Backup forum
A place to discuss Backup software and online services
You are not signed in.
Announcement
#1 2020-05-09 03:10:39
- dau1618
- New member
- Registered: 2020-04-16
- Posts: 6
Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
I am trying to validate that IDrive Backup works as expected. I have found that hidden files (those with a '.' prefix), hidden folders and empty directories are NOT backed up. Is there a setting that can prevent these errors? I tried switching on the "Show hidden files\folders" option in the settings but it does not seem to make any difference. Any suggestions?
Offline
#3 2020-05-09 23:58:14
- dau1618
- New member
- Registered: 2020-04-16
- Posts: 6
Re: Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
Yes, Mac version.
Offline
#4 2020-05-10 11:26:44
Re: Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the Mac version and I don't have anything to test with.
If you enable the Show hidden files/folders option, do they then become visible in the backup selections?
When you run a backup with hidden files selected, do you get entries in the log detailing why they were skipped?
With regards to empty directories, I can confirm that the Windows version also doesn't back these up. You may have to put placeholder files in empty directories (or the deepest folder in the structure) to get them included in the backup.
Offline
#5 2020-05-10 15:37:26
- dau1618
- New member
- Registered: 2020-04-16
- Posts: 6
Re: Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
I found the issue. At the very bottom of the "Exclude Files / Folders from backup" in Settings there is a check box called "Exclude hidden files/folders" that is checked by default. I have unchecked it and started a backup. The log shows it going through and backing up all of the hidden files and folders that were previously missing.
I think this feature should be unchecked by default.
Offline
#6 2020-05-10 22:25:57
- dau1618
- New member
- Registered: 2020-04-16
- Posts: 6
Re: Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
I have run some tests and verified that all hidden files and folders are properly backed up if the "Exclude Files/Folders" switch is unchecked. It does NOT backup empty folders. In my mind a complete backup should be able to produce an identical copy of the drive\directory that is being backed up. Since the restore image will fail a diff comparison with the original I consider missing empty directories to be a bug.
Offline
#7 2020-05-10 23:19:33
Re: Backup Hidden Files\Folders and Empty Directories
dau1618 wrote:
In my mind a complete backup should be able to produce an identical copy of the drive\directory that is being backed up. Since the restore image will fail a diff comparison with the original I consider missing empty directories to be a bug.
To be fair to IDrive, they're not alone in this limitation.
It should be easy for them to provide a checkbox to include empty directories though, not sure why they haven't done it.
Offline
Board footer
Powered by 
© Copyright 2002–2005 Rickard Andersson
SteveA's forums are free for everyone to use, however if you would like to contribute to the upkeep I would be grateful for any donation!