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#1
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures,
Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. |
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#2
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
VanguardLH wrote:
I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. 'Documents' should not only be a *folder*, but should also be a *library*. See the 'Libraries' category in the left pane of File Explorer. I assume that on your system 'Documents' is not listed under 'Libraries'. File History automatically backs up all 'Libraries' and there is no need to (additionally) include the *folder* C:\Users\myprofile\Documents in your File History configuration. If 'Documents' is indeed not listed under 'Libraries', you can recreate the 'Documents' library by: Libraries - right-click - New - Library Next rename 'New Library' to 'Documents' and do a 'Properties' on 'Documents' to let the 'Documents' *library* point to your C:\Users\myprofile\Documents *folder*. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I can't answer that, but as explained above, the Documents *folder* does not have to be included, because the Documents *library* should exist. I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. |
#3
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
VanguardLH wrote:
I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. I dropped a test file into Documents and it shows up on the Backup drive E: as seen here. https://i.postimg.cc/pLYf4nG8/File-H...Container2.gif I made a series of incompressible files and tossed them in various places, and they seem to be copied over OK so far. As for a comment about "Mac Files", it would depend on whether an attempt was made to coerce them into 1252 when they were UTF-8 or something. I've had some weird stuff happen like that. It would depend on whether the transfer method was transparent or not (transparent enough to not try wrong-headed character set munging). I could only tell what had happened, by pasting the hex for the damaged stuff into Google, and finding comments about where that hex string comes from. The hex string wasn't UTF-8 and was the product of a damaging character conversion, where the resulting hex is "pure crap". So no, something damaged in that way, I don't expect anything to handle it. First you would make sure that the representation is actually valid, before blaming a system that comes later for "not dealing with it". Check the details in such a case, note the hex representation, pop into Google, and see if someone has seen that damage before. I have no idea how File History works, but so far, I'm not really seeing anything missing. My main concern is that, even with de-duping, how long is my backup storage drive going to last ? I presume even if it was using shadows somehow to make the presentation, there's a 64 shadow limit, so at some point it would run out of ways to represent incremental changes. And the user interface during restore is rather fanciful. If valuable files were involved, that interface would scare the **** out of me :-/ I mean, right away, I did something I probably shouldn't have. But, because the file didn't matter, my blood pressure didn't change. But I could see if my only copy of my taxes just got overwritten, I wouldn't be too happy. I think I need a training course or something for this one. Maybe this is why I stick with backup methods I understand. If I'm only going to blow something up, I'll find another way to do it. I thought maybe this was the method that made ZIP files, but it does not appear to be. That's why my test files were incompressible, to make them easier to spot by size of ZIPs were involved. But I don't see any ZIPs on this method. I think the Windows Backup one (the one that doesn't do system image), that's the one that makes ZIPs. It won't allow me to burrow in, so dumping an NFI example of an output file will have to do for now. The ZIPs are not conventional, in that concatenation across ZIPs doesn't work quite the way you would think :-/ Still, fun to play with if you like puzzles. https://i.postimg.cc/t4TCPsZy/window...kup-to-ZIP.gif (Files show up in ZIP containers...) File 120 \DESKTOP-FC3UB1R\Backup Set 2019-05-29 064219\Backup Files 2019-05-29 064219\Backup files 1.zip $STANDARD_INFORMATION (resident) $FILE_NAME (resident) $DATA (nonresident) logical sectors 305920-322431 (0x4ab00-0x4eb7f) Paul |
#4
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
On 29 May 2019 10:22:22 GMT, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, Frank Slootweg
wrote: VanguardLH wrote: I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. 'Documents' should not only be a *folder*, but should also be a *library*. See the 'Libraries' category in the left pane of File Explorer. I assume that on your system 'Documents' is not listed under 'Libraries'. File History automatically backs up all 'Libraries' and there is no need to (additionally) include the *folder* C:\Users\myprofile\Documents in your File History configuration. If 'Documents' is indeed not listed under 'Libraries', you can recreate the 'Documents' library by: Libraries - right-click - New - Library Next rename 'New Library' to 'Documents' and do a 'Properties' on 'Documents' to let the 'Documents' *library* point to your C:\Users\myprofile\Documents *folder*. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I can't answer that, but as explained above, the Documents *folder* does not have to be included, because the Documents *library* should exist. I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. In addition, if you want the "Public" folder's documents to be backed up, you need to manually add that to the Documents library. It isn't there by default in Win 10 like it was with Win 8. -- Zag No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten |
#5
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
Frank Slootweg wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. 'Documents' should not only be a *folder*, but should also be a *library*. See the 'Libraries' category in the left pane of File Explorer. Microsoft is trying to give up on Libraries. It no longer shows in Windows/File Explorer by default. From what I've read, like from Woody Leonhard (aka askwoody.com), Microsoft seems to be going away from libraries. Since they are just pointers in Libraries, not being listed doesn't mean the file or folder does not exist. Maybe you're thinking of the Quick Access group in File Explorer. Yep, that's just pointers, too. I found it of no value, so I configured File Explorer NOT to waste space in the tree view with pointers that I don't need nor use. Besides, Documents already has a pointer in the Start Menu in its left column. I assume that on your system 'Documents' is not listed under 'Libraries'. I don't backup based on pointers. I select the actual folders to include which, in this case, included %userprofile%\Documents. File History automatically backs up all 'Libraries' and there is no need to (additionally) include the *folder* C:\Users\myprofile\Documents in your File History configuration. *IF* you use libraries. I and most users do not as the redirection can be confusing. It's there. No, not