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Bootable Media - Exclude Folders

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Two questions please:

1. Using the Bootable Media, is there any way to do a backup image of the "full" drive but exclude folders? (I don't think so, so if not, please go on to Question 2.)          
          
2. Assume you used the Bootable Media to do a file backup instead of a full disk backup.  You select the entire drive including all files (but exclude certain user data folders that you don't want in the backup).          
          
Would there be any way to reliably restore the entire drive using the Bootable Media and this FILES backup so that it is an exact duplicate of the drive, OS, programs, configurations, etc. when the backup was made (except that it excludes the user data folders that were not included in the backup of course)?          
          
I assume that if you can do this, you would have to do something that would make the drive it is restored to bootable.  How can that be done.  And does the file backup include every other file on the original drive (except the files that make the drive bootable)?  Or are some necessary system files excluded from the backup when you use the FILES method instead of the full drive image method?          
          
What I want to be able to accomplish is to be able to use the Bootable Media CD to create a backup that could completely restore the original drive with OS, programs and all settings BUT be able to EXCLUDE selected folders of user data since they are separately backed up and would waste too much space if I include them in the full image backup.  In addition, the user data changes frequently.  So even incremental backups that can't exclude those folders would be large and waste a lot of space.

I'd like to be able to do this using the Bootable Media.  Can it be done?
          
Note: I know that one way to do this would be to have separate system and data partitions.  But in this case that is not the way it is setup.  Both system and data are on the same partition.

Thanks for any help!

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Ryan, the bootable media will allow you to exclude files and/or folders in the optional settings for the backup task you are configuring / preparing to run.

The interface is more primative with the bootable media in that you need to manually type in the file names or folder paths though you can include wildcard characters, i.e. c:\users\myname\*.* would exclude the whole contents of the myname profile folder and subfolders.

For a restored drive to be bootable you would need to restore a disk or partition backup along with any other required hidden partitions (EFI or MSR partition).  A Files & Folders backup would not include vital system files required to make the drive bootable.

Ryan,

For a backup to be "Bootable" it must be created using disk mode & full partition list.  A "Files" backup will never be bootable.

When making a disk mode backup, you can exclude folders.  However, I believe this would require a lot of work to create the backup, and a restore could be very tedious and time consuming.  When using rescue media to perform the backup, you have to recreate the exclude list every time you perform the backup.

FtrPilot

 

Thank you all for the great responses!  The only reason I mentioned the file backup mode was because I did not know that files could be excluded in a full disk image backup.  And the reason I didn't know that was because I was looking for the setting to exclude files and didn't see it because I didn't realize that the options aren't offered until the last step in the Wizard -- the "Final" step.  After reading the responses here, I went back and looked for it, and saw the options link in the last step.  So that's great!

FtrPilot, you are clearly right that in many cases using disk mode from the Bootable Media would not be the easiest way to do backups in many cases for the reason you stated...good point.  However, in this scenario it is not difficult because all the excluded files are in subfolders of a single folder.  So all that is necessary is a single entry e.g. c:\exclude_these\*.* in the exclusion options and everything I want to exclude will be excluded.  Everything else on the drive gets backed up (including some files that aren't needed of course as in most cases, but that's a small percentage).

The scenario is a simple one.  A laptop has a single HDD with a single NTFS system partition that takes up the entire drive (so the data also resides on the same partition).  The main thing I want to be prepared for is HDD failure and be able to reload the system partition image in the event the drive fails and has to be replaced.  I back up the user data separately.

I think I'm there now, but just want to ask some follow up questions to make sure this is rock solid and satisfy some curiosities.  After all, a backup does no good unless you can restore it and get the result you expect!

Questions:

1. So I'll have the .tib file full backup image of the entire system partition and maybe some incremental backups (excluding the user data as I mentioned).  If the drive fails and I put a new drive in the laptop, or if I just want to reload the OS, programs and configuration on the current drive, all I have to do is run the Bootable Media again and do a restore to the new or existing drive?

2. Do I have to initialize or partition a new drive before restoring the .tib to it or can I just restore it to a raw unpartitioned drive?  Does it matter if the drive has any partitions already or not?

3. I can restore to a larger drive?

4. I can restore to a SSD?

5. What happens if I restore to the HDD on a new computer in case the laptop is replaced? Depends on whether the drivers that are installed on the OS image support the new hardware?  That part is a bit confusing.

Thanks again for the excellent help!

Woops!  One more: Can individual files be restored from the full drive image (if so how?) or can that only be done from from a file mode backup?

Ryan,

Answers to your Questions:

1. So I'll have the .tib file full backup image of the entire system partition and maybe some incremental backups (excluding the user data as I mentioned).  If the drive fails and I put a new drive in the laptop, or if I just want to reload the OS, programs and configuration on the current drive, all I have to do is run the Bootable Media again and do a restore to the new or existing drive?

Yes.

2. Do I have to initialize or partition a new drive before restoring the .tib to it or can I just restore it to a raw unpartitioned drive?  Does it matter if the drive has any partitions already or not?

No need to initialise or partition the new drive as the restore will wipe out anything on the target / new drive when it writes back the restored data.
See Recovering your system to the same disk or Recovering your system to a new disk under bootable media in the ATIH 2016 User Guide.

3. I can restore to a larger drive?   Yes, but again see the above link for recovering to a new disk, where it give this warning:
Warning! Your old and new hard drives must work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI).
Otherwise, your computer will not start from the new hard drive.

4. I can restore to a SSD?  Yes, see answer to 3. above.

5. What happens if I restore to the HDD on a new computer in case the laptop is replaced?

To recover to a new computer requires the use of the Acronis Universal Restore utility which can help prepare the OS to run on the new hardware - the steps are essentially the same, i.e. restore the backup to the drive in the new computer then boot from the UR media with any additional device drivers that may be needed.  See Acronis Universal Restore in the User Guide

6. Can individual files be restored from the full drive image (if so how?) or can that only be done from from a file mode backup?

Yes, you can restore individual files from both types of backup image - you can do this from within Windows with the option to explore the image files, or using the bootable media.  See the User Guide Recovering files and folders