acronis true image 2016 not backing up outlook files
1) acronis true image 2015
2) full backup selected ( not incremental )
3) even though the full directory for outlook files is selected and full backup selected
4) software is not backing up all ost files for outlook
5) outlook is not running while backing up
WHY?
sorry i mystiped is it 2016
OAB and OST Outlook files are excluded from backups by Microsoft in the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot. You will see the data values to exclude them on the right side. You can modify or delete these values so the files will be backed up.
Can I just confirm if this is considered the proper 'fix' for this (ie manual regedit / registry key manipulation)? I am performing a full disk backup and just assumed that full disk meant everything unless specified as an exemption in the ATI2016 Options -> Exclusions tab.
Are there any other file extensions that I should be checking? Are there any other forms / types of exemptions elsewhere that should also be checked?
Would love to know why microsoft wanted to exclude OAB and OST files by default (but only if they are in the default location if I understand the registry key correctly?) but that is probably a question for a different forum...
Mark:
Since Acronis uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), any exclusions that Microsoft put in the registry under FilesNotToSnapshot will not be backed up. As far as I know, deleting the registry keys for items that you do not want to be excluded is the only way to control this.
OAB and OST files are used by Outlook when connected to an Exchange server. They are local copies of data that's stored on the Exchange server. I suppose Microsoft excluded them from backups in order to make the backups smaller in size. These files are expendable. If you delete them they will be downloaded to your disk again the next time that you connect to the Exchange server.
One could disable VSS in the backup task and revert to the Acronis SNAPI backup method as was the default in 2014 and earlier anyway. Then the VSS exclusions would be of little worry.
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/116164#comment-346710
1) open the folder where your backups settings are saved: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts
2) each file there stores settings for particular backup job. Open files one-by-one in Notepad, or open latest modified file (if you have just modified your task), until you find the one that has backup name on 5th line, e.g. MyBackups
3) click Edit - Replace and replace use_vss="true" with use_vss="false"
4) save changes and close the file
Alternatively, take a full disk backup with the offline bootable recovery media from time to time and you'll know that you have backed up the entire disk, in its entirety, since the backup also uses the snapapi method and is done completely outside of Windows.
Thanks for the prompt reply Mark. Yes I understand that the data will be able to be redownloaded from the server - but that is only the current state data not the historical data which is what a backup is designed for. If the email I wanted to get back was deleted from the server then it is gone forever (unless some separate server side backup of email was taken but I have no control whatsoever of the server its just whatever the ISP is providing). My case is actually not Exchange Server but IMAP - but I think the same applies either way if it is gone and purged from the deleted items then it is gone. That is not a backup in my opinion.
What I thought was happening was that I was getting a full backup of the disk so I'm very, very surprised. A lot of the data on my disk IS recreatable given enough time / effort / bandwidth - but the intention was to avoid all that by getting back to a fixed, guaranteed, known point. It was only by chance that I noticed this and am currently wondering if there is anything else that may be silently being omitted.
It seems to be a rather glaring omission on behalf of Microsoft (based on what you have said it appears to be something beyond the control of Acronis). Recovery of an email from a backup is just as valid as recovering a document.
Thank you Bobbo_3C0X1 for the prompt reply.
I will have to sit down and have a good think about the options available - between your post and Mark's above it there are a couple of good options.
Off-the-cuff, I'm thinking using the SNAPI might be the way to go for me. I don't have any Oracle / SQL databases so that limitation would be fine. My concern with modifying the registry is that some future Windows update restores the default settings and they become omitted again (I don't really know whether something like that would be likely or not but seems plausible).
I always liked the 'feel' of having the images taken while the system was offline. But in all honesty I got lazy with doing it because of the need to take the system offline and the backups got further and further apart until one day I got caught out. Being able to backup in the background without needing to shutdown or close everything is wonderful.
Just to double check - can the SNAPI backup method handle open outlook files? My setup is that ATI will run automatically on startup each day. Normally I just turn my PC on while walking past so its ready for later but sometimes I might sitdown straight away and open email. Once email is open it normally stays open all day.
Mark:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Introduction-to-Outlook-Data-F…
If you have an IMAP email account, Outlook uses a .PST file to hold your data; not a .OST file. PST files are not excluded from backups.
Mark. Your link is to an old version of Outlook (Outlook 2010). Outlook 2013 and 2016 use .ost for imap accounts.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Introduction-to-Outlook-Data-F…
Mark:
Oops - sorry. Outlook 2010 is the version that I still use; I'm a little behind the times.
Still, if you have an IMAP account and use Outlook 2013 or 2016, the local .ost file and the IMAP server should contain identical information. If you delete an email permanently, it will vanish from both locations since they are synchronized. If you want to keep old emails, then you can archive them locally in a .pst file which will not be excluded from backups by VSS exclusions.