[fziegler]

Hadn't backuped my library for a few months. Really need to do it - for transfering to a secondary device. But I tried multiple times with no success.

Setting:
- Tablet Samsung S5e with Android 11, MobileSheetsPro 3.5.6 from Google Play;
- Laptop ThinkPad L380 with Win10/64 (21H1), MobileSheets Companion 3.1.5 (automatic update)

The WIFI connection should be stable, good to very good signal.

Three different scenarios are happening:
- backup starts, but will be cancelled;
- backup starts, but freezes on the tablet; needs to be cancelled on the laptop an tablet to be restarted
- backup starts, prompts finalisation on the tablet ("successful"), but doesn't finish on the tablet, needs to be cancelled manually;
tablet says: "TIMECODE - Backup erfolgreich beendet." (backup ended successfully), previous prompt: TIMECODE - XX Bytes von Datei: /..../Öffne meine Augen (2.0).pdf erfolgreich übertragen;
laptop sticks with prompt: "Current song: Öffne meine Augen (EG-all-176); KB Remaining: < 5MB", backup file has about the size it should have, but will be deleted after abortion.

Interesting:
- Multiple times, I get a prompt if I really wanted to cancel the backup even if I didn't hit any button. Backup won't resume after aborting the cancellation.
- the song "Öffne meine Augen (EG-all-176)" and the sheet file "Öffne meine Augen (2.0).pdf" do correspond in the library
- the storage for the backup is on a NAS (all 3 problems forementioned), problem no.3 remains with local storage (SD card), only way to get the backup done is storage on "My Documents" (C:\)

So for the moment, I got what I wanted, but it took me more than an hour with several attempts.

[Geoff Bacon]

What version of MSP are you using?
Are you using the companion to backup via Wifi or are you using another mechanism ? If so,  what version?
(Mike will need the e versions)

Sometimes one of the files can cause the backup to fail at the same point each time (unlikely in your case as you did succeed in performing a backup)

Should you get a similar issue in the future, consider performing a local backup on the tablet and manually copying the resultant file to the laptop (you may have done this already). This takes the wifi out of the equation.

Check that you have enough space for the backup on the target device (some people have had issues with the device running out of room and MSP not detecting/handling the issue).
You might want to check that there is at least twice the size of the backup available (in case MSP is using a temporary file).
Also check that the tablet has enough space to hold a backup (in case MSP is creating a temporary file which it then copies to the destination).

I'm sure Mike will be along shortly to help you (and correct anything wrong above).

Geoff

[Zubersoft]

fziegler - I've never heard of the library backup functionality freezing a tablet, especially not a mainstream tablet like the Samsung S5e. If you hit the home button on the tablet, it didn't respond? Even if MobileSheets had some kind of issue, it shouldn't be locking the entire OS - that almost sounds to me like some kind of file I/O issue occurred. Where is your library stored on the Samsung tablet? Did you use the default storage location or are you utilizing a removable SD card? As far as saving to your NAS, do you have the network drive mapped to a local drive like Z: on your laptop? I just want to verify the actions you took to save to the NAS.

If the backup is randomly cancelling, that sounds to me like there are connection issues between the tablet and the companion app over WiFi. I know you said the signal is strong, but I would need to know more information about what kind of router you are using, and whether both devices are connected to the same access point. The quality of the router can have a big impact on whether packets are dropped. If you use your phone as a WiFi hotspot, and connect your two other devices to that, can you then create a library backup over WiFi? If so, that would point to the router as being part of the problem.

You said with the third issue that the companion app declared that the backup was successfully created, but didn't finish on the tablet. It's possible the tablet was still processing data. The companion app could have finished sending the packets, but it doesn't know when the tablet is done reading the data it sent, as that data may be buffered and is being processed. Did you wait for a bit to see if it eventually finished on the tablet? 

If you are getting a prompt to cancel, that means something is triggering the cancel, whether it's a key press like enter, or something is trying to close the window. I'm not sure what is happening on your device, but that is not normal behavior and I've never seen that before. 

As Geoff mentioned, just creating the backup file on the tablet itself without using the companion app and then copying it over may be the best approach if you continue to run into issues with the companion app. I've created many multi-gigabyte backups with the companion app over the years, and used to occasionally see a few issues with the backup not finishing like expected, but those issues were addressed with the last few updates to the companion app, so it seems to work reliably for me now.

Mike

[Geoff Bacon]

I've just hit the same problem on a tablet someone brought me!
Basically, he had cracked the screen and wanted his MSP files transferred to a new tablet.

Using Companion, I performed a backup of the damaged tablet to my PC.
Companion said it was complete - the tablet stuck saying "Backing Up - Packaging"

It then displayed a "MobileSheets isn't responding "Close app/ wait/Send feedback" dialog.
Pressing wait  redisplays the packaging message
Pressing home does display the home screen
Pressing "Send feedback" displays a Google legal dialog (but couldn't press accept or decline) - I thought this was sending to you rather than to Google)
Tablet redisplayed "MobileSheets isn't responding "Close app/ wait/Send feedback" dialog.
Close app did allow access to the tablet

While experimenting, I did get it to the stage that I had to reboot to clear the condition but not quite sure what caused that!

I still have the damaged tablet if you would like to investigate further.

Geoff

MSP 3.5.3  (screen has been damaged for some time so not a recent version of MSP)
Companion 3.1.5

[Zubersoft]

I can try to look into this soon, but I don't have the bandwidth to dedicate time to it at the moment, as there doesn't seem to be any easy way for me to reproduce any issues, and in order to get more information, we'd most likely need to install diagnostic builds of both the companion app and android app. That way I could tell if there is a software issue or if it's a networking issue.

Mike

[Geoff Bacon]

No problem Mike - I'll just hang onto to his tablet until you have time (he's just going to use it as a backup).

Geoff
BTW - no issues backing up the tablet to it's local storage