Re: [BackupPC-users] Windows excludes (rsyncd)

[Les Stott]

Paul S. Gumerman wrote: Jonathan, Here's what works for me: $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} =  ['/hiberfil.sys', '/pagefile.sys', '/WUTemp', '/RECYCLER',        'UsrClass.dat', 'UsrClass.dat.LOG', 'NTUSER.DAT', 'ntuser.dat.LOG',  'parent.lock',        '/WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM', '/WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM.LOG',        '/WINDOWS/system32/config/SECURITY', '/WINDOWS/system32/config/SECURITY.LOG',        '/WINDOWS/system32/config/default', '/WINDOWS/system32/config/default.LOG',        '/WINDOWS/system32/config/software', '/WINDOWS/system32/config/software.LOG',        '/WINDOWS/system32/config/system', '/WINDOWS/system32/config/system.LOG',        '/WINDOWS/system32/CatRoot2/edb.log', '/WINDOWS/system32/CatRoot2/tmp.edb',        '/WINDOWS/system32/CatRoot2/edbtmp.log', '/WINDOWS/SoftwareDistribution/EventCache/*',        '*/Temporary Internet Files/*', '*/Temp/*', '*.tmp', '*.bak']; >From what I have observed, no wildcard characters work, so I don't believe anything with a "*" is doing anything useful.  I reject the idea of not backing up anything in Local Settings --- much of that stuff is EXACTLY what one NEEDS to back up. Hey, I'll clarify... I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that.... $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/Documents and Settings/*/Local Settings' ] ..works fine. it exlcudes all "Local Settings" content, In BackupPC if i browse the tree i see an empty directory for Local Settings. I use rsyncd from the backuppc site. i haven't tried the NTUSER wildcard, i just threw that in as how i would expect it to work. Jonathan had trouble with open files. i assumed he was only talking about user files in use, not system files. BackupPC has alwasy been known as a brilliant data backup solution. But it does make note that it should not be used for trying to backup entire c drives as if like a ghost image. With that in mind i have always used backupPC as a data backup application, no system file backups. To be clearer i dont backup things in Local Settings because..... All my clients will either be on exchange, imap or bynari. So mail folders in 'Local Settings/Application data/Microsoft/Outlook' for example i dont care because they are on the server. In a case where pop3 is used or an address book is stored i would normall move the address bokk or add an include to grab it. Also under Local Settings i dont care about History, Temp or Temporary Internet Files for backing up. its all dynamic data, and if i had to restore a user from scratch i'd just setup IE and start from there, no need to restore history. The only other directory under Local Settings is "Application Data". other than email files (which i explained earlier) all data is basically "cache" data and will be rebuilt or overwritten everytime you login. E.g. nero cache, acrobat cache etc etc. I dont see any need for this stuff to be backed up. In a disaster Recovery situation i would reload windows, install all necessary programs (which would build initial cache dirs in Local Settings again for most application level stuff) then install rsyncd and selectively restore what files i needed for the user. Yes, the exclusions on the second line *could* be problematic in some circumstances, as they don't limit the exclusions to the Local Settings folders, but I simply could not get wildcards working, so it was the best solution for me. If anyone can help with the wildcards, I can make this exclusion list work better. Exclusions should be listed as relative to the share name. You may have to use.... '/UsrClass.dat', '/UsrClass.dat.LOG', '/NTUSER.DAT', '/ntuser.dat.LOG',  '/parent.lock', or '/Documents and Settings/*/UsrClass.dat', '/Documents and Settings/*/UsrClass.dat.LOG', '/Documents and Settings/*/NTUSER.DAT', '/Documents and Settings/*/ntuser.dat.LOG',  '/Documents and Settings/*/parent.lock', ...depending on where your top level share starts. I'd be happy to help and test. at the end of the day that's my setup in about 98% of situations. It works for me, but may not be suitable for others. Treat it as a guide, if its helpful then thats great :-) Regards, Les