really. Libraries was introduced in Windows 7 but which users never embraced. Of all the users that I've seen or helped and even developers, none use Libraries to go to their Documents folder. They either went direct to the folder. They weren't ignorant of where were their documents. Those that understood and use libraries then to love them (because they found a use to group together pointers to disjoint folders). The rest ignore yet another means of getting at the same folders. Also, not all users are slobs regarding folders as they actually employ the folder hierarchy to organize their files. I've seen some slob users that could really make use of libraries, but they'd eventually make a mess of them, too. https://msegceporticoprodassets.blob...obs/15414_en_1 That is what File Explorer will look like, by default. No libraries. By default (since I never changed this setting), you have to right-click in a blank area in the tree pane in File Explorer and enable "Show libraries" in the context menu. Apparently you're stuck with Libraries showing in the tree pane even after disabling "Show libraries" (might require signing off and back on to effect the option change, but I'll have to test that after finishing this reply - since I have no use or even desire to use for Libraries). After selecting to show libraries, yep, the Documents folder is listed there. Yet it was not included in the File History backups. It is pretty easy to see what File History is copying into its destination drive. The files are not stored in a compressed image or database file. In fact, you can go to the backup location and open the files right there. All File History does is copy the source file the backup location and append "(yyyy_dd_mm_hh_mm_ss tz)" to the filename. Adding the timestamp is how File History retains and tracks file versions. Because there is no compression, the backup files are as large as the source files and, of course, there will be multiple copies for "versioning", so the backup store will be equal to or larger than the sum of the source files. If 'Documents' is indeed not listed under 'Libraries', you can recreate the 'Documents' library by: Libraries - right-click - New - Library Redirection is not required to access the actual Documents folder. The %userprofile%\Documents folder itself was actually listed in File History to include in its backups. Next rename 'New Library' to 'Documents' and do a 'Properties' on 'Documents' to let the 'Documents' *library* point to your C:\Users\myprofile\Documents *folder*. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I can't answer that, but as explained above, the Documents *folder* does not have to be included, because the Documents *library* should exist. Yep, AFTER enabling the option to show Libraries in File Explorer, the redirection to %userprofile%\Documents was listed as Documents under Libraries. Yet the Documents folder is still missing from the backup location for File History. As a test, just in case File History doesn't create its backup location for Documents until a document has actually been changed, I edited a ..docx file and saved the change. I then went into File History and instigated a manual backup (rather than wait until when File History did its next check). Nope, no backup of the changed or original file. When I right-click on the .docx file, there is a "Previous Version" tab but it lists no versions. So, File History is not working on Documents. Since File History refuses to include the %userprofile%\Documents folder -- whether by using the redirection to it in Libraries or by using direct access to the folder itself -- I'll have to come up with some other solution (that I'll fabricate or a 3rd party tool) to give me quick and easy file versioning. The lack of including Documents makes File History worthless, to me. |
#6
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
On Wed, 29 May 2019 12:09:59 -0500, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, VanguardLH
wrote: After selecting to show libraries, yep, the Documents folder is listed there. Yet it was not included in the File History backups. By default, File History backs up libraries, but it also backs up every folder in your [User] (home) folder. Yes. MS is ditching libraries, same as they eventually did with Homegroups, but libraries were the basis of File History in Windows 8, so there is still some legacy there. It automatically adds folders in the four default libraries, too. There were always difficulties with custom libraries that the user added. I expect libraries to go away, and for it to just backup the home folder directories (excepting AppData) in the future. Note that it does *not* backup any files that are actually *in* the home folder. I have to occasionally stick those files on a drive somewhere manually. If you tell it to back up the [user] folder itself, you'll have to exclude AppData manually, I believe. Is your Documents folder on a different drive/in a different directory? Did you change the defaults for it? If not, the place to go for backup is Settings-Update & Security-Backup. The folders included and excluded should be under the "More options" link that appears under the on/off toggle. Check to see that "Documents" isn't one of the excluded folders in that list (in SETTINGS, not in Control Panel). It should be included, along with all the folders in your home folder (again, excluding AppData). So check in Settings for the include/exclude lists, and make sure they're right. Judging by what you posted, you probably already had a look at that page. Beyond that, your account may be corrupted. You can create a new account and transfer everything from the old account to the new account and see if that works. This tactic fixes a lot of bizzaro Windows problem. I've been through a few fresh accounts on various machines. -- Zag No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten |
#7
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
Paul wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. I dropped a test file into Documents and it shows up on the Backup drive E: as seen here. https://i.postimg.cc/pLYf4nG8/File-H...Container2.gif I made a series of incompressible files and tossed them in various places, and they seem to be copied over OK so far. I did a similar test. The %userprofile%\Documents folder was listed as included for File History to backup. I edited a document in the Documents folder (two subfolders deep since I use folders to organize my documents which was the point of using folders instead of mashing everything together in the root folder, along with the old limitation of how many files could be in a folder). I saved the changes to the source file. I went into File History and forced an immediate backup. Nope, there was no Documents folder nor any copy of the changed file. File History is broke for me. I've removed and re-added the %userprofile%\Documents folder but File History refuses to create backups of the source files. When added, there should, at a minimum, be a copy of every source file in the included folder (and all its subfolders) since that would be the base version when File History got enabled. As for a comment about "Mac Files", it would depend on whether an attempt was