Acronis does support file exclusions.... (I was wrong?)

Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Tonight I encountered another reason why I can no longer support Acronis TrueImage.

I have a laptop that needs to be imaged but with a boot volume that has about 23GB of data an Acronis image of this would be impractical to permanently backup to DVD. I only want to backup the important data such as the Windows folders, etc.

Wouldn't it be nice if Acronis allowed for files and folders exclusion? No one needs to back up their hibernate or partition file (usually a gigabyte or more), temp folder and files, or perhaps a number of folders in the programs file file. Like I stated, the C drive has 23GB of data and I really only want to backup about 4GB. Acronis will not allow this!

Many people in this forum have "begged" for this ability and two years later it is still not available!

<snip>

Please inform me when these features are available because aside from a few but serious limitations, I do like Acronis otherwise.

Shawn

edited to remove software promotions - Detox

 

Re: Why I am STILL (no longer using Acronis) (...unless proven wrong)

Backs up SATA system drive to external USB drive fast and clean from within Windows while I work. Validates backup file of 27 gig. Hard drive physically disconnected when backup finishes

Restores system drive using BartPE TI plugin quickly and without a problem.

Restores system drive using Rescue disc slowly and without a problem

TI works for me so I stay with it. If it didn't I would find another solution.

PS Replicator used for backup of critical files to USB drive.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

sconnell,

It's not Acronis' fault. I'm afraid you need to learn more about backup.

See http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#13

Ignore the parts about Ghost and Drive Image.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

If I make an image, I want an image that includes everything rather than fooling around picking stuff to exclude and later wishing I hadn't. I trust that the Files/Folders backup doesn't do what you want to ultimately achieve.

I realize I am doing some speculating since I don't know what you have on your drive that you call 23GB of data and I am also assuming what you want to back up is really the OS and you are referring to it as Windows folders. Given that, it seems you really don't have your drive setup for imaging the OS. IMO, the way to do it is to have your OS and installed applications on C and keep your data files in another partition. This usually aids you in being able to easily restore the C drive for any reason and minimize the backup space and time. The data files, of course, should be backed up by either imaging or a Files/Folders backup in TI or some other backup program.

I install games like Flight Simulator etc that have a lot of files to a different partition as well. Most of these files tend to never change and take a lot of space.

Before I do an image of my C drive I often delete all the temporary files and do a general disk cleanup. I don't think TI images files like the pagefile; the hibernation file, I don't know. Note that with XP and a bunch of installed apps the C drive can easily contain 10GB without data.

Like I said, I am speculating about what is on your C drive and I just want to say that perhaps a change in disk structure might provide you a solution.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

If you could maybe partion your drive with more partions, then you could transfer and also place everything you want to image in there. Or what you don't want to.


StevieO

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I also use Ti9. And, though it is not without it's problems, I will continue to use it. I don't back up my paging file, temp files or hibernation files. Instead as someone above has sugested, I have my Hard drive divided into several partitions.

One partition is for my windows XP install and basic required programs and data (i.e My Documents) another for downloads and other data another for Program Files (for my large Applixcations (eg. DTP, etc) finally I have a drive reserved exclusvely for temp and paging files. I back up the "C:" drive regularly (generally once a week) and make daily incremental backups (scheduled to start on shutdown. There are still some places where TI9 could be morte accomodating for my kind of setup. and the logistics are sometimes a little tricky but My backups typically fit on one or two DVD-Rs andf the incrementals often fit on a regular CD (or two). AS an added bopnus my defragging is much quicker, though I don't defrag as often due to the intersection with incremenrtal imaging

One needen't go to the lengths I have and There's room for improvement in my scheme, If I was willing to put in the extra work.

This is not my original idea. Credit for that goes to Fred Langa and his LangaList Plus newsletter (I highly recommend it well worth the small change it costs - there's also a free version) . Most of what I've done requires little in the line of special programs (beyond a decent partition manager and True image. Most of the tweaking can be done with existing Windows XP tools

I'lll be willing to elaborate if someone wants more specifics,
Chuck Brotman

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I'm new to TI but I see a file exclude list in the Options menu. In it the page file is specified. Couldn't you put the files you want not to get backed up with a full image here?

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I do understand how this technology works. Did you know that Ghost allows file and folder exclusion and even allows one to edit the resulting .gho image files?

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I use Ghost on one of my computers and your statement is incorrect.

My original comment was to get you thinking about the difference between data and OS backup.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I don't wish to get into a "flame" with you but... how am I incorrect?

GHOST.EXE -split=685 -z9 -ntd -ntchkdsk -auto -skip=@skipfile.txt

The skipfile.txt contains the following (abridged):
*\*.swp
*\*.tmp
*\*.bak - meaning do not backup temp files (savings = ~ 2GB)
*\*.chk
*\*.??~
*\pagefile.sys - (savings = ~ 1-2GB)
*\Virtpart.dat - (savings = 700MB)
\temp\ - another temp folder Ghost will ignore (savings = ~ 1-3GB)
*\USA_CD
*\USA*.ITS - Also I don't need to backup MS Streets and Trips
*\USA*.DAT - maps data files so... (savings = ~ 1.4GB)
*\USA*.VLF

In total, I can reduce the size of a HD image by more than 10GB or more (depending on how many exclusions I add to the skipfile.txt).

So please, tell me how am I incorrect?

Shawn

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Shawn, I'll have to back down on this one. I was referring to Ghost 9 and 10. I have no experience with Ghost 2003.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I am actually using Ghost Ent. 7.5 and 8.0.

