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Selecting specific source subfolders does not work - ALL folders are backed up

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Hi,

I'm using Windows 10 and I have 2 users on this system. I moved all user directories from C: to F: because C: is a SSD. I want to make seperate backups based on the type of data (I want videos and photos in a separate backup). While selecting source (sub)folders, I de-select the video subfolder in both user directories. Still they get included in the backup. This is very annoying.

Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks,

Rodger

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I'm not sure what the purpose of providing that screenshot is here as it is just showing your F: drive in File explorer, which is where you said you moved it to.  Did you restore that from a backup that you expected to not have that directory when the recovery was complete?  

If you double click on your backup .tib file, do these directories shows up there?  If they do, if you drill down into them, does it actually have any data in it?  

Could you post a few of your recent service logs which mayhelp show the exclusions in the backup job? (C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts)  

If the data is actually in the backup (like, when you double click the backup.tib file and navigate the content inside of the backup), you may want to go back to the configruations for that job in Acronis, and de-select the folders again.  When you have unchecked the "music" folder, on the far right window, make sure that there are no check boxes for any of the files or folders in that directory and then verify the same for videos.  As soon as that's done, be sure to "run backup now" afterwards as that is essentially the save button.  

As another test, try creating a new test backup job using the "files and folder option".  Then repeat your process of excluding the music and video folders and verifying that no internal files or folders have check boxes next to them in the far righ panel (drill down if you need to).   Then run the backup and see if the behavior is correct or the same as you experienced when you double click the backup .tib and navigate the content of that one.

 

Thanks for your reply. See answers below.

I'm not sure what the purpose of providing that screenshot is here as it is just showing your F: drive in File explorer, which is where you said you moved it to.  Did you restore that from a backup that you expected to not have that directory when the recovery was complete?

YES

If you double click on your backup .tib file, do these directories shows up there?  If they do, if you drill down into them, does it actually have any data in it?

 

YES and YES

Could you post a few of your recent service logs which mayhelp show the exclusions in the backup job? (C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts) 

 

OK, see attachment

If the data is actually in the backup (like, when you double click the backup.tib file and navigate the content inside of the backup), you may want to go back to the configruations for that job in Acronis, and de-select the folders again.  When you have unchecked the "music" folder, on the far right window, make sure that there are no check boxes for any of the files or folders in that directory and then verify the same for videos.  As soon as that's done, be sure to "run backup now" afterwards as that is essentially the save button. 

 

OK, will do... weird programming choice though. As a user I want to be able to make backup jobs without running them straight away.

As another test, try creating a new test backup job using the "files and folder option".  Then repeat your process of excluding the music and video folders and verifying that no internal files or folders have check boxes next to them in the far righ panel (drill down if you need to).   Then run the backup and see if the behavior is correct or the same as you experienced when you double click the backup .tib and navigate the content of that one.

 

This is how I created the job in the first place after I found out my excisting True Image 2014 backups got messed up by True Image 2017. But I'll try again.

I'll report the results later.

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Rodger, thank you for the Script file for the backup job, I think that Rob made a mistake in his post as he asked for copies of some of the Service log files which are found in C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs.

However, from the Script file, I note the following:

You are not using any Exclusions as indicated by: 
exclude_by_mask="false" exclude_hidden="false" exclude_system="false"

This means that when you include all your source data:
<files>
   <include>C:\Users\ME\</include>
   <include>C:\Users\RM\</include>
   <include>F:\RM\</include>
   <include>F:\ME\</include>
</files>

This will also include temporary files that would normally be excluded as below:

<file_mask pattern="*.~" />
<file_mask pattern="*.tmp" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Temp" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\ME\AppData\Local\Temp" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\ME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache" />
 <file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Opera Software" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Opera Software" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Opera Software" />
<file_mask pattern="C:\Users\RM\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles" />

Some of the above default excludes should be removed from the exclusion list to prevent loss of such as Chrome or Firefox profiles which includes bookmarks, extensions etc, but others just add to the size of the backup file with no real benefit.

The real question arising from the above information though is this:

Have you created Library links to your moved data on the F: drive for your C:\Users\ME\ and C:\Users\RM\ libraries?  You are not using any exclusions which could be used to enforce that your specific libraries do not get included in your backup.

Yeah, sorry about that, I was looking for the service logs (log folder) and not scripts (scripts folder)... thinking one thing and writing another :)

I see that you've upgraded directly from 2014 to 2017?  

If you continue to find odd behavior, at some point, it might be better to either start with new scripts... or, perhaps even a clean uninstall and reinstall.  The transition from 2014 to 2015 with the product was pretty extensive and the newer versions since then have continued to build off of 2015.  The upgrade may just have some leftover bits and pieces that cause some trouble.  Some people have found the product to be much more pleasant after running a full cleanup and installing from scratch, but that also means setting up your backup jobs again.  Hopefully just using a new script will work fine, if not, perhaps consider the full uninstall, running the clean tool, and reinstalling.  Here's a bit more in depth procedures if you do ever plan to go that route.

If you do need to run a cleanup and try a fresh install...

1) download the cleanup tool (it works for 2017) 

2) right click and "run as administrator" to run it - follow procedures listed in the KB article linked above (you can usually skip the registry checks, I never check them)

3) After cleanup, check for leftover directories (some of these are hidden folders so enable "show hidden folders and files in Windows" and delete them if they exist:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common\Acronis     

C:\Program Files\Acronis     

C:\Program Files\Common\Acronis     

C:\ProgramData\Acronis  

%userprofile%\appdata\local\VirtualStore\ProgramData\Acronis\

4) Reboot (not shutdown - if using Windows 10, fastboot may be enabled and you need to reboot to trigger a full shutdown instead of hibernation)

5) download the full installer from your accound and verify the checksum of the file to make sure it matches.

6) temporarily disable Anti virus programs (this may not be necessary, but if you're here already, it's not going to hurt with the process and may help)

7) right click the installer and "run as administrator" even if logged in as an admin

Hopefully it installs correctly.  

Today I updated to the latest Acronis version. Deleted old backups (version 2014). Created new backups and everything works fine. Tnx

Rodger, thanks for feeding back on your actions and results - good to hear that all is working fine now.

Glad to hear it!  That's great news.