Can't exclude folder contents from being backed up!

[Kiraly]

Hello,

 

I have a folder /Users/Shared/OurMovies; the contents of which I don't want added to Retrospect's backup set because I already have it backed up elsewhere.

 

Here's what I have set for the include selector:

 

Include Selector All Files Except Cache Files

 

And I have tried all of these exclude selectors:

 

Exclude enclosing folder name contains OurMovies

Exclude enclosing folder name is OurMovies

Exclude enclosing folder path name contains OurMovies

Exclude enclosing folder path name is /Users/Shared/OurMovies/

Exclude enclosing folder path name ends with OurMovies/

 

...and a half dozen or so others. None of them work. The contents of the OurMovies folder is backed up every time. I've spent literally hours and hours on this and I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Can anyone help?

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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None of them work

 

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Selectors work, but they present a challange for many, many Retrospect users. I wish that they weren't so squirrely.

 

That being said, my favorite way to exclude folders/files is to use Finder labels.

 

- In Finder, select Preferencces from the Finder menu.

- In the Labels section, choose a label color you're not already using, and rename it something like "Do Not Backup"

 

- In Retrospect, construct a Selector, or use a Search critera of:

 

Always exclude files matching

Enclosing Folder Label Is "Do not Backup"

 

Then just control+click on OurMovies in the Finder, and give it the proper Finder label, and you're set.

 

Note that when the Selecting window is open, there is a "Selector" menu available, with a "Check Selector..." menu item. You can use that to test against any Retrospect volume (or defined subvolume) to see if it works as you expect it to.

 

 

Dave

[twickland]

Quote:

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Here's what I have set for the include selector:

 

Include Selector All Files Except Cache Files

 

And I have tried all of these exclude selectors...

 

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Are the "Include" and "Exclude" items written into the same selector, or are you writing the "Exclude" items into a separate selector?

 

If you have a separate "Exclude" selector, make sure that this selector is on the "Include" side of the file selection criteria you're using for your actual backup. "Excluding" a selector that itself excludes files means that the files will actually be included in your backup.

 

You can test your selectors without actually performing a backup. Go to Special> Selectors> Edit [your selector] and click on "Check Selector" in the Selectors menu.

[rhwalker]

A suggestion for faster testing: Rather than test on backups, test with a Retrospect preview (click the preview button after setting selector).

 

Another way to test would be to use a Browser (Configure > Volumes > Browse), play with the conditions, save as a custom selector when things work. Then you can tweak that custom selector. See the manual, pages 172-177.

[Kiraly]

Thanks for the responses, I have tried all the suggestions and unfortunately none of them worked.

 

Luckily I was able to figure out a solution on my own. I opened the built-in All Files Except Cache Files selector and edited it to include the /Users/Shared/OurMovies folder. Finally I got it working the way I want!

 

Why all the other methods didn't work might always be a mystery...

[rhwalker]

If I had to guess, I would suspect that the issue was spotted by twickland:

 

Quote:

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If you have a separate "Exclude" selector, make sure that this selector is on the "Include" side of the file selection criteria you're using for your actual backup. "Excluding" a selector that itself excludes files means that the files will actually be included in your backup.

 

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I.e., you have to make a selector that "includes" the OurMovies folder, then put that selector in the excludes.

[Kiraly]

Yes, that's what I did, and it didn't work.

 

Oh well, no matter. Problem solved now.

[rhwalker]

You might want to go back and duplicate the selector you ended up with, rename it some odd name like "MySpecialSelector", then change the "All Files except Cache" back to the way it was so that you don't get confused in the future, and so that a future update, if it ever happens, doesn't blow away your special selector that has one of the standard names.

 

Glad that you were able to solve your problem.

 

Russ

[Kiraly]

Good idea. I think I'll do that, thanks.

[steffi]

Is there a way to explicitly tell it the _absolute_ path of what I want to backup?

 

Since that way I'd then be able to avoid the long scanning process that it has to do.

 

I want /Applications I don't expect the scan to take long.

 

I want to know how can I anchor the path to the root and not just Applications anywhere on the drive?

 

Enclosing folder named ""?

 

Also, labels are a nice way of doing things but OSX is flawed in that your need write permission to a directory in order to label it so you'd need to be logged in as root in order to label certain folders. For instance under my admin account I cannot label /Users unless I give it g+w permission to admin group.

[CallMeDave]

 

 

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Is there a way to explicitly tell it the _absolute_ path of what I want to backup?

 

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Yes.

