Excluding Files from a Backup Set with Backup for Workgroups

Excluding Files from a Backup Set

When you are using the Manage Backup Sets Wizard, you can choose to exclude files from your backup set.

To exclude files from this Backup Set:

Exclude the recycle bin, swap and paging files.
Choose this option to exclude files that are not needed in the event of a system restore. This option is selected by default.
Exclude the files and folders selected.
When you choose this option, you can use the directory tree to exclude specific files and folders.
- The X next to a file indicates that the file is excluded from this backup set.
- When an X appears next to a folder or drive, this indicates that all files on this folder or all files on this drive have been excluded from this backup set.
- When a slash appears next to a folder or drive, this indicates that SOME of the files below this folder or drive have been excluded in the backup set but not all of the files.
Exclude the files that match the following rules.
When you choose to exclude files by rules, you will need to use the Define Exclusion Rule dialog that appears when you press the New Rule button. This option comes in handy if you want to exclude files of a certain file type or extension.

If you want to backup the majority of a folder or drive and exclude only portions of the folder or drive, it is best to select the entire folder or drive to INCLUDE in the backup set. Then, at the Exclude panel, select the few items that you do not want to include. When you use this method of including everything, excluding a few specific items, any new items that are added in the future are included in the backup by default.
The goal of the exclude panel is to remove specific items from a backup set. It is always best to "over-include" more data in the backup set than to accidentally "over-exclude" data that may be needed in the future.
Specifying exclusions is used infrequently. Most backup sets do not contain any exclusions beyond the standard default setting, which excludes data that is not needed in order to perform a complete disaster recovery.