Files or Folders to exclude in Backup?

Software
, ,
1

I’m using Arq to backup my MBP and external hard drives to Synology via minio

What files or folders do you exclude?

MBP

  • When I add my home folder, I believe that arq backup default excludes the following:
    • .Trash
    • ~\Library\Application Support\SyncServices (I’m not sure what is being excluded in this folder)
    • ~\Library\Caches
    • ~\Library\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates
    • ~\Library\Logs
    • ~\Library\Mail (I’m not sure what is being excluded in this folder)
    • ~\Library\PubSub\Database
    • ~\Library\PubSub\Feeds
    • ~\Library\Safari (I’m not sure what is being excluded in this folder)
    • ~\Library\Saved Application State
  • Exclude: (I added)
    • file/folder name is .DS_Store

On external drives, excludes that I added:

  • file/folder name is .DS_Store
  • .bzvol
  • .DocumentRevisions-V100
  • .fseventsd
  • .Spotlight-V100
  • .TemporaryItems
  • .Trashes
1 Like
2

I’ve found Carbon Copy Cloner to be an excellent product so this may be useful as a guide.

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/some-files-and-folders-are-automatically-excluded-from-backup-task

2 Likes
3

I also exclude Downloads.

I use CleanMyMac to find huge files, and selectively exclude some of them. For me this would be Ubuntu and Windows 10 virtual machines, and some giant Docker containers.

According to Backblaze tech support, you can also exclude Backblaze.bzpkg (and they recommend it).

1 Like
4

That is a legit list of files. Thanks.

5

Good to know. I haven’t played with VMs yet.