ATI2018: Single disk excludeable when backing up entire PC?
Hello all
I have a new PC with 1 SSD and 2 hard drives. When I back up my system ("Backup my computer") I would like to exclude one of the hard drives from being backed up. Under 'Exclusions' in the 'Backup Options' I can add exclusion criterions. Unfortunately, the User Guide doesn't explicitly mention if it is or it is not possible to exclude a whole disk. I carried out a test by selecting just the drive letter (e.g. E which then results in the new line 'E:\'). There was no error message, and the backup seemed to work fine since it took less time and the resulting size of the .tib file was smaller, as expected.
What is the official Acronis opinion about that? Is it just a matter of documentation and is my way of excluding a disk "legal"?
Thank you and best regards,
Guido
Dear Ian,
Thank you very much for the clarification. Just to confirm my understanding: Can you please check the screenshots of the 3 steps.
I'm sorry to say that my question regarding "my way" is still not answered though.
Thank you again
Guido
[Moved the topic to Acronis True Image 2018 Forum]
Regarding your question - looking at the screenshots I'd say you're on the right way to back up only 2 drivers out of 3
Dear Ekaterina,
Thank you for the confirmation.
But my original question has still not been answered: Is it also feasible / "legal" using 'Backup my computer' and then exclude a disk drive by adding a new line e.g. 'E:\' in the exclusion list?
Thank you for clarifying that question as well.
Best reagards,
Guido
Guido, sorry but when using Acronis to make a Disk & Partitions backup image, you cannot select a drive in the Source panel and then try to Exclude the selected drive in the exclusion list - put plainly the exclusion will be ignored!
The correct method here is to click through the Source panel if it is showing 'Entire PC' and select the option for Disks & Partitions, then just select the actual disks you want to include.
My personal preference is to only ever select 1 disk per backup at a time, and to make separate backups of other disks when present.
Thank you, Steve, I will do so.
But how can you explain my experience (see at the top): "... There was no error message, and the backup seemed to work fine since it took less time and the resulting size of the .tib file was smaller, as expected."? Have a try yourself...
Thanks again
Guido
Guido, please download the MVP Log Viewer tool and see if you can locate the log file for the initial backup which should throw more light on what actually happened for that task? Link to the tool in my signature.
Steve, I have added two log files where you can see the difference. The older backup was done without exclusion of drives D and E, whereas the later had excluded D and E.
BTW: D is 217 MB and E is 41.3 GB
Guido, sorry but I do not see any real differences from looking at the log files.
Both logs show that 10 volume images were created as part of the backup image file.
What is shown when you double-click on each of the full .tib files?
Steve, that's what I did from the beginning... Interestingly, the ..full_b3_s1_v1.tib file (the one with D and E excluded) shows the contents of D and E, though its size is about 40 GB less than ..full_b2_s1_v1.tib!
I opened this topic just from a theoretical point of view: If it is possible to INCLUDE drives I expect that also EXCLUDE of drives should be possible. I hoped that an Acronis systems programmer would chime in to answer that question, since he or she MUST - or at least SHOULD - know how Acronis works...
To be honest, I am happy with the "include way" :)
Best regards, Guido
I don't see why the "include" way wouldn't work as long as the variable is good and recognizable to Acronis (and it should be in this case).
Just be aware that when you use the disks/partitions way when selecting the source - those physical disks are hard coded into the configuration and the backup task will only ever backup those specifically selected disks.
Instead, when you select "entire pc" it works similarly, but then when you add the additional exclusion for a drive letter in the advanced settings, that letter does not necessarily always mean it will exclude the disk you are intending it too. For instance, should Windows automatically reassign the drive letter to a different volume, or you change it to something else without thinking about it, that internal drive will now start being included in the backup automatically since it will no longer match your E: drive exclusion.
It's probably not likely to happen like that for an internal drive, but the possibility is now there. Instead, if you just selected the disks you specifically wanted to backup to begin with, it won't matter if you change the drive letters of any of them (or if Windows does so automatically due to some strange behavior down the road. It has rarely happened to me, but upon adding an additional internal SATA Drive, it defaulted to D: and moved my other 2 existing internal drives to E: and F:, and I had to go back into Windows disk management and reassign the correct drive letters manually in at least that one instance.)
Thank you, Bobbo_3C0X1, good explanations! I will definitively go the disks/partitions way (i.e. select the HDDs and partitions I wish to backup).