Excluding directories from offline-backup

Hi,
I use the offline boot-CD, TrueImage 2016 #6571, and I want to exclude some (very big)
folders/directories from the full hdd-backup.
If I exclude them in the options (like \TestData ) they are saved iin the image, though.
I cannot enter a driveletter, or I don´t know how, and I don´t know the syntax
how to use the \ sign
Any idea ?
thx

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Ralf, welcome to these user forums.
To exclude folders from your backup you will either need to put the whole path to those folders, or use wildcard letters.
Example: *\TestData\* should exclude anything that has a folder called TestData and the contents of that folder.
See the ATIH 2016 User Guide: Excluding items from backup
How to add an exclusion criterion:
- You can enter explicit file names for exclusion from the backup:
- file.ext - all such files will be excluded from the backup.
- C:\file.ext - the file.ext file on the C: disk will be excluded.
- You can use wildcard characters (* and ?):
- *.ext - all files with a .ext extension will be excluded.
- ??name.ext - all files with a .ext extension, having six letters in their names (starting with any two symbols (??) and ending with name), will be excluded.
- To exclude a folder from a disk-level backup, click the plus sign, click the ellipsis button, go to the directory tree and select the folder you want to exclude, and then click OK.
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Ralf,
In the boot media app you would need to add the exact path to the folders you wish to exclude in the exclusion list. If the folders exist on your C drive then the path would begin with C:\ .
If you view these folders in Windows File Explorer the path is displayed in the address bar at the top of the window. In Windows 8 up this path looks different as each folder is followed by an (>) arrow which if clicked on will display folders beneath it. Each (>) arrow is the same as a (\) in a path.
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True Image 2014, 2015, 2016 2017, 2018, 2019
Custom builds:
PC 1 ASRock Extreme 7+ mobo, i7 6700K @ 4.0GHz, 32GB G.Skil 3200 DDR4 ram, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for Win 10 Pro OS, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for storage, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB secondary storage drive, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SATA drive for user data.
PC 2 Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690K CPU, 32GB of G.Skil 2400 DDR3 ram, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drive for Win 10 Pro OS. 2TB WD Datacenter secondary storage, 2 WD Black drives, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 256GB drive.
PC 3 Test Bench - Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690 CPU, 16GB of G.Skil 2400 DR3 ram, 3 Mushkin SATA III SSD drives with Win 10, 7 installs, 1 Samsung 850 EVO SSD with Win 10 Pro, several 120GB SSD's for Hot Swap 2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA III drives for data storage.
PC 4 Asus P5Q Deluxe mobo, Core Duo CPU, 2 SATA III SSD's for Win 10 OS and data, 1 WD 500GB drive.
Laptops, 2 Lenovo, one i7, one i5, and 1 Asus i3, all using SSD's
Custom built FreeNAS server for NAS, Media server, functions.
TerraMaster NAS 24TB (4 x 6TB Seagate Ironwolf 256MB cache 7200 rpm) in JBOD Btrfs.
WD MyBook 4TB Network attached drive via USB router connection

Hi Steve, Hi Enchantech,
thanks a lot, I thiink that´s what I needed :) *\TestData\* is a good start.
For the drive letter/full path, I have to check next time, because IIRC there were no or wrong letters ?
Not sure, but something confuses the letters, the order, I think my USB-drive.
And there is a difference if the USB-drive is already connected at boot, or when I plug it later,
when True Image is completely started. Of course, TI enumerates them in the order as given
But I can check that now.
PS: If I use an absolute path, does it end with or without the \ ?
C:\dos or C:\dos\ ?
thanks
Ralf
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Absolute path ends without the \ .
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True Image 2014, 2015, 2016 2017, 2018, 2019
Custom builds:
PC 1 ASRock Extreme 7+ mobo, i7 6700K @ 4.0GHz, 32GB G.Skil 3200 DDR4 ram, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for Win 10 Pro OS, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for storage, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB secondary storage drive, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SATA drive for user data.
PC 2 Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690K CPU, 32GB of G.Skil 2400 DDR3 ram, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drive for Win 10 Pro OS. 2TB WD Datacenter secondary storage, 2 WD Black drives, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 256GB drive.
PC 3 Test Bench - Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690 CPU, 16GB of G.Skil 2400 DR3 ram, 3 Mushkin SATA III SSD drives with Win 10, 7 installs, 1 Samsung 850 EVO SSD with Win 10 Pro, several 120GB SSD's for Hot Swap 2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA III drives for data storage.
PC 4 Asus P5Q Deluxe mobo, Core Duo CPU, 2 SATA III SSD's for Win 10 OS and data, 1 WD 500GB drive.
Laptops, 2 Lenovo, one i7, one i5, and 1 Asus i3, all using SSD's
Custom built FreeNAS server for NAS, Media server, functions.
TerraMaster NAS 24TB (4 x 6TB Seagate Ironwolf 256MB cache 7200 rpm) in JBOD Btrfs.
WD MyBook 4TB Network attached drive via USB router connection

