Unable to specify excluded folders for a backup
When setting the options for an existing backup, I'm unable to choose additional folders to exclude from the backup. Pressing the + button/icon brings up the input text box but the choose folder dialog button (marked ...) does not appear. Typing a folder name into the input text box and hitting return does nothing and the folder isn't added to the exclusions list.
However, if I create a new backup there is - at first - no issue, I can click on the back options and add folders to be excluded from the backup in the normal way, i.e. click +, click ... to open the folder chooser to choose a folder to exclude. I can even type in the folder name and hit return and the folder is added. But when I click Change Source from the main screen and choose the folders to be backed up, I'm subsequently unable to add folders to be excluded from the backup as first described and my previously chosen folders to be excluded have been removed/reset.
ATI 2021 is running as Administrator so there shouldn't be any file or folder permission issues and I've disabled my anti-virus.
I've had this issue years ago with TI 2016 and the only workaround (under Windows 7 at the time) was to open the config file for the backup in C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts and add the excluded folders in there and it worked, but with Windows 10 that is not an option as all folders in c:\ProgramData are protected.
The issue obviously doesn't occur for everyone, but it's very disappointing that I'm still encountering this issue 5 years after first coming across it. It wasn't an issue with TI2015 because the way that the excluded folders dialog worked was different (it used a standard Windows folder chooser dialog) so the issue is clearly with the "pretty" folder chooser implementation that Acronis have used since ATI 2016.
Can anyone suggest a workaround or some way I can specify the folders to be excluded from the backup?
You can only specify excluded folders when you set up a disk and partitions backup. For a file backup, you can only exclude files using a mask (*.pdf for example).
I was not able to replicate the OP issue with a disk and partition backup. I successfully set up a disk and partition backup, excluded some folders, changed the selection of disk and partitions, and updated the excluded folder list.
I suspect there is an issue with the script of the backup. I would start over with a new backup task.
I always recommend to set up a new backup task when a significant change in a task is required: source, destination, or backup scheme. Although the product supports these changes, the recovery process might be challenging as the product might ask for previous versions in older destinations, restore data that is not desired, etc.
Steve Smith wrote:John, is this a Files & Folders backup task that you are attempting to modify?
If so, you need to exclude any further folders by modifying the Source selection and not by using the Exclusions page.
Put simply, you cannot include a folder in the Source selection and then try to exclude the same folder in the Exclusions panel. The latter can be used to exclude specific files from the source folders using wildcards etc.
Yes, it is a files and folders backup I'm modifying and many thanks for your suggestion, I did that and it got me to where I wanted to be, though it did mean it took longer to specify what I wanted to back up.
My understanding of exclusions from a backup is just that - backup these files but exclude anything matching the exclusions. I'm not trying to include a folder and then exclude that folder, I was trying to exclude the cloud storage folders that I don't need to backup that are contained within the top-level folder whose content I want to backup.
There does seem to be an issue with adding exclusions and I get the impression it's not related to any logic in the application.
Pat L wrote:You can only specify excluded folders when you set up a disk and partitions backup. For a file backup, you can only exclude files using a mask (*.pdf for example).
I was not able to replicate the OP issue with a disk and partition backup. I successfully set up a disk and partition backup, excluded some folders, changed the selection of disk and partitions, and updated the excluded folder list.
I suspect there is an issue with the script of the backup. I would start over with a new backup task.
I always recommend to set up a new backup task when a significant change in a task is required: source, destination, or backup scheme. Although the product supports these changes, the recovery process might be challenging as the product might ask for previous versions in older destinations, restore data that is not desired, etc.
Thanks Pat, that's good advice about setting up a new backup task if things change.
Out of interest, which backup scheme do you and others here recommend?
John, ref backup schemes, I use a mix of both Disks & Partitions backups and separate Files & Folders backups. For both types I use the default Incremental scheme but change the automatic cleanup option to use 'Store no more than X recent versions / version schemes' where typically X = either 1 or 2 depending on the size of backups involved and space available. I do backups to multiple different backup locations at different scheduled times.
I take a similar approach to Steve Smith.
Ian
This works, but it's kind of a horseshit solution. It shouldn't matter how the source was originally set up, an exclusion is an exclusion, and the software should be able to do a simple check and just remove the exclusion entry from the source.