Brian, are saying that Ghost 10 no longer includes the exclusion feature? I was considering the upgrade because I like the idea of backing up in Windows.

One of the reasons why I purchased Acronis was I could backup from Windows AND it allows in one "click" the creation of a boot CD that allowed me to backup systems directly to the network. Ghost network boot disks had always been problematic with finding the network.

There really isn't a sound reason for not including a backup image mode that allows for file/folder exclusion. At least Ghost was doing it [successfully] up to version 8.0.

Shawn

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Whoa! Hold the phone!

I just happened to be playing around with Acronis v9 Build 2.247.
Check this:
Tools/Options
Open Default Backup Options
Click on Source File Exclusion

Well, what the heck is this? It seems that Acronis v9 does indeed support file
exclusions.

How could no one see this? I am greatly puzzled that despite my several complaints no one has ever told me how stupid I was for complaining about something that is already available!

Not to sound ungrateful but Acronis doesn't quite support user specific folder exclusions. Also I don't believe these exclusion features are available from the boot CD - or are they if I create a new boot CD with the exclusions I just made?

Comments please because I am a little bit puzzled.....

Shawn

 

I recently started this thread:
Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=650381#post650381

I just happened to be playing around with Acronis v9 Build 2.247 tonight and found in the program options an area where file exclusions can be made.

Check this:
Tools/Options
Open Default Backup Options
Click on Source File Exclusion

Well, it seems that Acronis v9 does indeed support file exclusions.

How could no one see this? I am greatly puzzled that despite my several complaints no one has ever told me how stupid I was for complaining about something that is already available!

Not to sound ungrateful but Acronis doesn't quite support user specific folder exclusions but this is close enough for me. Also I don't believe these exclusion features are available from the boot CD - or are they if I create a new boot CD with the exclusions I just made?

Comments please because I am a little bit puzzled.....

Shawn

 

Is there a way to export these file exclusions to another installed copy of Acronis or have Acronis automatically include my custom list with every new install?

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Folks,

This is the Acronis Support forum, please stick to that or create a thread on one of the general forums. Thanks

Blue

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Speaking personally, mind you, while I have upgraded to a 9.0 license, I was waiting for the builds to stabilize (they seem to have lately) before doing some stress testing on my own machine prior to a conversion from TI-8 to TI-9. Haven't had time for the testing yet and my main backups are typically complete images, so there's not a huge driver to quickly migrate. I upgraded when I did to obtain the Holiday discount.

Blue

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Uh, Cerebus mentioned this fact in post #7 of this thread! In my post in this thread I mentioned the File and Folder backup but more as a "I guess this isn't what you want" statement. I think there was a feeling that you were referring to exclusion in images not in a file/folder backup.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

seekforever,

I'm interested too. Could you confirm that files/folders can or can't be excluded from an image.

 

Shawn,

What do you make of this?

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

I think the file exclusion just refers to a file backup, not to an image. It's very cryptic.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

Shawn,

The Ghost userguide says the Skip switch can only be used on a FAT partition. I doubt your OS is FAT.

 

Re: Why I am no longer using Acronis (...unless proven wrong)

I went through the backup wizard and only saw the exclusion list when doing the Files and Folders backup. You can easily check this out without doing the final step of Proceeding with backup. I was using the Windows, not stand-alone, version.

 

The User Guide, on the other hand, is quite clear:

4.3.2 Source files exclusion
......
This option is effective for file/folders backup only. When creating a disk/partition image, you cannot filter out any files.

 

Hi Shawn,

Now we know why the well known phrase "RTFM" was penned!! Only kidding .

When creating a Files and Folders image, either via Windows or the boot rescue CD, you are presented with a blank canvas and need to select the files and folders that you wish to image. The source files exclusion option (available in Windows mode only) is then applied globally to those selections. Note that, by popular request, from Build 2323 onwards the file types for global exclusion are unticked by default rather than ticked.

Perhaps it's also worth mentioning that the Page File and Hibernation File are not included in a Disk or Partition image. Only a few bytes of "placeholder" information.

Regards

 

Re: File/folder method, questions?

to those of you using the file/folder method (if it exists, etc...)

I just bought the upgrade to version 9, have not had time to install it.
Please see my prior thread, from AOZ, regarding backup of Encrypted drives

I have not had a chance to experiment with this yet.


I am trying to back up an encrypted drive. Acronis 8 will not do this (due to the fact that the whole drive is encrypted, and can't read unencrypted sectors.)

File/folder option MIGHT solve this; here's scenario and questions.

(IGNORE encryption question first)
FIRST question, can file/folder backup back up ALL files, including system state files (registry, INI, system, etc),when in windows mode? IF SO, then can you RESTORE a regular drive completely from a file/folder backup, so that you can clone a drive?

(OK, now consider encryption)
OK, if the above method works, THEN acronis might have the solution to backing up encrypted drives. I realize the sector method does not work. BUT, if the File/Folder method above works, then a FULL backup of an encrypted drive could be done, from within windows; AND, if the drive blew up, then restore to a NEW drive (it would be in an unencrypted state), and then just re-encrypt it.

The REASON I ask this is that I use ANOTHER product also, and THEY will NOT back up the system state files, without haveing a $100.00 upgrade to their software.
Acronis is currently able to do this from a NON-encrypted drive, using the sector method, from within windows; I'm looking to see if the file/folder method can do this also.

I appreciate any help on this.

I WILL test this later, but I do not want to encrypt my notebook drive yet until I have a solid backup method.

thanks
Nick