Automatic and Recommended Backup Exclusions

Backing up extraneous, redundant or non-essential files, such as temporary files, causes unnecessarily high data change rates and excessive use of network bandwidth, negatively affecting backup operations.

LiveVault Online Backup Service Agent automatically excludes many directories that contain these types of files. Additional automatic exclusions are added with new Agent versions.

  • If your Agent computer is running LiveVault Online Backup Service Agent version 4.0 or later, then your Agent is automatically excluding the appropriate files/directories for the applications identified at the time the Agent released.

  • If your Agent computer is running an earlier version of LiveVault Online Backup Service Agent, then you need to manually create the exclusions for the directories not covered by your Agent version.

Automatic backup exclusions are marked in MyLiveVault with the "Excluded" icon . These exclusions cannot be changed in MyLiveVault. However, exclusions that you create manually are not marked with the Excluded icon in MyLiveVault. Parent directories of automatically excluded files or directories are marked in MyLiveVault with one of the "partially excluded" icons, either (if a parent directory is selected), or (if a parent directory is not selected).

In addition, there are some files and directories that we cannot automatically exclude, but which we recommend that you manually exclude. You should also consider excluding files that are not business-critical and will not need to be restored in the event of data loss.

The following table specifies the files/directories that should be excluded from backup. The Agent version which first automatically excluded each file/directory is also specified. For details about an exclusion and for any additional application-specific configuration requirements, refer to the associated help topic as noted in the following table.

Exclude Automatically excluded by Agent version
General System Exclusions
DHCP jet database (backup copy) 3.3; see DHCP Jet Database
Files and objects that Microsoft and other application development companies have specified should be excluded from backup All versions; see Objects Specified in the FilesNotToBackup Registry Key
Hardware abstraction layer (hal.dll) for Windows 2000/2003 3.2
LiveVault Online Backup Service journal files or database files All versions
Microsoft File Replication Service (FRS) Import directory 3.3; see Microsoft File Replication Service (FRS)
Microsoft Indexing Service catalogs 4.0; see Microsoft Indexing Service
Microsoft Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) repository temporary files 3.3; see Microsoft Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM)

NTFS tracking log from each NTFS volume

All versions; see NTFS Tracking Log

Paging files (pagefile.sys)

All versions
Print spool 3.3 (Windows 2000), 3.6 (Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4), 4.0 (Windows 2000/2003 and Windows NT 4); see Print Spools
Recycle bin 3.6; see Recycle Bin
SMTP Mailroot folder 4.0; see SMTP Mailroot Folder
Temporary folders 3.1.2; see Temporary Folders
Temporary files in the root directory 3.6; see Temporary Files in the Root Directory
Temporary Internet file directories  3.1.2; see Temporary Internet Files
Windows Installer temporary directory and subdirectories 3.6; see Windows Installer

Windows event log

All versions
Application-specific Exclusions
AMS AfW message log file not automatically excluded; see AMS AfW Backup Configuration
Applied Systems TAM temporary and lock directories not automatically excluded; see Applied Systems TAM Backup Configuration
CA BrightStor ARCserve job queue and temporary files 4.0; see CA BrightStor ARCserve
Executive Software Undelete RecoveryBin directory and its subdirectories 3.6; see Executive Software Undelete
Microsoft Exchange 4 and 5 Internet Mail Service directory and its subdirectories (contains for example, temporary storage directories for incoming and outgoing mail, and queues) 3.3; see Microsoft Exchange: Exclusions
Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 full-text indexes not automatically excluded; see Microsoft Exchange: Exclusions
Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 virtual server instance directories 4.0; see Microsoft Exchange: Exclusions
Microsoft SQL Server backup directories 3.3; see SQL Server Backup Configuration
Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 certain files 3.2; see Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)
Veritas Backup Exec catalogs and internal data directory 4.0; see Veritas Backup Exec
Windows NTBackup catalogs not automatically excluded; see Windows NTBackup
Anti-Virus Application-specific Exclusions
CA InoculateIT/eTrust Antivirus 6.0 scan engine logs, incoming directory, temporary files, outgoing directory, move "quarantine" directory 4.0; see InoculateIT and eTrust Antivirus
NetShield 2000 Activity log 3.3; see NetShield
NetShield temporary directory 3.1.2; see NetShield
Network Associates ePolicy Orchestrator certain files 3.3 for some files/directories, one not automatically excluded; see ePolicy Orchestrator
Norton AntiVirus or Symantec AntiVirus Corporate edition backup directory not automatically excluded; see Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus
Norton AntiVirus or Symantec AntiVirus Corporate edition temporary files directory, debug logging file 4.0; see Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus
Norton AntiVirus for Microsoft Exchange and Symantec AntiVirus/Filtering for Microsoft Exchange 2000 temporary directories 4.0 for SAVFMSE, not automatically excluded for NAVMSE; see Norton AntiVirus for Microsoft Exchange and Symantec AntiVirus/Filtering for Microsoft Exchange 2000
Praetor for Microsoft Exchange in, out and quarantine directories not automatically excluded; see Praetor for Microsoft Exchange
Sophos Anti-Virus temporary directories and infected files "Action" directory 4.0; see Sophos Anti-Virus
Symantec Shared application virus definition files directory not automatically excluded; see Symantec Shared Application Files
Trend Micro ServerProtect temporary and virus directories 4.0; see Trend Micro ServerProtect
Trend Micro Virus Control System agent temporary directory 4.0; see Trend Micro Virus Control System Agent

If you have questions regarding any backup exclusions, contact Customer Service for assistance.


Related Information

Objects That Cannot Be Backed Up
Excluding Files from Backup