Backup utility report format odd ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blue Max
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Blue Max

The Windows XP backup utility, and all its predecesors, format the backup
report really odd. Instead of placing blank lines in the report between the
sections for each each drive, it puts the blank lines around the line
showing the 'Backup Type' for some mysterious reason! This practice drives
us "NUTS" when trying to find the beginning and end of the report block for
each drive in the backup log report!

There is no reason, in our opinion, for highlighting the 'backup type' over
the more important task of visually differenting the integral report blocks
for each drive. Ironically, the report section for the verify operation,
very neatly places the blank lines in front of the drive name for each
separate verify operation. As such, we can quickly pick out the report for
any individual drive in this section and assess the success of the operation
for that drive.

After years, it has finally driven us crazy enough to ask this question.
Can anyone explain the odd formatting and why it has persisted for so long?
Can anyone show us how to edit this default so that we can automatically
format the report better?
 
Blue Max said:
The Windows XP backup utility, and all its predecesors, format the backup
report really odd. Instead of placing blank lines in the report between the
sections for each each drive, it puts the blank lines around the line
showing the 'Backup Type' for some mysterious reason! This practice drives
us "NUTS" when trying to find the beginning and end of the report block for
each drive in the backup log report!

There is no reason, in our opinion, for highlighting the 'backup type' over
the more important task of visually differenting the integral report blocks
for each drive. Ironically, the report section for the verify operation,
very neatly places the blank lines in front of the drive name for each
separate verify operation. As such, we can quickly pick out the report for
any individual drive in this section and assess the success of the operation
for that drive.

After years, it has finally driven us crazy enough to ask this question.
Can anyone explain the odd formatting and why it has persisted for so long?
Can anyone show us how to edit this default so that we can automatically
format the report better?
Click to expand...

There is probably a simple reason: The original author of ntbackup.exe
did not pay too much attention to the report format and Microsoft
did not change it because of backwards compatibility reasons.

The issue is usually resolved by using a command line text editor
to massage the report so that it looks the way you want it to look.
 
Thanks Pegasus, while sad, you are probably right on the money. Our hope
was that we could format the default format in the program somehow so that
we wouldn't have to format each report. Unfortunately, that may not be
possible.

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