How to backup only windows and program files?

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by costa, Nov 8, 2007.

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  1. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    Acronis home 11
    I want to make a backup what can restore a crashed system.
    80% of the disc are temporary files what should not be included.
    So basically just the boot sector, the root and the 3 directories -windows -program files -documents and settings.
    I searched here and in the manual, but could not find the way to do it.
    HELP PLEASE
     
  2. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    What you are proposing will NOT restore your system in the event of a crashed system. You need to backup your entire system including all partitions.

    If you have a bunch of temp files, then remove them before backup. A program such as Ccleaner could be of assistance.

    My guides below can be of assistance.
     
  3. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    What you might want to do is, one time get the disk cleaned down to just what you want to backup and make an image and save that in a safe place as the emergency-return-to-original-system-condition backup. If you never want to save anything else, then you never have to make another backup.

    If you do want to save more from time to time, then from then on (after making that emergency-return-to-original-system-condition backup), just do regular full backups so you can always return your disk to whatever state it was in when you made the backup. For example, I don't thhink I can afford to lose more than a day's worth of work, so I make a full backup every night.

    good luck
     
  4. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    why don't you just have 2 partitions ? C: for OS and programs and D: for data and your temporary files. Make full images of both as frequently as required and then when you want to restore C: you can do without messing up D:
     
  5. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    thanks for the answers but the files I do not want to safe are in several directories and need to stay on the disc. They change often and are back upped in a different way.
    It says here: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

    Exclude files and folders
    Save space when creating backups by only backing up the data you want to keep.

    I just try to find how to exclude folders when making an image back up
     
  6. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Page 29 of the user manual provides options for user to add there own bypass. I do not have ver 11 but this appears to be an answer , maybe??
     
  7. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    tried that one, but it did not exclude the folders I added.
     
  8. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    If you've gone theroughte Backup wizard and gotten tothe screen where you can check boxes for
    Exlcude hidden files
    Exclude system files
    Exclude files matching the following criteria

    and you're specifying file masks there, then you're doing what you're supposed to and ATI is just not working correctly.

    There have been other reports that ATI 11 fails to exclude files that the user has specified. They might fix this eventually if they figure out when and how it happens. re your 30 days up yet?
     
  9. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    costa,
    Did you notice the response by Shieber in your other duplicate posting?
     
  10. mustang

    mustang Developer

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    I've found that when you specify folders to exclude, TI 11 is very fussy. You need to specify the full path name of a folder or file you want to exclude. Following are some examples:

    1. Test.txt ----- will not work.
    2. C:\Temp\Test.txt ----- will exclude the file Test.txt.
    3. C:\Temp ----- will not work.
    4. C:\Temp\ ----- will exclude the folder Temp.
     
  11. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    thanks guys.
    i started another post, because i felt i was not very clear in the title.
    so far when i want to make a image with excluding c:\foldername\*.* ati11 produces a 20 Gb file where ther are only 6.5 Gb of data it should back up.

    Why there is not an easy way to just deselect (or select) the folders i want to exclude is a total mystery in a version 11 to me. i would expect something like that in a v 1 beta but not in somethin that advanced and modern....

    also i noticed when i am mounting the back up it takes a very long time to mount.
    thanks for your help and input, i keep on trying and when i find something i will post success or....
     
  12. foghorne

    foghorne Registered Member

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    I find partitioning is the logical and intuitive way to go on this. Not only does it separate system data from user data, the separation lends itself nicely to the fact that you might want to backup these different types at a different frequency.

    I run with a small D: drive which holds all "My Documents", Email and other non system stuff. It is very quick to back up in toto as an image.

    F.
     
  13. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    i had partitions before, it did not work out for me.
    Years ago in the times of ati8 i helped my self by moving the files i wanted to exclude to an external disc, made the image and moved the files back. not very elegant, but it did the trick.

    now trying ati11 and hoping the folder exclusion will finally work it is not a good experience. i spend the whole day trying to figure out what wildcards to use.

    results so far:
    exclude c:\foldername\ does not work
    exclude c:\foldername\*.* works on files but backs up the complete foldersrtucture of the excluded folder. also the audiofiles in gta san andreas which have no extention get backed up and resulting in 3.4 Gb aditional data.
    exclude c:\foldername\*. does not solve the problem.

    so how come 6.5 Gb data results in a 20 Gb file?
    http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5397/ati11yw6.gif


    in the attached picture you see on the left my c drive and on the right the mounted back up. the 3.4 Gb extra in the temp folder are from the gta folder. even the the back up should be 10 Gb and not 20 Gb. so how come my back up is double the data size? is this a kind of reverse compression?
     
  14. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    You want all files to have their file types displayed.

    Suggest you recheck your Folder Options/View options as illustrated by the attachment. Be sure the unchecked items are unchecked.
    types1.png
     
  15. costa

    costa Registered Member

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    i wanted to mention that this included hidden and system files but forgot. Yes groverh, that is the first thing i change when a new operating system comes onto the pc. by the way i work with pc´s since the 8088 and when 256k memory and a 20 Mb harddisk seemed to last 4e4 (for ever, for the newbies).
    I was looking for a simple soluition like this:
    http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/1330/gdrpa1.gif
     
  16. foghorne

    foghorne Registered Member

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    There is a hard way and there is a way so simple that you don't even have to think about it. If your partition solution used an external disk then you are missing the point. You should consider partitioning you primary disk. Changing the location of My Document and your email and other stuff takes minutes.

    Good luck.

    F.
     
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