non-technical person figure this out? No wonder the wait times are 86 minutes. If this were my product, I would argue a very poor UI on both product and website.  SIGH!

Either I was lucky or you’ve been really unlucky (or both!)

I did have to uninstall and reinstall and I did get the connecting server for a bit. Don’t remember how long. From what I remember my backups just kicked in after that once I’d signed in. Sorry you’ve had so much hassle

"The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back!"
TylerM
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Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Oh, just to pour salt on these wounds, I tried calling today. The wait time is EIGHTY SIX MINUTES! I want to support these products, but if you are going to treat your customers so badly, I am going in search of an alternate backup solution.  And please stop telling me my call is important to you. If it was important, you would have more people answering the phone!

 

That is a significant amount of time and I’m sorry it was that extensive. I know that Carbonite is undergoing some revamps in the customer support experience and should have some changes coming soon but it doesn’t help that you need that help now.

 

I reached out to Carbonite support managers and they are not sure why you are getting those errors and the “account disabled errors are different”.  They found your case and sent this to the escalations group and will reach out to you ASAP. 

 

Please let me  know how you get on with Carbonite support. 

 

 

MajorHavoc
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Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Update: Those are the only two choices. As explained to me, the file IDs change when moved to a new machine, so the backup cannot recognize them as the same. Seems week, since the files are on the same named drive, in the same named folder, and have the same name, size, creation date, and modified date. Shouldn't be difficult to offer an option to use that into rather than file ID for comparison. Oh well, now to upload 1 TB of backup data...again!  ☹️

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
MajorHavoc
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Oh, just to pour salt on these wounds, I tried calling today. The wait time is EIGHTY SIX MINUTES! I want to support these products, but if you are going to treat your customers so badly, I am going in search of an alternate backup solution.  And please stop telling me my call is important to you. If it was important, you would have more people answering the phone!

 

That is a significant amount of time and I’m sorry it was that extensive. I know that Carbonite is undergoing some revamps in the customer support experience and should have some changes coming soon but it doesn’t help that you need that help now.

 

I reached out to Carbonite support managers and they are not sure why you are getting those errors and the “account disabled errors are different”.  They found your case and sent this to the escalations group and will reach out to you ASAP. 

 

Please let me  know how you get on with Carbonite support. 

 

 

Thank you Tyler. Yes, very frustrating.

I got a call this morning from their customer service. Seems I am stuck with re-uploading the 1 TB of data. (see my post above this one.) And the problem with their website… I had their agent walk through the process and he got the same error on the submission of a ticket. It's been this way for many months, and it seems it was never reported? Hopefully they will fix that too. 

Im off to connect my computer to the fiber and start backing up again. SIGH!

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
russell.harris
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Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Oh gosh you’ve been through it!

I understand the concept that the data is the same but not stored 100% identically if on another drive. But as you say, why can’t there be a way of recognising the file paths as being the same.

sorry you’ve had to upload the lot again.

In a way though, things only improve from testing and detailed feedback so let’s hope your experience benefits others in the future 

"The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back!"
MajorHavoc
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Oh gosh you’ve been through it!

I understand the concept that the data is the same but not stored 100% identically if on another drive. But as you say, why can’t there be a way of recognising the file paths as being the same.

sorry you’ve had to upload the lot again.

In a way though, things only improve from testing and detailed feedback so let’s hope your experience benefits others in the future 

Thanks. Here is the strange part though….

Today, I launched the installer again because I did not pick a choice yesterday. this time. It DID NOT ask me, it just ran, and now, as far as I can tell, it is backing up the changes and not everything.  I am not sure why, which is the scary part. 

I am so confused.   😊  I’m guessing I should really start over to be safe. 

 

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
TylerM
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Thank you Tyler. Yes, very frustrating.

I got a call this morning from their customer service. Seems I am stuck with re-uploading the 1 TB of data. (see my post above this one.) And the problem with their website… I had their agent walk through the process and he got the same error on the submission of a ticket. It's been this way for many months, and it seems it was never reported? Hopefully they will fix that too. 

Im off to connect my computer to the fiber and start backing up again. SIGH!

Dang. I believe Carbonite will fix those issues with Support tickets and are in the process of a major overhaul and integration into OpenText - I’m sorry you had to bear the brunt of that experience. I’ll get some swag coming your way to make it up 🤗

MajorHavoc
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +25

Thank you Tyler. Yes, very frustrating.

I got a call this morning from their customer service. Seems I am stuck with re-uploading the 1 TB of data. (see my post above this one.) And the problem with their website… I had their agent walk through the process and he got the same error on the submission of a ticket. It's been this way for many months, and it seems it was never reported? Hopefully they will fix that too. 

Im off to connect my computer to the fiber and start backing up again. SIGH!

Dang. I believe Carbonite will fix those issues with Support tickets and are in the process of a major overhaul and integration into OpenText - I’m sorry you had to bear the brunt of that experience. I’ll get some swag coming your way to make it up 🤗

Thanks, but as it was not your fault, it is not really necessary. But I appreciate the offer just the same. 

I have a reputation that follow me. My teammates in the past have called me  “The Black Thumb”, because when I touch something, it breaks in a way it has never broken before. So in reality, I should just have expected it! 😂 It is why I think I make a good Beta tester!  

Thanks Tyler

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
TylerM
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Userlevel 7
Badge +25

 

I have a reputation that follow me. My teammates in the past have called me  “The Black Thumb”, because when I touch something, it breaks in a way it has never broken before. So in reality, I should just have expected it! 😂 It is why I think I make a good Beta tester!  

 

 

My grandmother totally has this. Absolute blackhole where any tech goes to die/malfunction

MajorHavoc
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Userlevel 7
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My grandmother totally has this. Absolute blackhole where any tech goes to die

I do not  know if you have ever read the Dresden Files novels (https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/jim-butcher/dresden-files/) but he is a wizard (not in the Harry Potter fashion either.) They are a great read, and Jim Butcher is an excellent story teller. There are 18 books in the series so far.

And one of the problems with being a wizard is that technology does not work around you. Technology goes bad. Maybe your grandmother and I are wizards and just do not know it.  😂
(https://www.reddit.com/r/dresdenfiles/comments/8uwla1/why_wizards_fudge_technology/)

- Owen Rubin,  Apple Expert. Worked in Vision Pro team and early Mac HW and OS engineer at Apple. Machines: 2017 iMac Pro 27" 5K 3GHz 10-Core Xenon Sonoma 14.x. 2023 14" MacBookPro M2 Max Ventura 13.x, 2018 16" MacBookPro Ventura 13.x, and a dozen or so older machines for testing. iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 6.
russell.harris
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Oh gosh you’ve been through it!

I understand the concept that the data is the same but not stored 100% identically if on another drive. But as you say, why can’t there be a way of recognising the file paths as being the same.

sorry you’ve had to upload the lot again.

In a way though, things only improve from testing and detailed feedback so let’s hope your experience benefits others in the future 

Thanks. Here is the strange part though….

Today, I launched the installer again because I did not pick a choice yesterday. this time. It DID NOT ask me, it just ran, and now, as far as I can tell, it is backing up the changes and not everything.  I am not sure why, which is the scary part. 

I am so confused.   😊  I’m guessing I should really start over to be safe. 

 

Weird. Technology keeps us guessing!

fingers crossed you’re sorted now 

"The only problem with troubleshooting is that sometimes trouble shoots back!"

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