oh, thanks.
Yesterday, still not knowing about that the " Absolute path ends without the \ " , I did this (offline/CD-boot) image
WITH using the slash at the end of the path yesterday. (i.e. I excluded C:\Dos\ ) (a bad example, I know) :)
and this worked. At least, no error, and the amount of data in the TIB-files represents that the unwantet (very big) directories
were NOT backuped. So far so good.
So, do you think, this is no good way and I should repeat this first image once more ? Would be no problem for me...
I can remember once there was a hint in the manual of an older version, but I wasn´t able to find that again, this week.
I checked all manuals, starting from 2010er version, had no chance, and finally found this form here.
Ralf
PS how can I remove the space between the lines here, cannot find it ?
PS2, for my drive letter "issue" :)
While checking/unchecking the wanted drives/partitions for the full offline backup, at this point I saw the temporarily, correct drive letters.
They are mentioned there, in this window. The enumarating of the drive numbers also is confused sometimes, but this is normal,
so I only had to look for the actual drive letters at this moment, to see that it is "C:" where I had to exclude "C:\Dos" (to stay on that example)
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Ralf,
The \ at the end of path indicates that another folder exists in the path. If nothing further is specified in the path then the \ is ignored so that everything prior to that last\ is used to locate the excluded folder. It is not necessary then to recreate the backup as removing the last \ will not change a thing.
As for your drive letter issue, I am not sure you have one. I do not understand exactly what it is you are seeing but be advised that the offline media is Linux based and Linus does not use drive letters so when a Windows path is displayed by Linux the driver letters often change to something other than what they really are. This is normal behavior and not really an issue.
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True Image 2014, 2015, 2016 2017, 2018, 2019
Custom builds:
PC 1 ASRock Extreme 7+ mobo, i7 6700K @ 4.0GHz, 32GB G.Skil 3200 DDR4 ram, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for Win 10 Pro OS, 2 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drives in RAID 0 for storage, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB secondary storage drive, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SATA drive for user data.
PC 2 Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690K CPU, 32GB of G.Skil 2400 DDR3 ram, 1 Samsung 970 PRO M.2 NVMe 512GB drive for Win 10 Pro OS. 2TB WD Datacenter secondary storage, 2 WD Black drives, 1 Samsung 850 EVO 256GB drive.
PC 3 Test Bench - Asus Z97 Deluxe mobo, i5 4690 CPU, 16GB of G.Skil 2400 DR3 ram, 3 Mushkin SATA III SSD drives with Win 10, 7 installs, 1 Samsung 850 EVO SSD with Win 10 Pro, several 120GB SSD's for Hot Swap 2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA III drives for data storage.
PC 4 Asus P5Q Deluxe mobo, Core Duo CPU, 2 SATA III SSD's for Win 10 OS and data, 1 WD 500GB drive.
Laptops, 2 Lenovo, one i7, one i5, and 1 Asus i3, all using SSD's
Custom built FreeNAS server for NAS, Media server, functions.
TerraMaster NAS 24TB (4 x 6TB Seagate Ironwolf 256MB cache 7200 rpm) in JBOD Btrfs.
WD MyBook 4TB Network attached drive via USB router connection

Could one think of anything more inexplicably narrow-minded than not providing the ability to exclude files and folders from a drive offline backup by checking them directly in a directory tree. Obviously, the developers of Acronis Boot CD did not guess that, in order to select a file for exclusion, it must first be seen. They probably think that users must remember the path of all the files to be excluded, by heart? That`s poor.
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