Carbonite Support > Windows File System Backup

Windows File System Backup

Summary:

  • This article is for Windows only

Carbonite Safe Server Backup (CSSB) can perform full, differential and incremental backups of Windows NTFS and ReFS file systems. When backing up an NTFS or ReFS file system, CSSB lets you select directories and files from a browser tree. Carbonite Safe Server Backup can backup open files as long as the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is enabled, and it does not have any limit on the size of the files to be backed up. You can use CSSB to back up data on a network drive. You may choose it as your local storage for keeping your local backup archives. Please see How to Use External or Mapped Network Drives with CSSB.

If you elect to not have a local copy, please ensure the location showing has adequate space to accommodate a staged copy of the backup until the upload completes. The data is temporarily housed in that location and then deleted once the upload completes. You can click the "edit" link provided to alter that location if needed.

Carbonite Safe Server Backup can back up any file type, no matter the extension. Even virtual hard disks, such as iSCSI disks or those created for use with virtual machines, can be backed up using the File System backup type.

If your backup set includes files from encrypted volumes, or files that individually have encryption enabled, consider backing up the associated encryption keys so that you can access the files after restoring them with CSSB.

Solution:

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Excluding Files from Backup

You can specify a list of files to be excluded during a Windows file system backup. Windows file systems support wild cards in the Exclude Files field within the Backing up section. Wild cards "" (match one or more characters) and "?" (match exactly one character) are supported. The pathname in the exclude specification must be the absolute path. For example: A user is backing up the C:\Data directory. The user wishes to exclude files under a sub-folder named exclude and files with the *.jpg extension. The exclude specification in the Exclude Files field should be "C:\Data\exclude" ".jpg{*}".

Note: The list of patterns in the Exclude Files field for Windows file systems should each be separated by a space.

CSSB and Deduplication Volumes

In CSSB 5.x

Deduplication volumes are not supported.

Requirements for Backing Up a Distributed File System (DFS)

Carbonite Safe Server Backup can be used to backup and restore folders that participate in DFS replication topology, with the following exception:

  • CSSB must be installed on the host where the replicated DFS share is configured. CSSB relies on the Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) VSS Writer for correct functionality of backup and restore operation.
  • Backup and restore of a network shared folder which is a member of a DFSR group is not supported.
Junction Point directories in Windows Vista and onwards will not be backed up. Please make sure that the source directory is included in your backup set. More information can be found in Files under Junction Point Directories are not Backed Up.
Requirements for VSS Snapshots on a SMB3 Network Share

CSSB is able to take snapshots of files located on network shares configured with the SMB3 protocol. This allows backup of open, in-use, and locked files that exist on these shares.

The following requirements must be met.

  • The following backup types allow VSS snapshots of data on a SMB3 network share:
    • File System
    • Microsoft SQL Server
    • Hyper-V (Full backups only)
  • The application server on which Carbonite Safe Server Backup is installed and the file server that houses the data must both be running Windows Server 2012 or higher.
  • The application server and file server must be joined to the same Active Directory domain.
  • The File Server VSS Agent Service role service must be installed on the file server.
  • The amandabackup / CarboniteUser user (or the user specified in Tools; Network Location) must be a member of the Backup Operators and Administrators groups on both the application server and file server.
    • The amandabackup / CarboniteUser user is granted these roles by default during CSSB installation. If a different user account is specified in Tools; Network Location, please ensure this user has the correct roles.
      • If amandabackup / CarboniteUser (or the user specified in Tools; Network Location) has been created as a domain user, simply ensure that amandabackup / CarboniteUser is a member of both groups on both machines.
        • In some environments, you may have to add amandabackup / CarboniteUser (or the user specified in Tools; Network Location) to the local Backup Operators and Administrators groups instead of using the domain groups.
      • If amandabackup / CarboniteUser (or the user specified in Tools; Network Location) has been created as a local user on the CSSB system and does not exist on both machines, you must manually create an identical user account on any system where it does not exist.
        • Use the same password for all systems.
        • Ensure that the user account is a member of the Backup Operators and Administrators groups on all systems.
  • The amandabackup / CarboniteUser user (or the user specified in Tools; Network Location) must have read-only or greater access to the file server.
    • It is recommended to give Full Control to this user account.

A snapshot cannot be created if these requirements are not met. If you are attempting a Hyper-V or Microsoft SQL Server backup, the backup will fail immediately without a snapshot.

If you are attempting a File System backup, CSSB will attempt to copy the files even if a snapshot cannot be created. Open, locked, and in-use files will fail to back up, but the backup as a whole will progress unless too many files cannot be backed up. Please refer to this Knowledge Base article.

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