made to coerce them into 1252 when they were UTF-8 or something. The complaints that I saw said the files were accessible by programs and even by File Explorer. The users could manipulate (open, move, rename, delete) the Mac-named files, but File History refused to back them up. Those complaints were 1 to 2 years ago, so I don't know if Microsoft fixed that problem since then. The solution was to rename the file to remove any characters File History didn't like, and then the files would get backed up. I didn't bother hunting around for more related complaints since that was a side issue discovered when hunting for File History problems and my focus for this thread is why File History won't include the Documents folder. I really only mentioned that bug to show that File History has other problems. In fact, when researching File History, it doesn't seem reliable to trust as a backup solution. I have no idea how File History works, but so far, I'm not really seeing anything missing. My main concern is that, even with de-duping, how long is my backup storage drive going to last ? I presume even if it was using shadows somehow to make the presentation, there's a 64 shadow limit, so at some point it would run out of ways to represent incremental changes. And the user interface during restore is rather fanciful. If valuable files were involved, that interface would scare the **** out of me :-/ I mean, right away, I did something I probably shouldn't have. But, because the file didn't matter, my blood pressure didn't change. But I could see if my only copy of my taxes just got overwritten, I wouldn't be too happy. I'm still trying to figure out how File History can show you prior versions after deleting a file. After all, normally you right-click on an *existing* file to use Properties - Prior Versions to get at the prior versions. So, how can you right-click on a non-existing file, one that existed but got deleted? Create a dummy file named the same (if you remember the old filename)? Restore the deleted file from the Recycle Bin *IF* the deleted copy is still there? File History appears to require a file object to know its filename to then check if it has backups by the same filename (but with "(yyyy_dd_mm_hh_mm_ss tz)" appended to the filename). Well, a deleted file doesn't have a name because, well, it doesn't exist. You can't right-click on a deleted file in File Explorer. Restore the whole damn folder (if it still exists) by right-clicking on the folder and restore that? That would step on every other file in that folder to restore the entire folder back to some backup date. I thought maybe this was the method that made ZIP files, but it does not appear to be. That's why my test files were incompressible, to make them easier to spot by size of ZIPs were involved. But I don't see any ZIPs on this method. No compression. You can go to File History's backup location and directly open the backup copies from there. The file is not compressed. It is not encrypted. The files there are no different than if you simply copied them from the source location to a destination except File History renames the destination files as noted above. That means the backup store is equal to (for source files that were backed up but not yet updated) or larger in size (due to datestamped prior versions of the same file) than the source files getting copied. File History is just one-way file mirroring (one-way file synchronization) performed at timed intervals (not an on-demand versioning tool to immediately capture changes after a file gets changed) but also adds datestamping to the filename for its versioning. From what I've found out about File History, I could do the very same timed file versioning using my backup program and running incremental backups in a logical (file) backup (versus an image backup). The only advantage that I've seen with File History is right-clicking on a file (obviously it has to exist to right-click on it) in File Explorer and going to the Properties - Prior Version tab to grab a prior saved copy of the file. The incremental file backup for a backup program would step on the prior saved copy, so I'd only have 1 prior version up until the next incremental backup. I use Macrium Reflect and it isn't designed as a file versioning tool. I don't know if I can massage it into doing file versioning but the interface to see older versions of a file is clumsy. |
#8
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
I noticed today that my entire C:\Downloads folder got wiped (all
subfolders and files were gone). I do daily backups using Macrium Reflect, so I was able to recover the Downloads folder. I only use the default %userprofile%\Downloads folder for temporary storage of downloads. Once I decide to keep a download, it gets moved to a subfolder under C:\Downloads. If I didn't have Reflect's backups, I would've lost all my downloads, along with the license keys, purchasing order, and other data stored in the subfolder for each download. My C:\Batch folder lost half of its files. I noticed when I double-clicked a shortcut and it failed to run, and then I noticed its .bat file (and many others) were missing from that folder. I hadn't done anything complicated on my computer since 5 AM when the Reflect backups were ran other than use the Mail app for e-mail and post here. Oh, I did look at but did not change the File History settings (the original topic of this discussion). I have both OneDrive (there by default with the Win10 install although I used it back on Win7 but it didn't sync on anything but its own local folder) and Google Drive running on my computer. OneDrive used to only sync files in its local folder to my OneDrive account, but now Microsoft changed that to include folders they think are important (versus letting me decide which are important). Its "Chose folders" doesn't let you choose other than the important folders that Microsoft chose to list. Google Drive lets me actually choose which folders to sync. Looks like there is a conflict between concurrent synchronization when both OneDrive and Google Drive (and perhaps other sync clients) are running that might've been the cause of wiping my Downloads folder. See: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-e5cf45bef425 which notes: Situation: Both OneDrive and Google Backup/Sync are running at the same time, and both are working in my Documents folder. Still a OneDrive issue! Here's why: 1. OneDrive LOCKS this .tmp.drivedownload folder and its contents for uploading, and thus prevents Google Sync from working in it properly. Race condition! 2. OneDrive syncs this folder and its temporary contents to Microsoft, thus even after Google Sync is done with it and tries to delete it, OneDrive RESTORES the deleted folder and contents occasionally. (Happens if I don't let Google Sync finish - especially during Sleep/Hibernation/Power loss conditions.) 3. Google Sync MOVES my actual files files into and out of this temp folder, so OneDrive THINKS the user DELETED the current file being synced. And promptly deletes it from OneDrive. (They also get renamed by Google Sync to *.tmp which further confuses OneDrive.) 