 

You can Define any folder as a Subvolume, then use that as one of your Sources for Backup. It's not path based, it uses the unique file ID of the folder. So even if you change the item's name, Retrospect will still be able to keep track of it.

 

Note that the original subject of this thread concerns how to exclude items, which can be more complicated.

[steffi]

Is that the only way to define the absolute path of a folder?

 

I'll try that now? So I should see the scan process to be very fast if it works that way then.

 

Even if I want to exclude it still only needs to figure out what to exclude from what's already included

so the exclude scanning should still be quite fast.

 

Secondly the examples don't really show a good use of "path name" how is that different from name per se and what is the format of the pathname? Back in the early days I remember that it was typical to use Mac OS 9 type pathnames instead of unix paths... How are things today?

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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Is that the only way to define the absolute path of a folder?

 

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No.

 

> I'll try that now?

 

Yes.

 

> So I should see the scan process to be very fast if it works that way then.

 

Retrospect will scan one Source Volume at a time. How fast it works depends on your configuration.

 

> Even if I want to exclude it still only needs to figure out what to exclude from

> what's already included so the exclude scanning should still be quite fast.

 

I don't understand what this means. You specifically asked how to describe a Source that you want to backup, not files/folders that you wanted to exclude.

 

Excluding in Retrospect requires that even the things you want to exclude need to be scanned, so Retrospect can check what's there against whatever selectors you've constructed.

 

I've put in feature requests to be able to treat a defined Subvolume as a no-scan exclusion item. Perhaps, someday...

 

> what is the format of the pathname?

 

Pathnames start with the name of the hard drive (even if it is the boot drive) and use unix style forward slashes as separators.

 

I've put in feature requests to use "/" and /Volumes/ for path names. Perhaps, someday...

 

You can also create a custom Selector with any Highlighted item from a Browser window. So for Applications, first Define /Applications as a Subvolume, then select it in the Volumes Database and click "Browse." Then click only on Applications at the top, and choose Save Highlights from the Browser menu. Name your selector as you wish, and use it for Include or Exclude selections.

[seanbreilly]

I can't figure this out and kind of frustrated.   I'm trying to do something I think is simple, but I can't seem to get it right.   I want to exclude one single directory from backup of the C: drive.   I make a selector of "include All Files" and "exclude the Windows FAT/NTFS path C:\Seantest"  (reason for path - I have other "Seantest" folders in C:)

I've attached a screenshot.   I've tried:

"C:\Seantest\",
C:\Seantest
"C:\Seantest"

and tried using "ends with", etc.

How can exclude a single directory using Path?   Is this the wrong way to do it?   Been using Retrospect since 7.0 (now on 15.1.2.1) and always resort to some squishy way of doing it with name instead.

Thanks, - Sean

[DavidHertzberg]

seanbreilly,

Welcome back to the Forums after more than 6 years!

At first I thought you were a time traveler from the "oughties" still currently using Retrospect 6—presumably on an ancient PowerPC Macintosh, rather than the usual poster to this Forum trying to recover ancient files backed up on an ancient tape drive attached to an ancient PowerPC Mac.  Then I realized from your mentions of "C: drive" that you are actually using Retrospect Windows, but found this thread without realizing that it is on a Forum for users of a very old version of Retrospect Macintosh.

I then did a Forums search on "exclude folder directory", omitting the surrounding quotemarks and specifying "All of my search term words".  Here's the next-to-last post on the subject in the Windows Products > Retrospect > Professional forum.  Note that it is from 2015; you will probably find it helpful to read the entire thread of which it is a part.  When making an additional post in that thread, be sure to mention your Retrospect version and Windows version.

[seanbreilly]

I also did a forums search, and tried to follow the advice of those posts.   In my case, I do NOT have an empty folder.   Also, the beginning of the post you reference seems to be matching "names" not "paths" which is not what I want:  because I have many folders named the same thing, I only want the folder in one specific path.

I did include my version of Retrospect (15.1.2.1) in my post, but not my Windows, which is Windows 10.   It doesn't matter, I've never been able to get the path selector to work in this manner, for many years.

Yes, I don't post much - Retrospect is a tool for me, and I'm very happy with its function and performance, so not in here much.   But I figured I'd try to see if I could get this working by checking the forum.   I can work around it, but would love to learn how to wield this feature correctly.

- Sean

[DavidHertzberg]

seanbreilly,

I see the last sentence in the first substantial paragraph of my previous post was too subtle for you (a sin of which I have rarely been accused ).  Go duplicate your Original Post in a thread on the Windows Products-Retrospect > Professional forum.

