Hi,

I want to use NTBackup to copy users' Outlook Express .DBX files to a
subfolder in their home directory.

NTBackup seems to want to show up in GUI mode even if I start it from
the command line. Can it be used in pure command line mode without ever
popping up to confuse the user?

If yes, which parameters do I use to simply copy

C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\<somefolder> to P:\Backups\<somefolder>

... overwriting the old backup with the new one (no incremental version
storage which grows the backup to astronimical sizes).

However the DBX files are located behind a folder with a GUID name
(%username%\Local Settings\Program
data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

How can I address this folder which have a different (and unknown) GUID
for each user?

Finally, if the above is possible, how could schedule tha batch file to
be started a certain time delay (say one hour) after the user has logged in?

I'm a newbie but I hope to learn from the tips I get here ;-)

Thanks anyway

7jake

Jake wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I want to use NTBackup to copy users' Outlook Express .DBX files to a
> subfolder in their home directory.
>
> NTBackup seems to want to show up in GUI mode even if I start it from
> the command line. Can it be used in pure command line mode without ever
> popping up to confuse the user?
>
> If yes, which parameters do I use to simply copy
>
copy or Backup?

to _copy_ use xcopy "source" "Dest"

> C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\<somefolder> to
> P:\Backups\<somefolder>
>
> .. overwriting the old backup with the new one (no incremental version
> storage which grows the backup to astronimical sizes).
>
> However the DBX files are located behind a folder with a GUID name
> (%username%\Local Settings\Program
> data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express
>
> How can I address this folder which have a different (and unknown) GUID
> for each user?
>
There might also be additional identities what makes it more difficult.

Assuming there is only one ID, try this:

@echo off&setlocal
CD /D "%username%\Local Settings\Program data\Identities\{*}"
for /F "tokens=2 delims={}" %%A in ("%CD%") do set GUID=%%A
CD "Microsoft\Outlook Express"
xcopy "%CD%\*.*" "P:\Some Folder\" /S [other xcopy options]


> Finally, if the above is possible, how could schedule tha batch file to
> be started a certain time delay (say one hour) after the user has logged
> in?
>
If you schedule to one hour, who is logged in then? If P: is a network
path, it is not necessarily available running under a system account.

If a user is working copying might disturb heavily.

HTH

--
Greetings
Matthias

Matthias Tacke wrote:

> copy or Backup?

backup because ntbackup also will back up 'open' files as these files
often are open during the time users are logged in.

> There might also be additional identities what makes it more difficult.

I know, but only one of them is usually in use for each user.

> Assuming there is only one ID, try this:
>
> @echo off&setlocal
> CD /D "%username%\Local Settings\Program data\Identities\{*}"
> for /F "tokens=2 delims={}" %%A in ("%CD%") do set GUID=%%A
> CD "Microsoft\Outlook Express"
> xcopy "%CD%\*.*" "P:\Some Folder\" /S [other xcopy options]

Elegant! will try.

> If you schedule to one hour, who is logged in then?

Almost all users work full day but they check mail and reply to received
messages just after logging in. I just wanted to avoid using additional
cpu cycles for this during and just after login.

If P: is a network
> path, it is not necessarily available running under a system account.

Ooops. Will chek this too and set rights accordingly...

> If a user is working copying might disturb heavily.

I thought that ntbackup was less exclusive as of cpu cycles as xcopy but
maybe I'm wrong...

If I would use ntbackup for the job above which parameters should I use..?

Thanks for you comments

/jake

Jake wrote:
> Matthias Tacke wrote:

> If I would use ntbackup for the job above which parameters should I use..?
>
That won't help.
AFAIK the command line mode of ntbackup requires you to create a back
selection file in the Gui first.

See
ntbackup /?

--
Greetings
Matthias

Matthias Tacke skrev:
> Jake wrote:
>> Matthias Tacke wrote:
>
>> If I would use ntbackup for the job above which parameters should I
>> use..?
>>
> That won't help.
> AFAIK the command line mode of ntbackup requires you to create a back
> selection file in the Gui first.
>
> See
> ntbackup /?
>

Any other alternatives being capable to copy open files?

Tor

Jake <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Matthias Tacke skrev:
> > Jake wrote:
> >> Matthias Tacke wrote:
> >
> >> If I would use ntbackup for the job above which parameters should I
> >> use..?
> >>
> > That won't help.
> > AFAIK the command line mode of ntbackup requires you to create a back
> > selection file in the Gui first.
> >
> > See
> > ntbackup /?
> >

> Any other alternatives being capable to copy open files?

Copying open files may not be a useful thing to do. The copy of a file
that was made while it was open for an application to write to may
be in an inconsistent state and therefore useless as a backup.

--
Gary L. Smith
Columbus, Ohio