4. Then Google Sync moves the file back a few seconds later, and OneDrive reuploads the temporarily moved file again. Wasting double my bandwidth and creating useless file modifications history and filling my trash with duplicates. 5. Google Sync cannot work if there already is a temp folder. (Wrong attributes too; Not system and Not hidden) OneDrive interrupts Google Sync by keeping the tmp folder around. I have to manually delete it, frequently. With files inside! Who knows if some of my data is LOST then, or not? 6. Google Sync is guilty too, of not using TMP anymore (It used to, in the past...) At least when both TMP and GD are on C:\, it SHOULD! 7. OneDrive spams randomly named GUID files in the root folder, such as ".2339C9593-DI756-4EC6-8DE-4241E2A707B" and even after I delete them it recreates them. Keep it elsewhere, damn it! Google Sync uploads and tracks changes to this stupid OneDrive-exclusive settings file. And then OneDrive gets confused when Google Sync changes the GUID back during an "out of sync" Sync. 8. There are inadequate settings in OneDrive. We can't blacklist the folder, to prevent it from being OneDrive'd. 9. Google Sync can blacklist file extensions, but not file names, and since the GUID spam has random file extensions and HAS NO NAME, I cannot prevent Google Sync from uploading OneDrive's junk file either. 10. This is insufficient. One is similar to the other in ineptitude. Like how I can't blacklist Google Sync folders in OneDrive. Both have insufficient settings. Race conditions and interference all around. Both are at fault for not ignoring each other and for working / being designed in various stupid ways that aren't compatible with one another. Workaround is terrible: Run OneDrive first, wait for it to sync, then KILL OneDrive. Only THEN may one run Google Sync, also wait for it to finish, and KILL that too. The two cannot run at the same time. Antivirus companies fixed this years ago. Cloud apps should, too. So, looks like I'll have to decide between OneDrive or Google Drive. With free accounts, OneDrive only gives me 5 GB of storage quota. At this point, it's backup up only about 1 GB of data. In contrast, Google Drive starts at 15 GB for a free account - five times that of OneDrive. Also, over the years I've used Google Drive, and without paying anything, my storage quota has gone up to 115 GB. With Google Drive, I can pick which folders to sync. With OneDrive, I'm limiting to /choosing/ from Microsoft's fixed list of "important" folders. The odd part is that neither OneDrive or Google Drive are supposed to sync on the C:\Downloads folder. It's just too big. So, there shouldn't be a race condition between which will sync that folder. Yet I did find a .tmp.drivedownload file used by Google Drive under the C:\Downloads folder. Using both OneDrive (as it worked then on sync'ing ONLY on files in its own local folder) and Google Drive worked for years back on Windows 7. Only when I moved to Windows 10 did the new OneDrive version and Google Drive appear to conflict with each other. If I have to make a choice, OneDrive loses, unless I can neuter OneDrive to only sync those files in its local OneDrive folder and not access any other folders. Google Drive doesn't accessthe local OneDrive folder (it wasn't added) since I don't need one online storage service backing up the files for another online storage service. If I can get the OneDrive client to sync ONLY on files in the local OneDrive folder then I'll keep using it. For other folders, the 5 GB quota is too small and I'll use Google Drive for those with its 115 GB, and rising, quota for my Google account. Now I have to visit every folder in my local drives to see what else besides C:\Downloads and C:\Batch got wholly or partially wiped. Geez, I just noticed my Documents folder got completely wiped. I'm starting to blame OneDrive from what I've read that it wants to upload (move) documents to its cloud storage and then delete them locally; i.e., your docs go into their cloud. Yet, the setting "Save space and download files as you use them" for OneDrive client's Files On-Demand feature is disabled. I went to onedrive.com and there were my documents. I disabled the OneDrive client from synchronizing on other folders, so hopefully it only syncs what I put into %userprofile%\OneDrive and doesn't again touch any other folder; however, the "Sync all files and folders in OneDrive", when enabled (and seems to indicate sync on the OneDrive folder) forcibly enables the "Files not in a folder" selection. I do NOT want the OneDrive client to move docs in the local OneDrive folder to my OneDrive account's storage. I want their client to *sync* my local files in the OneDrive folder to those in my online folder, just like it used to. |
#9
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
VanguardLH wrote:
Paul wrote: VanguardLH wrote: I enabled File History. Several folders were added, like Pictures, Videos, Contacts, Favorites, etc. Those all appear in the backup location under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\C\Use rs\myprofile Z: is the drive letter for the backup drive. I added other folders, like C:\Batch, C:\References, C:\Downloads, D:\Backups\AppConfig, etc. Those all appear on File History's backup drive under: Z:\FileHistory\myprofile\myhostname\Data\driv e\path Looks good, so far, except I cannot find my Documents folder anywhere on the File History backup drive. C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was added and it is listed to get backed up by File History, but that folder and its files are missing from the backup drive. Without the Documents folder, there is absolutely no use for Microsoft's Backup program via File History. That is the most important folder to include in the File History backup. I can continue using my daily scheduled Macrium Reflect backups. Reflect works for all folders. I could even scheduled the incremental backup to run at the same interval as File History backup. However, File History is easier to find an old version across all backups versus having to mount a backup image from Reflect, look for the file to see if it was included, unmount, and repeat until I find the file and at a version that I want to recover. Why is Windows 10's File History omitting the Documents folder that it is told to include? I've seen someone reporting one year ago that File History would not handle characters in filenames that Mac's would use in a filename despite File Explorer and other programs handled the filenames just fine. I've also seen some reputable folks claim File History was going to get axed, but they were saying this almost 2 years ago and File History is still in Windows 10 (1809 for my build). From reading online posts, seems a lot about File History and the Backup programs are dysfunctional. I dropped a test file into Documents and it shows up on the Backup drive E: as seen here. https://i.postimg.cc/pLYf4nG8/File-H...Container2.gif I made a series of incompressible files and tossed them in various places, and they seem to be copied over OK so far. I did a similar test. The %userprofile%\Documents folder was listed as included for File History to backup. I edited a document in the Documents folder (two subfolders deep since I use folders to organize my documents which was the point of using folders instead of mashing