PTG - Backup / Restore or Package-to-Go: Unable to create file
Applicable SongShow Plus Versions:
This article applies to all version of SongShow Plus
* Updates correcting this issue may be available. Ensure that you are using the most current build of SongShow Plus from the Download page before proceeding. *
Symptom:
When attempting to back-up songs and other content with the Package To Go utility, an error message is presented: "An error occurred backing up Songs: Unable to create file. Would you like to continue with the rest of the backup?" A similar error message can occur when backing up slide shows, images, web pages, audio and video files.
SSP uses the zip file format for its back-ups, and zip files only support certain characters. It is likely that one or more files selected for backup contain unsupported non alpha-numeric characters in their file names. The most typical culprits are non-standard apostrophes, quotation, dash and hypen characters. These characters typically get used when copying and pasting from an application like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.
Possible Solution:
Rename any files with non alpha-numeric characters in their titles. These files can be discovered by manually sending the source folder to a compressed folder through Windows Explorer. When doing this, you will be presented with error messages indicating which files are incompatible.
If the problem appears to be with Songs, go to the Songs folder which is typically located in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\R-Technics\SongShow Plus\Songs", right-click on the Songs folder, then select the Send To > Compressed (zipped) folder menu command.
If the problem is with another folder, like Images, then from within SSP, go to the Images database panel, then in the folder panel, select the Images folder. Right click on the folder and select the Explore menu command. This will open the folder in Windows Explorer. At this point, follow the same steps described above for Songs.
Possible Cause:
Some character combinations may pass the "zip" test but still fail to backup properly. If this is the case you will see the following error message: Unable to backup file [file name and path] This file is likely not located in one of the SongShow Plus folders as is required by the Backup utility.
Possible Solution:
Some of the know characters that fail in the SSP backup if they are used in the file name are the double hyphen (--), the figure dash (?), the en dash (–) and the em dash (—). Any of these may cause the name and path to be recognized incorrectly. Removing/changing these characters may fix your issue.
There may be other undocumented special characters that cause this issue as well. If you discover one that is not listed, please report it to the support team.
One or more files in the program or package you are trying to archive are not in the correct path. This would also include LAN (local area network) paths or mapped drives.
Solution:
In order for the Backup and Package To Go utilities to work correctly, files must be located in the default folder structure. In some cases the Package To Go may complete OK and be usable after you bypass the error message, but this will not always be the case.
You can find more detailed information on Backup and Restore in Chapter 8 of the user guide.
Possible Cause:There is a Windows limitation of 2GB for a single file in a compressed folder. If any individual backup category (Audio Files, Video Files, etc.) has a compressed size of larger that 2GB, the backup process will fail.
During the backup/package process, each group is compressed into a file and then all the group files are combined in to a single compressed file causing the failure.
This is primarily an issue with the Backup process. It would be extremely rare that a single program would have over 2GB of data in any one category to cause this issue during the Package To Go process.
Possible Solution:
Limit the amount of data in each SSP data folder to 2GB or less.
Possible Solution:
Use a 3rd party tool to back up the larger data folders.
Possible Solution:
Manually copy the desired files to the desired backup location.
Possible Cause:
A permissions issue may exist for one or more of the categories selected in the Backup Utility. The most likely culprit is the Display Properties group.
Typically a "File access denied" error will occur if this is the cause.
Possible Solution:
Launch the Backup/Restore utility from the start menu as administrator by right-clicking on the link and selecting "Run as administrator". Administrator rights are required for this.
Possible Solution:
Manually set the permissions so that all users have full access to the folder location for the categories selected.
Possible Cause:
Visualizations 1, 4 and 5 will cause an error message when attempting a package to go.
Solution:
This is OK and is due to the nature of some of the SSP files that are used for the visualizations. The Visualizations are not "transportable" the way videos, text and other files are within the Package To Go. As long as the visualizations are installed on the destination SSP system the restored Package To Go will restore properly and function as it did on the source SSP system.
(TS011)