Outlook OST files not backuped
I am testing acronis 2015 to use under windows 8.1 as acronis 2012 which i currently own is not compatible.
I have tried everything. When doing system backup, the Outlook ost files refuse to be backed up. This is bad as the whole point of having a system backup is to have everything backupped including very important email files.
I have tried both with outlook open and closed. Without this working there is no point in buying Acronis 2015
Please let me know what to do to get the files backupped
.ost files are not backed up because it's listed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot
Windows 7 backup has the same behavior - https://social.technet.microsoft.com:443/Forums/en-US/fc9bebff-9494-4b4…
@ Fedor,
Even in a disk and partition backup? I can understand this for a file backup...
When I do a full system backup, the entire harddisk should be imaged. That's why I use imaging software. Other backup software such as Ease Us Backup does backup the ost files. How can I make acronis to backup the files.
That's true for the build in Windows Backup tools. But Acronis has its own settings including own ignore files. The ost is not listed in the default ignore list. This is yet another ommission.
As I understand, True Image 2015 always uses VSS snapshot by default (not possible to turn off from user side) and files are excluded by VSS transparently to True Image, i.e. True Image gets the snapshot without .ost file. In Acronis Backup, if option 'do not use VSS' is used, .ost files are backed up.
Where do I find that option?
Fedor was referring to the corporate product Acronis Backup. There is no such option in True Image.
You have some ways to deal with the problem:
1. Set the location of the ost files to a different location. I don't use Outlook, so I don't know for sure if that option is available.
2. Modify the registry keys to stop the exclusion of ost and oab files. Run regedit and navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot and change the last three letters of the OutlookOAB and OutlookOST keys to xxx. That way you can change them back to oab and ost if you change your mind in the future.
3. Do your backups from the Recovery CD. The WinPE Recovery CD does NOT exclude ost and oab files. I didn't test the Linux Recovery CD. I'll leave that up to you. However, I'd think ost files would be backed up from the Linux Recovery CD.
Having files NOT included in a disk image without the user's knowledge is wrong. The UI should list these exceptions, even if they cannot be changed.
This means the name of Acronis TRUE IMAGE is wrong. The name true image suggests the program makes an exact copy of the system's current state. The fact that Microsoft does not backup some files in its windows built in solution is not relevant to me. The whole point of chosing and paying for a thire party solution is because I find the MS solution not satisfactory. But the fact that ATIH does not do what it suggests to do is very bad.
Regarding your suggested work arounds, thank you for your suggestion.
1) This does not work as ATIH looks at the file extentions, not the location. Changing the location therefore is not going to help (tested and confirmd this)
2) I think changing the registery is not the way to solve problems. This problem should be solved in the ATIH itself not by having the customer messing around with the system
3) Backing up from Recovery CD does not work for me. It means rebooting the system and also circumvents the whole idea of having the backups run automatically.
To conclude: this bug should be solved in the program.
I know you said you had tested this, but in my Windows 7 registry key (as noted above) the OST has a definite path hard coded, so I am surprised that if the OST file is in a different location to the default path it isn't backed up/imaged.
Does the registry entry change to the new path by any chance?
I have read several posts related to this subject and I still do not understand why Acronis 2016 does not backup the OUTLOOK .OST file...
My question is simple - what do I have to do to generate a 100% bit for bit backup of my hard drive using Acronis? Should I boot using the Acronis 2016 recovery CD and perform a FULL backup?
As indicated in an earlier post it is somewhat disconcerting that ATI does not produce a true image of my hard when performing a FULL backup of my entire PC. I checked the EXCLUSION list and I did not note any path to the .OST file referenced. In point of fact, all the files in the following path are backed up except the .OST file.
C:\OS2200\Users\My-User-Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
This gives me pause as to what else is a FULL backup of my entire PC not backing up?
Thank you.
John:
The reason is that TrueImage 2015 uses Microsoft's VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) to create a snapshot of the disk contents when an image is started. Microsoft has a default list of files to not snapshot because they consider them to be able to be skipped without consequence to the user. The list is in the registry at the location given in reply #8 above.
If the Outlook.ost file is missing when Outlook is started, it simply re-downloads another copy from the Exchange Server, so that's why Microsoft made the decision to exclude this file.
If you back up from the Windows PE recovery version then these files aren't excluded. I imagine that if you back up from the Linux recovery version, they would not be excluded either. They'll probably only be excluded when you back up while Windows is running. Sorry, I haven't tested this. But I am positive that they are not excluded when backing up from Windows PE.
Thank you for the very informative reply.
Since my Company requires that we use Bitlocker, Windows PE requires that BL is disabled which I am sure that you understand the implications of such an action - effectively bouncing between decrypting and encrypting as I do an Image Level backup evvery 2 - 3 days...
I will review #8 above to familiarize myself with the files that are excluded based upon VSS...
Again, thank you...