everything together in the root folder, along with the old limitation of how many files could be in a folder). I saved the changes to the source file. I went into File History and forced an immediate backup. Nope, there was no Documents folder nor any copy of the changed file. File History is broke for me. I've removed and re-added the %userprofile%\Documents folder but File History refuses to create backups of the source files. When added, there should, at a minimum, be a copy of every source file in the included folder (and all its subfolders) since that would be the base version when File History got enabled. As for a comment about "Mac Files", it would depend on whether an attempt was made to coerce them into 1252 when they were UTF-8 or something. The complaints that I saw said the files were accessible by programs and even by File Explorer. The users could manipulate (open, move, rename, delete) the Mac-named files, but File History refused to back them up. Those complaints were 1 to 2 years ago, so I don't know if Microsoft fixed that problem since then. The solution was to rename the file to remove any characters File History didn't like, and then the files would get backed up. I didn't bother hunting around for more related complaints since that was a side issue discovered when hunting for File History problems and my focus for this thread is why File History won't include the Documents folder. I really only mentioned that bug to show that File History has other problems. In fact, when researching File History, it doesn't seem reliable to trust as a backup solution. I have no idea how File History works, but so far, I'm not really seeing anything missing. My main concern is that, even with de-duping, how long is my backup storage drive going to last ? I presume even if it was using shadows somehow to make the presentation, there's a 64 shadow limit, so at some point it would run out of ways to represent incremental changes. And the user interface during restore is rather fanciful. If valuable files were involved, that interface would scare the **** out of me :-/ I mean, right away, I did something I probably shouldn't have. But, because the file didn't matter, my blood pressure didn't change. But I could see if my only copy of my taxes just got overwritten, I wouldn't be too happy. I'm still trying to figure out how File History can show you prior versions after deleting a file. After all, normally you right-click on an *existing* file to use Properties - Prior Versions to get at the prior versions. So, how can you right-click on a non-existing file, one that existed but got deleted? Create a dummy file named the same (if you remember the old filename)? Restore the deleted file from the Recycle Bin *IF* the deleted copy is still there? File History appears to require a file object to know its filename to then check if it has backups by the same filename (but with "(yyyy_dd_mm_hh_mm_ss tz)" appended to the filename). Well, a deleted file doesn't have a name because, well, it doesn't exist. You can't right-click on a deleted file in File Explorer. Restore the whole damn folder (if it still exists) by right-clicking on the folder and restore that? That would step on every other file in that folder to restore the entire folder back to some backup date. I thought maybe this was the method that made ZIP files, but it does not appear to be. That's why my test files were incompressible, to make them easier to spot by size of ZIPs were involved. But I don't see any ZIPs on this method. No compression. You can go to File History's backup location and directly open the backup copies from there. The file is not compressed. It is not encrypted. The files there are no different than if you simply copied them from the source location to a destination except File History renames the destination files as noted above. That means the backup store is equal to (for source files that were backed up but not yet updated) or larger in size (due to datestamped prior versions of the same file) than the source files getting copied. File History is just one-way file mirroring (one-way file synchronization) performed at timed intervals (not an on-demand versioning tool to immediately capture changes after a file gets changed) but also adds datestamping to the filename for its versioning. From what I've found out about File History, I could do the very same timed file versioning using my backup program and running incremental backups in a logical (file) backup (versus an image backup). The only advantage that I've seen with File History is right-clicking on a file (obviously it has to exist to right-click on it) in File Explorer and going to the Properties - Prior Version tab to grab a prior saved copy of the file. The incremental file backup for a backup program would step on the prior saved copy, so I'd only have 1 prior version up until the next incremental backup. I use Macrium Reflect and it isn't designed as a file versioning tool. I don't know if I can massage it into doing file versioning but the interface to see older versions of a file is clumsy. OK, I'll offer a theory without evidence. It could be that your OS which is misbehaving, is an Upgrade Install over Win7 or Win8.1. Whereas the test I just set up using a 1903 throw-away VM is a Clean Install. My .library-ms files would be in "original condition" such as it is. There is the usual junction for My Documents (the legacy folder), which points it at the Win10 place for it. And we're testing Documents, so this has no effect on the outcome. \\?\C:\\Users\bullwinkle\My Documents: JUNCTION Print Name : C:\Users\bullwinkle\Documents Substitute Name: C:\Users\bullwinkle\Documents ******* While the "documents.library-ms" file exists, as near as I can tell the functionality has been disconnected. There is still a menu item "Add to Library", but the other facilities like Managing Libraries is gone. ******* I tried a test with libraries and nothing sensible is happening. My library folders are backed up in File History, if they happen to be in the "sweep" area of File History. If you move them out of the way (say, to the root of C:\ ), they're not included in history, and the file set doesn't appear in Documents as if Documents was a library. The documents.library-ms file is duly updated with the information, but nothing works. So it's more than File History that is broken there, it seems Libraries don't work there. Not that I can see. ******* Your question about File History and the "deleted file problem", there was some web page which suggested searching the history for the "folder that contained the file" offered a way to get the file back. You restore an old version of the folder and your file comes back. Which is cool, but a little nerve wracking. Paul |
#10
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
VanguardLH wrote:
