Re: Backup - Program Files folder being included

Backup indeed searches for user files under Program Files. The reason for it
is that a lot of applications write to their subfolder under Program Files.
Also, other application write user files to root of the drive and other
hard-to-find locations. The backup application is greedy, thus it will try
and locate files throughout the source volumes. Very few directory trees are
excluded, i.e. %windir%.

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"Jason Hanford-Smith" <Jason Hanford-> wrote
in message news:901F6444-84F7-40C1-B4FE-...
> Sure this is wrong... I started my first full file backup (not the
> image-based backup) and deselected some option (movies, music, compressed
> files, etc) and proceeded to back things up.
>
> Despite the message stating the Applications are not backed up, 90% of the
> backup time was taken up by backing up images, etc from the Program Files
> subfolders (Office 2007, etc).
>
> Surely it would be advisable to skip Program Files altogether, right?
>
> (Sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere)
>
> ----------------
> This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
> suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
> Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
> this
> link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
> click "I Agree" in the message pane.
>
> http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com...ce_maintenance

Stuart, how are you doing your backups? Specifically:

- Which edition are you using? On Home Basic, for instance, all backups are
full
- Is your backup running on a scheduled basis? Or are you manually
triggering a new backup every day? If so, how do you create a new backup
(there are a couple ways to do it)?

To answer your questions about VSS: yes, the File Backup does use VSS, but
in a very different way than CompletePC Backup. For File Backup, a snapshot
is created to make sure we have all opened files flushed from memory to the
file system, using VSS and all involved writers. Once this is done, the
backup reads the files from the snapshot and places them on a zip file.

The .zip includes complete files and we don't store block level information.
The backup includes a catalog that contains information on all files,
including timestamps, etc. Before adding files to backu,p we do a comparison
to check which files should be added.

--
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Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.


"Stuart [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news9F9C394-4E6D-4B04-9181-...
> I'm not happy with Vista Automatic File backup. First, it won't let you
> schedule it in a very granular fashion (like during weekdays only).
> Second,
> it seems to copy the same files (at least the overall size is the same)
> every
> day. The first backup created a 4.8 GB saveset. Each subsequent day, the
> same
> size saveset gets created. What gives? I thought this technology used VSS
> like Complete PC Backup did?
>
> Stuart.
> -----------
>
> "Jill Zoeller [MSFT]" wrote:
>
>> Backup indeed searches for user files under Program Files. The reason for
>> it
>> is that a lot of applications write to their subfolder under Program
>> Files.
>> Also, other application write user files to root of the drive and other
>> hard-to-find locations. The backup application is greedy, thus it will
>> try
>> and locate files throughout the source volumes. Very few directory trees
>> are
>> excluded, i.e. %windir%.
>>
>> --
>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>>
>> Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies?
>> Visit
>> our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
>>
>>
>> "Jason Hanford-Smith" <Jason Hanford->
>> wrote
>> in message news:901F6444-84F7-40C1-B4FE-...
>> > Sure this is wrong... I started my first full file backup (not the
>> > image-based backup) and deselected some option (movies, music,
>> > compressed
>> > files, etc) and proceeded to back things up.
>> >
>> > Despite the message stating the Applications are not backed up, 90% of
>> > the
>> > backup time was taken up by backing up images, etc from the Program
>> > Files
>> > subfolders (Office 2007, etc).
>> >
>> > Surely it would be advisable to skip Program Files altogether, right?
>> >
>> > (Sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere)
>> >
>> > ----------------
>> > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
>> > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the
>> > "I
>> > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
>> > this
>> > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and
>> > then
>> > click "I Agree" in the message pane.
>> >
>> > http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com...ce_maintenance
>>
>>
>>

Glad to clear up the .zip issue and VSS.

We've had other customers ask us about tweaking the Task Scheduler settings.
The developers don't advise this, probably for the reasons you list below.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.


