excluding file types in partition/drive backup?

Hi,

I was wondering if there was any plans to enable the exclusion of custom file types in the full drive/partition backup option?

Surely if it knows to exclude the swapfile etc then it can be told to ignore others?

In my case I hoped to be able to use it to exclude vitrual machine images as these are too large to make moving them on and off the drive before backups tedious. It came as something of a surprise when assessing true image to discover this couldn't be done already.


dr del

 

There is no place to specify files to exclude when doing drive/partition images. I have a separate partition for large games like Flight Simulator so it doesn't get backed up when doing C. Can you do the same for your virtual machine images?

 

Hi,

Yes Seekforever, the seperate partition plan was my final goal once I have recovered the data off the "old" installation on the other drive. I may keep some of the games I play more frequently on the c drive to take advantage of the backup facility now that you mention it - or would this lead to huge incremental updates? I'm a little new to this backup lark and am only investigating it now because of a recent scare which luckily ended well.

I entered the exclusions in the default backup options before finding out this made no difference to the disk backup option. However I shall move the disk images to the nas to allow me to make a "base" image I can build on later in the event of a problem.


I just thought it would have been a nice option to exclude certain files (possibly even directories) in the full disk copy and wondered if this was a common view


dr del

 

IMHO, a “full” backup should be just that – full.
If someone were to exclude certain files from a “full” backup one day, then forget to un-exclude them when they meant to back them up, there would probably be no end to the “How could Acronis allow this to happen!?” cries.
The wait time for responses and problem resolution is long enough as it is. I don’t think complicating things further by adding a “non-full” full backup would help matters.

 

I agree. That is one reason I make images and I am aware that the lowest unit of storage is the partition and I have my disks partitioned accordingly.

Also, one of the reasons that images are created/restored comparatively quickly is that the method bypasses the file system. Specifying file names would add more time to the process.

In response to the earlier post bydr del incremental size will be increased if the files are altered or moved. Generally, game files are not modified during the execution of the game.

 

Ah,

Thank you for that clarification Seekforever.

In my case because I was backing up to the nas it took 3 hours + (55 gig partition with only 18 gig free mind you 25+ gig of that is the files I was trying to exclude ) I should point out this included verifying the backup.
I may have to rethink the wisdom of trying to backup to the nas at all given the speed reduction it carries with it (only a 100 network sadly). Any opinion on making and verifying it locally then moving it after?


to TheWeaz,

LOL ok - it's a fair point and I agree it would happen a lot - not to me granted with these particular file types but I also can imagine the post's tone.

Maybe if it was hidden in an "advanced" options tab with appropriate warnings


dr del

 

Based on some tests I did with Windows Explorer you can move around 9-10MB/s on a 100 Mbit/s link. Depends a bit on the PC but sooner or later the networking throttles it.

If you were moving a 55-18GB=37GB image across the network it would take about 37000MB/10=3700s or 62 min. You can then roughly double that for verification. So you are around 2h and now you have to create the image which would take about 40 min if to an internal HD. The time saving isn't really that great if I haven't made an error in the estimate.

You can create the image locally and then copy it to your NAS device. If you have concerns about integrity you can validate it on the NAS a few times until you have some confidence. I would suggest this is a very good idea particularly validating it with the rescue CD version so you know that the Linux environment does support your NAS device. This is an area where TI can come unstuck - it may lack good Linux drivers for some devices.