I noticed today that my entire C:\Downloads folder got wiped (all subfolders and files were gone). I do daily backups using Macrium Reflect, so I was able to recover the Downloads folder. I only use the default %userprofile%\Downloads folder for temporary storage of downloads. Once I decide to keep a download, it gets moved to a subfolder under C:\Downloads. If I didn't have Reflect's backups, I would've lost all my downloads, along with the license keys, purchasing order, and other data stored in the subfolder for each download. My C:\Batch folder lost half of its files. I noticed when I double-clicked a shortcut and it failed to run, and then I noticed its .bat file (and many others) were missing from that folder. I hadn't done anything complicated on my computer since 5 AM when the Reflect backups were ran other than use the Mail app for e-mail and post here. Oh, I did look at but did not change the File History settings (the original topic of this discussion). I have both OneDrive (there by default with the Win10 install although I used it back on Win7 but it didn't sync on anything but its own local folder) and Google Drive running on my computer. OneDrive used to only sync files in its local folder to my OneDrive account, but now Microsoft changed that to include folders they think are important (versus letting me decide which are important). Its "Chose folders" doesn't let you choose other than the important folders that Microsoft chose to list. Google Drive lets me actually choose which folders to sync. Looks like there is a conflict between concurrent synchronization when both OneDrive and Google Drive (and perhaps other sync clients) are running that might've been the cause of wiping my Downloads folder. See: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-e5cf45bef425 which notes: Situation: Both OneDrive and Google Backup/Sync are running at the same time, and both are working in my Documents folder. Still a OneDrive issue! Here's why: 1. OneDrive LOCKS this .tmp.drivedownload folder and its contents for uploading, and thus prevents Google Sync from working in it properly. Race condition! 2. OneDrive syncs this folder and its temporary contents to Microsoft, thus even after Google Sync is done with it and tries to delete it, OneDrive RESTORES the deleted folder and contents occasionally. (Happens if I don't let Google Sync finish - especially during Sleep/Hibernation/Power loss conditions.) 3. Google Sync MOVES my actual files files into and out of this temp folder, so OneDrive THINKS the user DELETED the current file being synced. And promptly deletes it from OneDrive. (They also get renamed by Google Sync to *.tmp which further confuses OneDrive.) 4. Then Google Sync moves the file back a few seconds later, and OneDrive reuploads the temporarily moved file again. Wasting double my bandwidth and creating useless file modifications history and filling my trash with duplicates. 5. Google Sync cannot work if there already is a temp folder. (Wrong attributes too; Not system and Not hidden) OneDrive interrupts Google Sync by keeping the tmp folder around. I have to manually delete it, frequently. With files inside! Who knows if some of my data is LOST then, or not? 6. Google Sync is guilty too, of not using TMP anymore (It used to, in the past...) At least when both TMP and GD are on C:\, it SHOULD! 7. OneDrive spams randomly named GUID files in the root folder, such as ".2339C9593-DI756-4EC6-8DE-4241E2A707B" and even after I delete them it recreates them. Keep it elsewhere, damn it! Google Sync uploads and tracks changes to this stupid OneDrive-exclusive settings file. And then OneDrive gets confused when Google Sync changes the GUID back during an "out of sync" Sync. 8. There are inadequate settings in OneDrive. We can't blacklist the folder, to prevent it from being OneDrive'd. 9. Google Sync can blacklist file extensions, but not file names, and since the GUID spam has random file extensions and HAS NO NAME, I cannot prevent Google Sync from uploading OneDrive's junk file either. 10. This is insufficient. One is similar to the other in ineptitude. Like how I can't blacklist Google Sync folders in OneDrive. Both have insufficient settings. Race conditions and interference all around. Both are at fault for not ignoring each other and for working / being designed in various stupid ways that aren't compatible with one another. Workaround is terrible: Run OneDrive first, wait for it to sync, then KILL OneDrive. Only THEN may one run Google Sync, also wait for it to finish, and KILL that too. The two cannot run at the same time. Antivirus companies fixed this years ago. Cloud apps should, too. So, looks like I'll have to decide between OneDrive or Google Drive. With free accounts, OneDrive only gives me 5 GB of storage quota. At this point, it's backup up only about 1 GB of data. In contrast, Google Drive starts at 15 GB for a free account - five times that of OneDrive. Also, over the years I've used Google Drive, and without paying anything, my storage quota has gone up to 115 GB. With Google Drive, I can pick which folders to sync. With OneDrive, I'm limiting to /choosing/ from Microsoft's fixed list of "important" folders. The odd part is that neither OneDrive or Google Drive are supposed to sync on the C:\Downloads folder. It's just too big. So, there shouldn't be a race condition between which will sync that folder. Yet I did find a .tmp.drivedownload file used by Google Drive under the C:\Downloads folder. Using both OneDrive (as it worked then on sync'ing ONLY on files in its own local folder) and Google Drive worked for years back on Windows 7. Only when I moved to Windows 10 did the new OneDrive version and Google Drive appear to conflict with each other. If I have to make a choice, OneDrive loses, unless I can neuter OneDrive to only sync those files in its local OneDrive folder and not access any other folders. Google Drive doesn't accessthe local OneDrive folder (it wasn't added) since I don't need one online storage service backing up the files for another online storage service. If I can get the OneDrive client to sync ONLY on files in the local OneDrive folder then I'll keep using it. For other folders, the 5 GB quota is too small and I'll use Google Drive for those with its 115 GB, and rising, quota for my Google account. Now I have to visit every folder in my local drives to see what else besides C:\Downloads and C:\Batch got wholly or partially wiped. Geez, I just noticed my Documents folder got completely wiped. I'm starting to blame OneDrive from what I've read that it wants to upload (move) documents to its cloud storage and then delete them locally; i.e., your docs go into their cloud. Yet, the setting "Save space and download files as you use them" for OneDrive client's Files On-Demand feature is disabled. I went to onedrive.com and there were my documents. I disabled the OneDrive client from synchronizing on other folders, so hopefully it only syncs what I put into %userprofile%\OneDrive and doesn't again touch any other folder; however, the "Sync all files and folders in OneDrive", when enabled (and seems to indicate sync on the OneDrive folder) forcibly enables the "Files not in a folder" selection. I do NOT want the OneDrive client to move docs in the local OneDrive folder to my OneDrive account's storage. I want their client to *sync* my local files in the OneDrive folder to those in my online folder, just like it used to. You know there is a button in CleanMgr that deletes %userprofile%\Downloads, right ? That's one easy way to lose all your downloads. I came that close once, to ticking that button... I am dead set against fully automated "user profile" deletion tools. CleanMgr on the other hand, is merely a hand grenade, where the user has to be clever enough to not pull out the pin while playing catch with it. But some day, we won't even have a choice in the matter, and it'll be "hammer and tongs" to turn crap features like this OFF. The OS already has some feature where "it detects we're low on space", as well as "reserving 7GB for future Upgrades". Wonderful. It's like you invite a Bum into your house, and he tells you that you can't use the LivingRoom any more because he wants to use it. And stay out of his LivingRoom. Paul |
