Vista Backup & Restore Problem

[Bob]

My laptop came with 2 120GB hard disks. On one of those disks (Drive D) I've
been storing Files that I use to install software on my PocketPC. I did
several Computer backups to external USB drives. When I tried to restore 3 of
the folders all of the files except EXEs were restored. Doesn't Vista backup
EXE files?

 

[Michael Palumbo]

My laptop came with 2 120GB hard disks. On one of those disks (Drive D)
I've
been storing Files that I use to install software on my PocketPC. I did
several Computer backups to external USB drives. When I tried to restore 3
of
the folders all of the files except EXEs were restored. Doesn't Vista
backup
EXE files?

It does not backup any type of executable or script files (batch files) at
all.

This, in my opinion, was a foolish move on the designers part.

It also backs up every file of the types of files it backs up. Let me
'splain . . .
For example, one of the file types it looks for is, of course, jpg files.
It will search the entire hard drive and back up every jpeg it finds. Even
those in your Programs folder(s) that an application may use for, say, it's
interface elements. (buttons and such on screen) Why do we need those
backed up and wasting space on our backup media?

I'd love to use it since it's part of the OS, works pretty well at what it
does but not having the ability to tell it to back up the exact files I
want, and only the locations that I want, makes it totally unusable for me.

I was wondering how many people have happily used it to back up as you have,
only to find that many of the files they thought were protected simply
aren't there because backup ignores them.

Sorry for your inconvenience, but that's how they designed it. I'm hoping
they change it with SP1, but for now I'm using Acronis True Image for
backup.

Mic

 

[Bob]

Thanks. I'm going back to using TrueImage.

It does not backup any type of executable or script files (batch files) at
all.

This, in my opinion, was a foolish move on the designers part.

It also backs up every file of the types of files it backs up. Let me
'splain . . .
For example, one of the file types it looks for is, of course, jpg files.
It will search the entire hard drive and back up every jpeg it finds. Even
those in your Programs folder(s) that an application may use for, say, it's
interface elements. (buttons and such on screen) Why do we need those
backed up and wasting space on our backup media?

I'd love to use it since it's part of the OS, works pretty well at what it
does but not having the ability to tell it to back up the exact files I
want, and only the locations that I want, makes it totally unusable for me.

I was wondering how many people have happily used it to back up as you have,
only to find that many of the files they thought were protected simply
aren't there because backup ignores them.

Sorry for your inconvenience, but that's how they designed it. I'm hoping
they change it with SP1, but for now I'm using Acronis True Image for
backup.

Mic

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Hi Bob

File Backup uses a category-based approach for specifying what files to back
up. The determination of whether a file is associated with a particular
category is based on three factors: MIME type, application association, and
file extension.

If you want to back up files that do not fit into any other categories,
choose the Additional files category. This includes files with extensions
that are not recognized by Windows. It does not, however, support executable
and system files. Such files are not backed up by this feature because they
rarely represent user data. If you really do want to back up system and
executable files using this mechanism, you can place them into a .zip file
and select the Compressed files category in the wizard.

 

[AJR]

Bob - Two "types" of backup -File and Complete PC. File backups do not
include programs (EXEs) because it would only copy the "file" and not the
system/registry changes made by an EXE.

True Image file backup also does not include EXEs for the above reason.

and

 

[Michael Palumbo]

Hi Bob

File Backup uses a category-based approach for specifying what files to
back up. The determination of whether a file is associated with a
particular category is based on three factors: MIME type, application
association, and file extension.

If you want to back up files that do not fit into any other categories,
choose the Additional files category. This includes files with extensions
that are not recognized by Windows. It does not, however, support
executable and system files. Such files are not backed up by this feature
because they rarely represent user data. If you really do want to back up
system and executable files using this mechanism, you can place them into
a .zip file and select the Compressed files category in the wizard.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Already thought of that, but thanks for the suggestion Ronnie.

This adds a step we shouldn't have to do, and it also doesn't address the
fact that when I've used backup it has backed up hundreds of megabytes,
perhaps gigabytes, of files that are in folders that have nothing to do with
my user data.

Mic

 

[Michael Palumbo]

Bob - Two "types" of backup -File and Complete PC. File backups do not
include programs (EXEs) because it would only copy the "file" and not the
system/registry changes made by an EXE.

True Image file backup also does not include EXEs for the above reason.

and

True, AJR, but the EXE files in your downloads folder are usually
setup/install files, so registry issues do not apply.

Mic

 

[AJR]

Semantics? Downloaded programs are usually in ZIP, CAB or "self extracting
(EXE or CAB) files" and as long as they have not been "installed" can be
included in a "File copy" backup.

 

[Michael Palumbo]

Semantics? Downloaded programs are usually in ZIP, CAB or "self
extracting (EXE or CAB) files" and as long as they have not been
"installed" can be included in a "File copy" backup.

".exe" files will not be included and there is no options that I can find to
change this.

If you know something I (and most of us) don't, please let us know.

Vista Backup will not even backup batch or script files, let alone an
executable file.

Mic

 

[Michael Palumbo]

Semantics? Downloaded programs are usually in ZIP, CAB or "self
extracting (EXE or CAB) files" and as long as they have not been
"installed" can be included in a "File copy" backup.

True Image will backup exe (and all) files in folders that you manually add
to the file backup.

The point is, Vista backup doesn't give the option to add (or omit) files
and folders that you do or don't want backed up.

OneCare backup even has the option to add files/folders to its default File
Backup settings, this seems to be something that would be easy to add to
Vista Backup. Well, as 'easy' as adding any code to complicated software
is, anyway.

Mic