New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Questions about Cobian Reflector
Post Reply
immto
Posts: 20
Joined: 12 Jan 2022, 15:57

New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by immto »

So I have a Differential backup running without absolute paths. The thing is, in the destination I'm getting complete paths even when no data has changed or been added or removed. This makes it a bit confusing. Am I doing something wrong or is there something I'm missing?
User avatar
cobian
Site Admin
Posts: 4492
Joined: 31 Oct 2020, 01:25
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by cobian »

If Use absolute paths is not selected, then the paths should be shorter.

Source: c:\dir1\dir2
Destination: d:\backup

WITH absolute paths you will get D:\backup\c\dir1\dir2\(files)

WITHOUT absolute paths, but creating top directory you will get: D:backup\dir2(files)

WITHOUT absolute paths, and BUT WITHOUT creating top directory you will get: D:backup\(files)
--
Luis Cobian
Cobian Backup's creator
immto
Posts: 20
Joined: 12 Jan 2022, 15:57

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by immto »

Can I ask you to clarify your statement?

"WITHOUT absolute paths, but creating top directory you will get: D:backup\dir2(files)

WITHOUT absolute paths, and BUT creating top directory you will get: D:backup\(files)"

I'm not sure what you mean by "and BUT" I think you meant to say "But Without". Also, by "top directory", do you mean Include Subdirectories is checked, Just checking?

My Backup has All Options checked on the General Tab which includes subdirectories. It's Differential.

My Source is a network location. My destination is a local drive.
No Compression, No filter, no events. On the Advanced Tab, Use absolute paths, is NOT checked.

My results are

Source: \\server\dir (This location has 5 directories/folders)

Destination: D:\server\dir1\dir2 (That location has the folders named for the backup and include all 5 directories)

For example in one of those 5 directories I have 9 folders and 22 files. (Nothing in this entire directory has changed in weeks.)

In the destination I have no files but all 9 folders. and all 9 are empty as are the additional subfolders within, the deepest going 4 additional folders deep. So it looks like this.

D:\server\dir\server-dir\backup-folder-dated (Differential)\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\Folder4\Folder5 (Which is emtpy)

As far as I can tell, the entire backup and another I have just like it, are running like this. If data has changed, added, etc. it will be there, but so are all the additional folders even if nothing has.
User avatar
cobian
Site Admin
Posts: 4492
Joined: 31 Oct 2020, 01:25
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by cobian »

Sorry it should be

"WITHOUT absolute paths, but creating top directory you will get: D:backup\dir2(files)

WITHOUT absolute paths, and BUT WITHOUT creating top directory you will get: D:backup\(files)"

I think what you want is not to keep empty directories? "Uncheck then Ignore empty directories"
--
Luis Cobian
Cobian Backup's creator
immto
Posts: 20
Joined: 12 Jan 2022, 15:57

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by immto »

Thank you for the clarification.

I don't have Ignore empty directories checked. The only options I have checked on Advanced Tab are clear archive attribute and Include backup type in name.

Those directories are not empty, on the source. They have not been updated in quite some time, so no need to copy them, but they do have data in them. I assumed that without Use absolute paths, these folders would not be needed. But I'm getting them anyway. That's why I'm asking the question. Is it something I'm doing wrong or missing?

I did some testing over the weekend and I now see that Ignore empty directories doesn't work exactly like I thought. I thought it didn't copy from directories which are empty, but it appears that it does more than that. It actually does not copy a directory which has no changes.

Still, I'm not sure how absolute paths plays a role in all this. So far I checked ignore empty directories, and ran it with absolute paths and again without absolute paths to see how it behaves.

It appears the only difference I'm seeing is when absolute paths is checked, The backup is creating a folder named after the server in the location I choose. Then it creates the folder named for the backup, then proceeds to create the entire folder structure. When absolute paths is not checked, it creates the folder named for the backup, and then creates the entire folder structure.

THE KEY here is that Ignore empty folders did what I'm looking for. It only copied the folders which had data that changed since the last backup. SO, I guess another question is now whether or not that's what is intended or not. The description for Ignore empty directories is "If checked, directories that don't contain any files will be ignored." But it appears to do much more. Is that by design? If so, perhaps a better description to help clarify the function.
Last edited by immto on 13 Jun 2022, 17:56, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
cobian
Site Admin
Posts: 4492
Joined: 31 Oct 2020, 01:25
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by cobian »

Yes, if a folder contains data, it will be kept. If it's empty it will be ignored (actually it will be copied but then deleted).
--
Luis Cobian
Cobian Backup's creator
immto
Posts: 20
Joined: 12 Jan 2022, 15:57

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by immto »

I get that. But is the other functionality also by design? A folder which does have data, but that data has not been updated, is also deleted if it happens to be empty due to not having been updated?
User avatar
cobian
Site Admin
Posts: 4492
Joined: 31 Oct 2020, 01:25
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: New Seperated Backups WITHOUT Use absolute paths

Post by cobian »

Yes, it will also be deleted if the task is incremental or differential but not if the task is of type Full.
--
Luis Cobian
Cobian Backup's creator
Post Reply