#11
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
Paul wrote:
You know there is a button in CleanMgr that deletes %userprofile%\Downloads, right ? I prefer to use CCleaner and add the folder to the Include list. Besides a shortcut in a taskbar toolbar to run "ccleaner /auto", I also added an event in Task Scheduler to run it at night. However, for the %userprofile%\Downloads folder (which I use only for temporary storage of downloads which might get copied to C:\Downloads for permanent storage if I like the download), I also configured CCleaner to empty that folder for items over 10 days old. That gives me some time to review a download and later decided if I want it. Just because I downloaded something doesn't mean that I must look at it right now. I already ran "cleanmgr.exe /sageset:0" to create a cleanup profile (recorded in the registry) which I could use later by running "cleanmgr.exe /sagerun:0". It, too, has an an event in Task Scheduler to run it occasionally at night. While CCleaner and Cleanmgr overlap on many locations to clean, each has locations the other doesn't. Both CCleaner and Cleanmgr are scheduled to run before the daily image backups by Macrium Reflect. I don't need to include the garbage in my backups. Microsoft came up with something besides their cleanup wizard (cleanmgr.exe) called Storage Sense (no, not Storage Spaces) that is yet another drive cleanup tool. Go to the Settings app - System - Storage to see how it is setup on your Win10 setup. I turned it off. CCleaner has far more options. It will do its cleanup when the event "low storage space" fires, but all it cleans up are temp folders, and those get repeatedly cleaned out every day by CCleaner and Cleanmgr. Instead of cleaning up on a schedule, Storage Sense cleans up on thresholds. https://www.guidingtech.com/windows-...-sense-enable/ "Microsoft has cleverly merged the old Disk Cleanup feature and the Delete Temporary files feature." That's one easy way to lose all your downloads. I came that close once, to ticking that button... And why I never permanently store my downloads in the %userprofile%\Downloads folder. I use it only for temporary storage of downloads. If I decide to keep a download, it either goes into C:\References (if some doc about the OS, apps, or other products I have, like smartphones and snowblower) or it goes into C:\Downloads. I even have my Reflect backup jobs run a post-processing command to run SyncBackLite to copy C:\Downloads to E:\Downloads (a USB HDD) just to have another copy (besides the copy stored in the image backup of C:, and the image backups also get mirrored to the USB HDD). I am dead set against fully automated "user profile" deletion tools. CleanMgr on the other hand, is merely a hand grenade, where the user has to be clever enough to not pull out the pin while playing catch with it. When I run "cleanmgr.exe /sageset:0" (you can use any profile number, but use the same one with the /sagerun:x switch), I select the following to clean: Temporary Setup Files Old Chkdsk files Setup log files Diagnostic data viewer database files Downloaded Program Files (not the same as Downloaded Files) Temporary Internet Files System error memory dump files System created Windows Error Reporting Files DirectX Shader Cache Delivery Optimization Files (although I have that option disabled) Recycle Bin RetailDemo Offline Content Temporary Files The other selections are unchecked, so they don't get cleaned, like the Downloads folder. Instead I have a scheduled event to have CCleaner do cleanup which includes the Downloads folder (which is, for me, just for temporary storage) but only for files older than 10 days. ***** WARNING ***** Microsoft already includes a scheduled event to run cleanmgr. Load Task Scheduler and go to Task Scheduler Library - Microsoft - Windows - DiskCleanup. You'll find an event defined to run: %windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe /autoclean /d %systemdrive% If, as I am, you define your own profile of what cleanmgr will purge and ensure THAT is what that wizard uses, be sure to disable Microsoft's event to run cleanmgr. But some day, we won't even have a choice in the matter, and it'll be "hammer and tongs" to turn crap features like this OFF. The OS already has some feature where "it detects we're low on space", as well as "reserving 7GB for future Upgrades". Wonderful. Storage Sense. I believe it is disabled by default in a new OS install. |
#12
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
Paul wrote:
OK, I'll offer a theory without evidence. It could be that your OS which is misbehaving, is an Upgrade Install over Win7 or Win8.1. Nope. I never do OS upgrades. I make sure I have image backups and data file backups (online, on other internal drives [which are disconnected during the OS install], and USB drives). I do a FRESH install of Windows (every version) and then install all the apps anew. I restore my data files. I don't want to carry any pollution of files or registry remnants into the new installation. Upgrades are easier and quicker but almost always users start reporting problems sometime later due to incompatible files or versions thereof or registry remnants. I figure the new OS is going to crap on my a lot to start with. I don't want the pollution carried with an upgrade to dump more crap on me. Also, it's a good time to decide which apps I really use and will install rather than revisit them all beforehand to uninstall before an upgrade. To me, a new version of the OS is also cleanup time. No migrated pollution, and choosing what to install again. |
#13
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
Zaghadka wrote:
