I have a compaq laptop and have HP software update capability. I was backing up last night and a message came on that the HP hadn't backed up and to buy more storage!! The storage capacity on the norton 360 package I've got covers all of my 2gb laptop....ie 2gb cover. So why didn't it back up HP and does it need to be backed up? Can I just stop the update or ignore the message? Norton 360 wanted me to buy more backup storage. Is this jsut to buy one of their products? HELP!!!!!!!!!!

So why didn't it back up HP and does it need to be backed up?

Norton 360 can backup personal data locally or online (the standard version gives 2 GB of free online storage and the premier version gives 10 GB, though additional storage could be purchased). You have run out of FREE space and need to deselect unimportant file categories (see below), buy more space, or select a local, preferably, external device (default location). Or, you can change the default schedule (see below).

Norton 360 - Backing Up Is Hard to Do—NOT! - Reviews by PC Magazine

To protect your essential data, Norton 360 automatically backs up important files. It's the one area that you simply have to configure yourself, because there are some choices the program can't make for you. You can choose to back up files in eight categories, including documents, e-mails, and music. By default they're all selected, except the often-humongous [high volume] video category.


The default location is "Secure Online Storage"—you get 2GB of free storage as part of your Norton account. And the default schedule is Automatic, meaning any new or changed files get backed up whenever the computer is idle. Two gigabytes of storage won't suffice to back up a ton of images and videos, of course, but this is still a good offer for those who have important documents they need to keep secure.

Does the average user need backups? Consider one of many scenarios where everything on your PC can become lost forever:

1. Your PC and all other related devices/media are stolen.
2. Your hard drive stops working and nothing on the drive is readable (4 instances on systems in my direct care).
3. Your residence has a catastrophic fire, flood, or other disaster.

Now answer what the consequences are to you of potentially loosing everything your PC had to offer. For some of us, it is the user data such as email data and irreplaceable pictures, etc. For others, it could be, more so, the many hours reloading all ones applications and customizations. Considering the above, offsite backups can be a very desirable option, and online backups one of the simplest and most consistently applied available options.


My wife’s laptop uses a similar online storage tool (1st 2GB of storage is free – Online Backup, Data Backup & Remote Backup Solutions from Mozy.com ? Welcome ) but we only selected to backup Outlook Email, and Word and Excel documents. That only uses about 30% of the available free storage quota (600MB of storage). And, we move most pictures, videos, and music off to permanent storage such as DVDs (often in duplicate for onsite/offsite storage purposes).

Recovering limited selected files online is simple by email link notification but extensive file recovery is not practical using downloading. Accordingly, they will offer to burn all requested user files to DVD(s) for a fee. It is important to know what these steps and cost might be, and to know what your options are with the tools you are using (user should test the process so as to know what to do).

In addition, I clone (make a complete weekly image copy) all PC hard drives to external USB/eSATA drives for storage offsite. Such hard drive images allows you to reload your system to the exact same state that existed when cloned – you get your PC back the same as it was before your issues. My wife’s laptop drive died almost one year ago. I reloaded the replacement drive with the clone copy in under 20 minutes and all was back to normal ( Backup software for data backup and disaster recovery in Windows and Linux - Acronis ) (I never reload to the original drive in case of problems).