File Exclusion Not Working
I have a Garmin GPS, and the data file is enormous (> 23 GBytes). I did an "Entire PC" backup, and selected "Options", went to the "Exclusions" tab, and added the full path to the file. I also clicked "Saved as Default" (see attached screen shot). I ran the backup, and the file was still included in the backup. Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong? It seems like a pretty basic operation...
Thanks!
Douglas, see post: 121537: True Image is not excluding files on the exclude list which is one of the previous posts where this same / a similar issue was raised - it is quite lengthy but may offer some clues for you to try.
I'm curious if this is onlyh occuriring after the exclusions have been changed if the backup has previously run. What happens if you create a new backu task, verify the exclusion in the exclusion list to make sure it's there and then run teh new backup - does it actually exclude with the new backup task then or still ignore it? Does double clicking that .tib backup file and navigating to the folder show that the file is indeed in teh new backup that the new task created, or is it indeed excluded?
Douglas, welcome to these user forums.
Please download a copy of the Log File Viewer app and check the Service log for your backup task to ensure that the exclusions you set for the Garmin file is shown - link below in my signature.
How are you checking that the file is included in the backup archive? Can you post a screen shot showing this?
There have been some other users recently with similar problems with exclusions not working but I don't remember any solution being found.
First, thanks to everyone for trying to help. I haven't had a chance to carefully examine the thread you linked to that also reported this issue. One thing I did verify is that the backup did NOT include pagefile.sys & hiberfil.sys. However, I had just re-booted before running the backup. I also have enough RAM that I discovered neither of those two files actually exist on my machine at the moment...
To Bobbo_3C0X1: this wasn't a modification to an exisiting backup, it was created from scratch.
I've attached the log file that clearly shows the Garmin data file on the exclusion list, and a screen shot showing the file present in the backup set (from examining the files available to restore).
My initial thought is the problem could be the spaces in the path name for both "program files" and "Garmin GPS Plugin". Even in Windows, any path that uses a space in the name must be enclosed by ""(quotes) when you want to run an application or it ends the path at the first space and ignores the rest. Windows 10 seems to be better at handling this in the command prompt than other OSes, but still believe using quotes is the proper way to go. Worth a shot - not sure how Acronis handles the spaces in the application.
You can try putting the full path in quotes.
"C:\Program Files\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll"
If it weren't for the additional spaces in the Garmin directory as well, you could also have used
%programfiles%\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll
but since the Garmin directory has spaces too, it would also need quotes
"%programfiles%\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll"
You might also just be able to filer any file with that name by using
*npGarmin.dll or *\npGarmin.dll
My initial thought is the problem could be the spaces in the path name for both "program files" and "Garmin GPS Plugin". Even in Windows, any path that uses a space in the name must be enclosed by ""(quotes) when you want to run an application or it ends the path at the first space and ignores the rest. Windows 10 seems to be better at handling this in the command prompt than other OSes, but still believe using quotes is the proper way to go. Worth a shot - not sure how Acronis handles the spaces in the application.
You can try putting the full path in quotes.
"C:\Program Files\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll"If it weren't for the additional spaces in the Garmin directory as well, you could also have used
%programfiles%\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll
but since the Garmin directory has spaces too, it would also need quotes
"%programfiles%\Garmin GPS Plugin\npGarmin.dll"
You might also just be able to filer any file with that name by using
*npGarmin.dll or *\npGarmin.dll
Thanks! That would make sense. I waded through the other thread that Steve Smith mentioned, and there's been a lot of theories & thrashing around with this issue, but no real solution. I'll try the quotes & see what happens.
Reporting back: I couldn't get it to take the quotes. Every time I enterred it, it vanished from the list. I did eventually get *npGarmin.dll into the exclude list, and it made absolutely no difference.
I have found that an added exclusion will not stick unless you hit the Enter key after you add the path to the exclusion. Save as Default then should save the added exclusion for that particular backup task.
I have found that an added exclusion will not stick unless you hit the Enter key after you add the path to the exclusion. Save as Default then should save the added exclusion for that particular backup task.