"Stuart [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:5D037C6C-A51C-45ED-A604-...
> Tried to reply.... IE hung.. .so here goes again (apologies if two replies
> show up).
>
> I'm using Vista Business. Now that you've explained the lack of block
> level
> used in Automatic Backups, I see what's happening.
>
> Note that you can change the schedule of "Automatic Backups" via Task
> Scheduler and it appears the job runs as scheduled but the Backup UI then
> tells you that Backups are no longer configured and I'm not sure if I'd
> receive any notification pop-ups for problems, etc.
>
>
> "Jill Zoeller [MSFT]" wrote:
>
>> Stuart, how are you doing your backups? Specifically:
>>
>> - Which edition are you using? On Home Basic, for instance, all backups
>> are
>> full
>> - Is your backup running on a scheduled basis? Or are you manually
>> triggering a new backup every day? If so, how do you create a new backup
>> (there are a couple ways to do it)?
>>
>> To answer your questions about VSS: yes, the File Backup does use VSS,
>> but
>> in a very different way than CompletePC Backup. For File Backup, a
>> snapshot
>> is created to make sure we have all opened files flushed from memory to
>> the
>> file system, using VSS and all involved writers. Once this is done, the
>> backup reads the files from the snapshot and places them on a zip file.
>>
>> The .zip includes complete files and we don't store block level
>> information.
>> The backup includes a catalog that contains information on all files,
>> including timestamps, etc. Before adding files to backu,p we do a
>> comparison
>> to check which files should be added.
>>
>> --
>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>>
>> Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies?
>> Visit
>> our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
>>
>>
>> "Stuart [MVP]" <> wrote in message
>> news9F9C394-4E6D-4B04-9181-...
>> > I'm not happy with Vista Automatic File backup. First, it won't let you
>> > schedule it in a very granular fashion (like during weekdays only).
>> > Second,
>> > it seems to copy the same files (at least the overall size is the same)
>> > every
>> > day. The first backup created a 4.8 GB saveset. Each subsequent day,
>> > the
>> > same
>> > size saveset gets created. What gives? I thought this technology used
>> > VSS
>> > like Complete PC Backup did?
>> >
>> > Stuart.
>> > -----------
>> >
>> > "Jill Zoeller [MSFT]" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Backup indeed searches for user files under Program Files. The reason
>> >> for
>> >> it
>> >> is that a lot of applications write to their subfolder under Program
>> >> Files.
>> >> Also, other application write user files to root of the drive and
>> >> other
>> >> hard-to-find locations. The backup application is greedy, thus it will
>> >> try
>> >> and locate files throughout the source volumes. Very few directory
>> >> trees
>> >> are
>> >> excluded, i.e. %windir%.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> >> rights.
>> >>
>> >> Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies?
>> >> Visit
>> >> our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Jason Hanford-Smith" <Jason Hanford->
>> >> wrote
>> >> in message news:901F6444-84F7-40C1-B4FE-...
>> >> > Sure this is wrong... I started my first full file backup (not the
>> >> > image-based backup) and deselected some option (movies, music,
>> >> > compressed
>> >> > files, etc) and proceeded to back things up.
>> >> >
>> >> > Despite the message stating the Applications are not backed up, 90%
>> >> > of
>> >> > the
>> >> > backup time was taken up by backing up images, etc from the Program
>> >> > Files
>> >> > subfolders (Office 2007, etc).
>> >> >
>> >> > Surely it would be advisable to skip Program Files altogether,
>> >> > right?
>> >> >
>> >> > (Sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere)
>> >> >
>> >> > ----------------
>> >> > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to
>> >> > the
>> >> > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
>> >> > the
>> >> > "I
>> >> > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button,
>> >> > follow
>> >> > this
>> >> > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader
>> >> > and
>> >> > then
>> >> > click "I Agree" in the message pane.
>> >> >
>> >> > http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com...ce_maintenance
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>