You'll get no further help from me—or probably anyone else—on this Forum.  That's because, although the underlying code for Retrospect Windows and Retrospect Mac are essentially the same, the User Interface and terminology of the two variants have been different since early 2009.  If you don't believe me, read the last sentence in the third paragraph of this section of the Wikipedia article.

Let me be still more non-subtle by repeating: Go duplicate your Original Post in a thread on the Windows Products-Retrospect > Professional forum.  If you want to add your post at the end of this existing thread in that Forum, that'll be OK.

P.S.: As a Retrospect Mac administrator, I couldn't resist making parting suggestions after reading the Retrospect Windows 15 User's Guide:

1. Try saving a Selector by creating a stand-alone browser window per pages 424-427, selecting C:\Seantest in that window, and then saving that selection as a exclusion Selector per pages 441-442.
2. When you duplicate your Original Post in a thread on the Windows Products-Retrospect > Professional forum, really attach the screenshot(s)—which you didn't manage to do in your first post in this thread.
3. Make lots of screenshots to be attached, including the stand-alone browser window as well as whatever selector(s) you are using—and anything else you might deem relevant to solving the problem.
4. I did a Forums search for ""C:" Windows selector" (without the outer quotemarks) specifying all search terms, but all the relevant old posts referred to "Windows path matches pattern"—which doesn't seem to exist in modern versions of Retrospect Windows; in your duplicated OP ask which of the Windows Selector Conditions on page 437 replaces it.
5. If suggestion 1. doesn't work, try following the instructions in this 2015 Windows-Products Retrospect > Professional post—noting that the third condition on pages 444-445 of the User's Guide describes and shows the Universal Name dialogs referred to in that post. Consider ANDing that condition with a Volume Name (Universal) condition, as described on page 437—note that it's not the drive letter.
6. See the top—not the bottom—of this post by a Retrospect Windows administrator—using Windows 10 Pro and the latest version of Retrospect—who has excluded a particular Windows directory, no doubt using the Path (Windows) condition on page 437 of the UG.

Edited September 13, 2019 by DavidHertzberg
Added P.S. with suggestions; changed page numbers in 1st suggestion and added 5th suggestion; enhanced 5th suggestion; added 6th suggestion

[seanbreilly]

Thanks for the comments.   I'm not sure why the screenshots didn't make it - something must have went wrong.   I did a search as well and only chose this post because I was hoping to revisit a topic that best already asked my question (lest I get gripes about duplicating a question) - it seemed to be a problem unrelated to a specific forum.   I'll try suggestion 1. (seems like a workaround to 5. and 6. which I've tried without luck).  Anyway, moving on, non-subtle suggestion accepted.

[DavidHertzberg]

10 hours ago, seanbreilly said:

Thanks for the comments.   I'm not sure why the screenshots didn't make it - something must have went wrong.   I did a search as well and only chose this post because I was hoping to revisit a topic that best already asked my question (lest I get gripes about duplicating a question) - it seemed to be a problem unrelated to a specific forum.   I'll try suggestion 1. (seems like a workaround to 5. and 6. which I've tried without luck).  Anyway, moving on, non-subtle suggestion accepted.

seanbreilly,

On these Forums there are no gripes about duplicating a question.  You can always link to a previous post; that is done by [1] clicking or double-clicking wherever you want the link to be inserted, [2] clicking with the Right Mouse Button on the icon at the upper right of the previous post's window and selecting "copy link location", [3] clicking on the icon at the top of the editing window for your post that looks like a link in a chain, [4] pasting the URL you copied into your clipboard in step [2] into the URL field, and [5] typing the text you want to associate with the link into the Link Text field and clicking the Insert Into Post button.

Discussion of your problem indeed belongs on a Retrospect Windows forum, because it both involves using a Retrospect-Windows-specific GUI feature and using that feature to specify a Windows path.

I don't know why your screenshots didn't make it into your OP; I've never included a screenshot into a post on these Forums.  I gather you need to click the Insert Other Media button at the lower right of the editing window and select the appropriate choice for your screenshot.

If you've not already upgraded to Retrospect Windows 15.6.1.104, you should do so.  15.5 and 15.6.0 were "bad releases" with newly-introduced bugs in existing features—especially for Retrospect Windows, but they allegedly included fixes to problems with Windows 10.

[DavidHertzberg]

seanbreilly,

Take a look at this post, if you haven't already tried what it suggests..