How to Exclude Files and Folders from Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) Backups

Question

I've been using Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) to create backups of my files and folders. However, I've encountered a situation :

I need to exclude specific files and folders from Microsoft built-in Volume shadow Copy to save storage space and time. Since VSS is enabled for the drive, there are few unwanted folder / files that are being backed up by VSS and If I delete them all other shadow copies of other files (of previous versions) might be lost.

Here are a few details about my setup:

Operating System: Windows Server 2012 R2 Volume Shadow Copy: Provider name: 'Microsoft File Share Shadow Copy provider' Provider type: Fileshare Version: 1.0.0.1

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0' Provider type: System Version: 1.0.0.7

I would appreciate it if someone could walk me through the process of excluding files and folders from VSS backups. What are the steps involved, and are there any best practices I should be aware of?.

I did search in Google and found some articles, but none of them solved my issue.

Here are few links that I have gone through.

This link provides FilesNotToSnapshot registry key can be used to exclude files but it is developers specific.

Answer 1

If you use drive imaging software that already has implemented excluding folders and files through VSS, you can use that Registry hack for your purposes. Note, though, the caveat from Macrium, linked below: "Although this can be useful in removing unnecessary files from images and clones the functionality isn't 100% reliable."

• Macrium Reflect uses HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshotMacriumImage.

• Other software might have a GUI to to create the exclude list. For example, O&O DiskImge 11 provides a dialog for eliminating files in an image. This might use VssWriter to implement this behind the scenes.

Another option is to use compression when imaging a drive, since space is at a premium. Many of the imaging tools have variable compression levels -- higher compression may slow writing.

Test reliability when making any change in established imaging procedures. Verify the image, and mount to check that files are accessible. An employer for whom I worked had daily backups made, but on the day he needed old code, he found none of the images readable.