Backup Win7 with its symbolic links

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hornerg
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Backup Win7 with its symbolic links

Post by *hornerg »

Much has been said about how TC handles junctions and symbolic links. My requirement is simple, and unlikely to be unique. Having finally got around to buying a big backup disk, I just want to synchronize my Users directory with the backup copy. If I set SyncIgnoreJunctions=0, the All Users (->ProgramData) folder gets synched OK, but I get two copies of the media folders username\Documents\My Music, My Pictures and My Videos (ie there's a username\Music and a username\Documents\My Music). Of course, these are huge. Strangely, and thankfully, I don't get two copies of other junctioned folders like My Documents and Application Data, and I don't get two copies of Public\My Music etc.

If I set SyncIgnoreJunctions=1, then I lose My Music etc (fine) but also lose All Users. Is this how it's supposed to work? I guess I can live with doing a separate synch on ProgramData (All Users is the only reparse point I have which points outside the Users directory) but it would be nice to just let it sych Users.

All the above using v8.01 on Win7 64 Pro.
Any advice gratefully received..............
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sqa_wizard
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Post by *sqa_wizard »

Currently TC has only a basic support of junctions and symbolic links.
You have to use plugins and external programs to extend it.

Personally I use NTFS Links to create and HardlinkShellExtension for a backup copy with those kind of links.
Just read more about the different modes at the website.
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hornerg
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Post by *hornerg »

sqa_wizard wrote:Currently TC has only a basic support of junctions and symbolic links.
You have to use plugins and external programs to extend it.
Thanks, sqa_wizard. I do use other tools if I want to create/change links, I guess what I'm saying is, wouldn't it be nice if TC could manage to copy/synch the entire User directory out of the box?

graham
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MVV
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Post by *MVV »

hornerg,
Links like Documents and Settings, All Users and Application Data are compatibility links, they have special attributes preventing reading their contents (they may only be used to access items inside if you know exact path).

I suggest you simply to create separate 'backup source' folder and put some junctions to your data folders into it - ProgramData, Users and other folders that you wish to sync). :wink: And then use that 'backup source' folder for sync operation. Don't forget that you can use ignore list for hiding some unwanted subdirs of your 'backup source' folder. You can write batch file that will create such folder with all needed junctions (using mklink command) inside in order to keep its structure for the future.
hornerg
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Post by *hornerg »

MVV wrote:Don't forget that you can use ignore list for hiding some unwanted subdirs
That's it! Never used the ignore list before, but now the links My Music etc are gone forever. And no need for extra links and batch files. :D

Many thanks
g
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