Yes, the exclude entry process seems overly fussy. However, I've veriufied that the entry eventually "stuck", and it made no difference. From the other thread, this problem seems to come & go due to some bizarre interaction with Windows, but when it fails, it doesn't exclude anything. I need to go through my exclusion list & see if it's actually excluding the default files. I had assumed that the rest of the exclusions were working because I didn't see pagefile.sys in the backup, but that was before I discovered that re-booting had deleted that file. I've got a 3D CAD program that ought give it more to think about, and may get me to the point where it creates one. The simpler option would be to create a test.tmp file someplace & see if that shows up. It takes a couple hours to run a backup, so the testing process is time consuming...
OK, I ran a backup with a "*.tmp" file I created in the root of my E: partition. It was NOT backed up. At least in my case, it appears the default exclusions are working, but for some reason the one I added for the Garmin file is getting ignored. Also, in looking at the file names in the default list, many of them have spaces, so I think that isn't the issue. I'm a bit stumped at this point. One possible option is to exclude the entire folder, but it also contains my license file, which I'd kind of like to back up. I can manually stash a copy somewhere, but I shouldn't have to play those sorts of games after spending good money on Acronis...
Douglas, can you try just excluding that one specific Garmin file by using an exclusion such as *npGarmin.dll then perhaps try a simple Files & Folders backup of just the C:\Program Files\Garmin GPS Plugin\ folder on its own to see if the dll gets excluded or not?
Douglas, can you try just excluding that one specific Garmin file by using an exclusion such as *npGarmin.dll then perhaps try a simple Files & Folders backup of just the C:\Program Files\Garmin GPS Plugin\ folder on its own to see if the dll gets excluded or not?
I can try that, but I've already wasted too much time on this. I just finished running a backup excluding the entire folder, and that didn't work either.
Update: Well, I tried, but at least in my "Files and Folders" backup, there is no place to set exclusions. I think their assumption is that if you don't want it, don't select it.
Update: Well, I tried, but at least in my "Files and Folders" backup, there is no place to set exclusions. I think their assumption is that if you don't want it, don't select it.
Douglas, thanks for trying, but am puzzled by the above statement. I have just tested again and I still get an Exclusions page tab in my options for a Files and Folders backup, and was able to add to the exclusions list.
For my test, I just selected a single folder, but was able to add a specific file name / mask to be excluded.
Update: Well, I tried, but at least in my "Files and Folders" backup, there is no place to set exclusions. I think their assumption is that if you don't want it, don't select it.
Douglas, thanks for trying, but am puzzled by the above statement. I have just tested again and I still get an Exclusions page tab in my options for a Files and Folders backup, and was able to add to the exclusions list.
For my test, I just selected a single folder, but was able to add a specific file name / mask to be excluded.
I was in a rush this morning, and didn't realize that I needed to set the destination before the Options button appears.
I ran a backup last night, with the full path to the file, and it excluded it! I can't see ANYTHING different from what I was doing before. I also (at least today) now have a pagefile.sys that was properly excluded. At the moment, it seems to be working as advertised (for no apprent reason). I can't debug what ain't broke, and I need to deal with some more pressing matters.
Very weird...
Thanks to everyone for tryign to help.
Douglas, thank you for the feedback / update - hope everything continues to work correctly for you.
Steve,
I'm reposting your suggestion from another thread because I think that is probably the core reason of all "file exclusion not working" problems. I had the same issue - the exclusions suddenly stopped working and there was nothing in log files or anywhere else to indicate what was wrong. Your CHKDSK suggestion was brilliant! This is a copy of my reply in the following thread:
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2016-forum/true-imag…
CHKDSK C: /F /R
Thank you for the disk check suggestion! It worked for me, too.
Probably all problems reported in this thread were caused by hidden disk errors. It is very WRONG that Acronis silently discovers disk problems and decides to do a sector by sector backup without notifying the user! I spend countless hours fighting this problem. I tried with ATIB 2014 (the version I still use) and 2018 - the result was the same. The GUI Windows disk checkup tool was not finding any errors but when I ran the command prompt command - sure enough there were problems. It took 5-6 hours for CHKDSK to fix the issues at boot time but now everything works fine.
Thanks again!
Val