General Tech Tips

CrashPlan Unable to Connect to Backup Engine [Solved]

Established in 2001, Code 42 is an IT consulting company that designed and released Crashplan in 2007. The primary aim of the group was to create a desktop application that was similar to Facebook. In the end, the company directed its resources to the online storage elements of the software, hence the birth of Crashplan. Thus, you must know how to solve the issue of “CrashPlan Unable to Connect to Backup Engine”.

The application is mainly put into service for the constant backing up of files to a cloud- implementation by the company to the consumer. Promising safety from hardware failure, natural disasters, theft, and ransomware, Crashplan is used to give the user the choice of two plans. The first package by the company is mainly designed for domestic use or families.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Unfortunately, the company has shut down the division focussing on domestic purposes and given Carbonite the right to cover them on this front. This has moved their abilities to outfit the organization to provide a better backup solution to any enterprise willing to pay a small fee. The second and only option which the company is currently offering the public is Crashplan for small businesses.

For a small monthly fee of ten dollars, Crashplan as whole promises to deliver to their loyal customers’ free access to twenty-four hours always-on server with unlimited storage and with the presence of top-notch security.

The specialty of the services which are provided by this organization does not lie in what they offer but in the manner of execution in what is provided by them. The backup service of a subscribed consumer kicks up initially, which might take several hours or days, this depends upon the connection the subscriber uses.

But soon with the habit of continuous automatic backing up, the speed at which each backup is executed increases at a steady pace. The data stored on the server will be highly encrypted to ensure the security of the media. It is also password protected.

See Also: How To Solve Error 924

The Fall of CrashPlan

In this day and age where automatic backing up unto cloud servers is a common thing. The Wall Street Journal, irrespective of the derogatory remark that the software was lacking in “fine print,” favored the software over four other similar services they compared it to. Soon, PC Mag followed suit, awarding the well-renowned software a four-point five out of five stars.

Crashplan even though providing flawless hardware to the ones needing it, and rarely having any significant issues server-side, the software isn’t in the best of terms with its users.

Crashplan’s unable to connect to the backup engine is one of the many problems that its users face. This is a very disappointing and disheartening error to encounter. This is because the main reason the user uses Crashplan is to back up files and it still fails to connect even though you have mashed the retry button over a hundred times.

So today we’re going to show you how to solve the Crashplan unable to connect to backup engine error.

How to Fix CrashPlan Unable to Connect to Backup Engine

Parameters

The Crashplan unable to connect to backup engine error occurs when the memory allocation has a small malfunction with its parameters. Parameters are defined as an unusual kind of variable that is used in a subroutine. To solve the standard error with the parameters of Crashplan, one has to access the CrashPlanService.ini file which can be sought out at the program files.

Once reaching the destined file, look into the CrashPlan file to find the desired document, once found open the document using Notepad. After the document is open, seek the line which starts with “Virtual Machine Parameters.” Once found change the parameter value from “-Xmx1024m” to “-Xmx512m”.

Once done, this line reduces the memory usage of the program from 1024M to 512M. After which save the changes to the file. Execution of the above steps will ensure that the CrashPlan unable to connect to the backup engine doesn’t show up again. If the error is still present, then the next solution should solve your problem.

In-depth fresco install

Meaning “fresh install” from the Spanish language, fresco install will help you to get rid of the Crashplan unable to connect to backup engine error. The in-depth part comes after installing a fresh version of the program.

To execute the first step of the solution, the user primarily has to make sure the program is uninstalled fully. Achieving total eradication of the software from one’s computer is easy, and it starts with a regular uninstallation. To uninstall the software usually, just access the control panel and select the option to uninstall a program. This will lead you to a list of programs from which the user should seek out Crashplan.

Final Steps

After which, right-clicking on it will give a drop-down menu to offer you the option to uninstall the software. Once you uninstall the program, proceed to the program data file in the “C” drive. And delete the folder aptly named Crashplan. After the user deletes the folder, the user is at liberty to do a fresh install of the application.

During installation, make sure to install the program in the default location insisted by the installer. This can solve future problems if any escalates. Once the installation is over, login to your CrashPlan account. Now the in-depth part begins. Once inside, proceed to the backup option and follow the “continue backup” dialog box. After which clicking on the adopt button will lead you to adopt a previous computer.

The user can aptly make a selection by looking into the computer name, the chronology of the last backup, and its archive size. Once you perform the last step, the user will behave to sign in. Which in turn will give you the message of a successful adoption. This solution should fix the Crashplan unable to connect to backup engine error.

Alternate Method: Editing the Host File

Before you continue to follow this step, hear the word of warning. The host file of the Windows operating system is pretty sensitive to changes. If you mess around with the settings or the default values that you do not know about, you might end up showing up the normal functioning of your network connections. So only those things that are in the following steps and don’t try to tinker any of the other lines.

Windows

Open the windows search menu from the start button and search for notepad.

When you see the search result for Notepad, right-click and select run as administrator. It will ask you a confirmation prompt of whether you want this program to get administrative authority. Click Yes to continue.
Notepad will open up as usual. In the app, click on the file and then select the open option from the drop-down menu. Then, navigate to this path. Windows host file will now open up.
Now, I just have to edit or remove any of the local host entries in that file so that only the following entries of localhost addresses remain in the wild. As I have warned you earlier, do not try to edit any other entries in that while. Only change the ones that I just specified. Once you are over with that, save the file and exit notepad.

You can restart your system if you want to. In fact, I recommended it. Once you reboot the system, you can try to start the CrashPlan service once again.

Mac OS

You have to open the finder.
Then, you need to go to applications followed by utilities and then open the terminal.

Close the terminal was open, you need to type this command in it. You might get a prompt to enter your administrative password since you are using the Sudo keyword here. If that is the case, enter the admin password and click ok.

How far that, it’s the same drill here as well. You just have to remove or edit any of the local host entries in the file so that the following localhost addresses remain. Make sure you do not delete any other entries in the file. It can cause trouble here as well.
Now, Exit The Window by pressing Control + x.
Then, PSY to confirm the changes you have made.
Press the enter key to save to the existing location of the file. And then start the CrashPlan service once again.

Doing this will probably fix the Crashplan unable to connect to the backup engine on devices with custom localhost address error on your backup engine. Try this before you try the second step where it involves an in-depth fresh install. You never know, restarting the service might work just as well as a clean install.

Conclusion

This is the best way we found that could solve the CrashPlan Unable to Connect to Backup Engine problem. Hope you found this article useful. Let us know in the comments. Have a nice day!