VanguardLH wrote: After selecting to show libraries, yep, the Documents folder is listed there. Yet it was not included in the File History backups. By default, File History backs up libraries, but it also backs up every folder in your [User] (home) folder. The it would also be backing up the OneDrive and Google Drive folders. Tis another reason not to use File History: the user doesn't have control over just what folders get their files versioned in a backup. Yep, I have a %userprofile%\Documents folder with 294 files, but none of them got copied to File History's backup location. Yes. MS is ditching libraries, same as they eventually did with Homegroups, but libraries were the basis of File History in Windows 8, so there is still some legacy there. It automatically adds folders in the four default libraries, too. There were always difficulties with custom libraries that the user added. Also interesting is the Microsoft is moving to UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app coded using Window RT. By the time all major apps convert the Win32 programs to WinRT apps, something else will replace WinRT and UWP will go dead. I'm going to ditch the unreliable File History feature (see my other post about a new test where File History /mostly/ worked but still failed, because 1 missing file means an incomplete backup). I'll hunt around for reliable file versioning software. Tis typical with Microsoft's OS: find 3rd party software to do what you want. I already use SyncBackupLite but that version doesn't include file versioning. I'd have to pay $40 (no upgrade path from SyncBackLite) to get their SyncBackSE program that has file versioning. Doubt I'll find a reliable and robust freeware solution. Is your Documents folder on a different drive/in a different directory? Did you change the defaults for it? The Documents folder is in its default physical location under the %userprofile% folder. I played around with redirecting the special folders to other drives, but it has been a very long time when I was running out of space on drives. My C: drive is a 1TB m.2 NVMe SSD with 150GB of it reserved as unallocated space for over provisioning (helps to lengthen SSD longevity) and with only 103GB used of the remaining 850GB partition. I've installed all the apps that I'm likely to use for years to come. While there will likely be more apps and more data files over the next several years, I really don't see more than twice the current amount of consumed space on my C: drive. I way overbuilt, but then I don't have to later do hardware upgrades other than for hardware failure. I have no need to move or redirect to where is the Documents or other special folders. My premise has been for a very long time that if you are running out of disk space then get a bigger disk. By the time you need more space, computer parts have become a lot cheaper. If not, the place to go for backup is Settings-Update & Security-Backup. The folders included and excluded should be under the "More options" link that appears under the on/off toggle. Yep, and C:\Users\myprofile\Documents was listed. Yet File History didn't create backups for that folder. Documents was in the Include list. The Exclude list was empty. Beyond that, your account may be corrupted. You can create a new account and transfer everything from the old account to the new account and see if that works. This tactic fixes a lot of bizzaro Windows problem. I've been through a few fresh accounts on various machines. An anomaly that I saw with OneDrive when it is configured with its defaults (which includes all the special folders) is that there were two Documents folders (yep, by the same name) in the %userprofile% folder. One was empty. The other had all my docs. Maybe File History didn't know which to back up due to the identical folder names. Normally I would say folders cannot have the same name, but then again this is Windows and Microsoft has become enamored with junctions and symbolic links. Once I configured OneDrive to NOT sync on all folder (well, the folders Microsoft pre-selects), I deleted the empty Documents folder, so only the occupied Documents folder remained. Still File History did not backup the remaining Documents folder -- until my later test (see my other reply to myself). |
#14
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File History (Backup) - Not including Documents folder
I did the following in a re-test:
- Removed the USB flash drive used by File History which then disabled File History (no target drives anymore for where it would save its backups). - Quick-formatted the USB flash drive. - Disabled OneDrive from synchronizing on all folders. Just the folders within the %userprofile%\OneDrive folder were listed, and those had local and online copies. * I'm forced to use OneDrive because some Win10 apps refuse to store their files anywhere else. For example, the OneNote app won't save local copies of its notebooks. Instead it demands to use OneDrive to put links (1KB) to my notebooks in the OneDrive folder which are copied to my OneDrive account (where the online account hides the .one files in their folder and just shows the 1KB links, too). - Checked Google Drive's setup, so it no longer overlapped on OneDrive. Basically when I disabled sync on all folders in OneDrive and just selected the folders in the %userprofile%\OneDrive folder than all overlap already got eliminated. - Inserted the USB flash drive. - Enabled File History and added the USB flash drive for its target of where to store its backups. - Stupid File History went about pre-selecting a bunch of files of which few were the ones that I would want versioned backups. One was the OneDrive folder and even the Google Drive subfolders under %userprofile%. No thanks. Several other folders got pre-selected that I had to remove. Then I added the folders that I really wanted versioned backups. - I forced a backup in File History (didn't want to wait an hour for it to start). It /mostly/ worked okay this time (but mostly is not good enough). Alas, still some problems. Of the 294 documents under the %userprofile%\Documents (my docs), only 293 showed up in the versioned backup location for File History. Took me awhile for digging, but I found it was a .pdf file that didn't get a copy stored in File History's Documents folder. I tried forcing another backup in File History but the .pdf file still did not show up in the File History backup location. Other files, including other PDFs, showed up in File History's backup location but not this particular PDF file. %userprofile%\Pictures has 977 files in 87 folders but the Pictures folder in File History's backup location had 975 files in 82 folders. That's too many files and folders for me to go hunting for where was the mismatch between the source location and File History's matching backup folder. File History was mostly working now (don't know how it might fare over more than one backup or over time), but it already is missing files in its backups that exist in the source location. File History is not reliable. Yeah, just the one .pdf file missing in the backups, but what if that were a very important document (the one that was missing was a registration form for requesting probate court to make me the admin of my late mother's estate). What if it were a document listing your purchase of software with the order ID and license key, but the source file got changed and you don't have a prior version from which to restore. Also, just how am I to restore a versioned backup using File History when the source file is missing? Say I delete a file. I obviously cannot right-click on it anymore to get at the Properties - Prior Version tab. Are users really expected to dig into File History's backup store to find old but currently deleted files? I turned off File History again, quick-formatted the USB flash drive, and won't bother with this unreliable backup software. No wonder I've read of hints that Microsoft is dumping File History. Of course, this also reflects on their backup program since that is supposedly what File History uses. Mostly backing up is not sufficient. That means restores will be incomplete. |
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