Retrospect Backs up more than selectors

[multiplexed]

I’m using Retrospect 7.6 Single Server and 7.7 Professional (both latest build) Both are disk to usb disk. Both have the same problem.

 

 

My problem is my backups are backing up more than my selectors are specifying. If I open selectors and click the blue check mark, it selects all the correct folders.

 

If I go to Backup Sets and …

Click Snapshots, it shows the entire hard drive

Click Sessions, it shows the correct selections

 

If I go to Restore, then Advanced, then Restore Files & Folders, it shows a bunch of extra folders… (I can restore any of these files)

 

C:\Documents & Settings\.........- included successfully

C:\files\Backup .................- included successfully

C:\files\Exclude\................- 2 of 12 folders shown

C:\Delnorm Docs\.................- 1 of 5 folders shown

C:\Recycler......................- 1 of 3 folders shown

C:\Windows\Service Pack Files\....- 1 of 2 folders shown

C:\Windows\System32\..............- ???

C:\Program Files\.................-8 out of 72 folders are shown

 

Here are my selectors

My Selectors Screenshot Link

 

My backup script

Source = C:\
Destination = USB HD Set1
Selector (See the link above)

 

I’ve tried

Universal, then Name.

Windows Path – Match Pattern / Start With / Others

 

Anyway, how do I back up only what is selected by my selectors?

[jgowing]

I had a similar issue and took it up with retrospect Support. I got a comprehensive reply to my problem as shown below, I think this will answer your question.

Support's answers in Red Italics

 

Snapshot, Session, Selector Restore issue.

 

    Scenario

    You have a full backup of a volume in BUSet-Full

 

    You take a backup of the same volume Excluding some data with a

    selector to BUSet-Partial

 

    Questions

    For BUSet Partial Will the Snapshot reflect the complete volume or

    the partial backup according to the selector? /{I Suspect it will be

    the Full volume}/

    [color:red]The snapshot for the partial backup will show all of the folders on the drive even the ones that have been excluded(there will be no data in the folders) and if you do a full volume restore it will restore those folders.[/color]

 

    Confirm that the Session will contain only the partial data. /{I

    suspect it will}/

[color:red]The session data will show only what was copied for a given date.[/color]

 

    If the Snapshot reflects the Full volume, and the Session contains

    only the partial data, and I do a restore based on the snapshot in

    BUSet-Partial, will Retrospect attempt to find the files missing

    from the session in BUSet-Partial, by looking in BUSet-Full.

    {I suspect it does}

[color:red]It will not try and restore the missing data from the BUSet-full, it will restore the empty folders from the snapshot(this is only if you do a full volume restore).[/color]

 

    When I Run the Partial backup it appears that Retrospect scans the

    Entire volume first, THEN applies the Selector to copy the partial

    data to the Session. Is this the case? /{I Suspect it IS}/

[color:red]This is the expected behavior, it has to do a full scan of the drive first to see what is on the drive before it can apply the include or excludes of the selector.[/color]

 

    IF SO is there a way of preventing this.

    It is particularly a problem in the following scenario:

    I have a poorly performing server with 2 Million files, a full scan

    takes over 24Hours.

    I want to backup a small portion of the data, so I setup a selector

    to exclude most of the data, when I run the backup, the scan STILL

    takes 24 hours, and then the actual file copy is quick for the small

    amount of data selected.

[color:red]Unfortunately there is no way of preventing this, I can put in a feature request to improve the selector and scanning process. I can not guarantee anything however as that would require a major change in the program on how we scan the drive and determine what to exclude or include.[/color]