Exclusion list?

[alazanowski]

Would it be possible to get an exclusion list added to the ability of the program? For example, one of the most annoying functions of images being restored in an outlook/exchange environment is that if the .ost (offline cache) file that is restored is older than the last version checked in with exchange, a request is made to delete the .ost file and have it start from scratch. My preference would be that I'd like to backup the system with excluding this file altogether - this will reduce the overall size, especially in what changes incrementally, and allow a smoother restore from scratch experience. This would be similar to having the pagefile.sys and hibernate.sys files being stripped out, etc.

Any thoughts?

[Alt]

The problem is that R-Drive Image (and similar programs) does not now anything about files. It copies sectors of the disk rather than particular files. There are some exclusions, but they are few. If R-Drive Image starts analyzing file structure, it'll greatly reduce copy pace.

[alazanowski]

Makes sense, what about doing a post analysis and removal? That way its not necessarily going to analyze before it does the backup, but when its done, it can "free up" some room during an optional step to investigate and strip out a file as if it were a virtual drive. (Perhaps a step that allows you to mount the virtual disk, then allow you to run any scripts against it, then saves the disk) then allow any verification step if we want to.

Probabbly a complicated feature, but would add value to being able to sell the product to those with limited destination space.

[Alt]

That would seriously slows backup.