Excluding 'Recylcer' folder from Backups

I have scheduled full monthly backups and daily incremental backups.
This should backup the whold of my 'D' drive (which is my data drive) together with the 'Documents and Settings' folder of the 'C' drive.

This backup routine works well.

However, I recently noticed that it was also backing up the 'Recycler' folder, which often times can be huge.

It seems to be invisible, so I am unable to 'untick' this folder from those to be backed up.
I have tried entering various combinations of 'd:\recylcer', 'd:\recylcer\*.*' etc.. into the exclusion list in an attempt to exclude this folder from the backup.

However, whatever I try, the 'recylcer' folder always gets backed up!

The data I want backed up can be something up to 4Gb (which fits nicely on a DVD).
However, the recylcler folder can often contain 1-2Gb alone, and hence at those times, my backup can stretch to well over 5Gb.

I have no need to backup the recylcer folder!
The fact that I have a deifned backup schedule and routine, means that I always have backups of any important data, negating the need for anything in the recylcer folder.

HOW do I exlcude the recycler folder form my scheduled backups?

Cheers,
Don

 

I just ran through the backup schedule you described, and was able to untick RECYCLER on both C and D.

Also on the next screen, you can select any/all the following:
- Exclude all hidden files and folders
- Exclude all system files and folders
- Exclude files matching the following criteria (this allows you to define the criteria)

I didn't finalize the schedule, or run it, but I was able to define it with no problem.
Are you saying it backs up the recycler even if you exclude it?

EDIT:
You might need to go to My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Hidden files and folders and tick the radio button "Show hidden files and folders" in order to see the recycler folder.

You might also consider occasionally emptying the recycle bin

 

Dougiebear, I appreciate your attempt to help.
However, I appear to have different experiences from you - I am using Windows XP, BTW.

In the File Selection window, I do NOT have the RECYCLER folder displayed, so cannot un-tick it.
My explorer is already set up to display hidden folders, so that isn't the issue.

On the next screen I have already tried to exclude the RECYCLER folder by including the following exclusions:

D:\RECYCLER\*.*
D:\RECYCLER
C:\RECYCLER\*.*
C:\RECYCLER

But again, the RECYCLER folder still gets backed up ie. NOT excluded.

I 'may' try ticking the option that says 'Exclude all Hidden files and folders' but I can never be sure that there isn't another hidden folder that I 'may' want to be backed up.

Whilst I understand your suggestion to empty the recycle bin, I don't want to have to do it every day! I have a daily incremental backup schedule, so anytime there is anything in the RECYLCER folder it would get picked up by this incremental backup.

I 'could' stop the use of the recycle bin altogether - the fact that I perform daily backups negates to some degree the need for the recycle bin. However, it still has it's use for immediate recovery ie. on the ocassion that I accidentally delete or over-write an important file and want it recovered immediately.

This is really annoying me - being unable to exclude the RECYCLE folder.
I do a lot of video manipulation, and hence am regularly deleting large video files. These can remain in the RECYCLER folder for some time, and hence get unnecessarily backed up.

Hmmmm....

Don

 

What about system folders, is your system configured to show those? There is a separate line to check/uncheck to show those.

 

I do not follow the logic of the OP here. Either the contents of the recycler are needed or they are not. Because a hard drive failure can happen at any time it would seem sensible to include the recycler contents if they are of any importance.

It is possible to turn off the recycler for any combination of drives or all of them . It is also possible to limit the size of the recycler on each drive.

My method of working does not include any TI file based backups and as I am interested in backing up the whole main drive I use whole drive images.
I can review the contents of the recycler before the scheduled backups run and then delete them or leave them as required. I would not countenance excluding the recycler even if I could.


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