CrashPlan default file exclusions from backup
Which files and file locations are excluded from backup using the CrashPlan app
By default CrashPlan applies a number of rules to exclude files from backup. You can view these exclusions through the CrashPlan app: click the ‘Manage Files’ button to display the file selection window. Now click the button with three dots and choose to Show Hidden Files. Navigate around the file and folder listing; files and folder with a small red circle on the right are excluded.
The reasons why files and folders are excluded are best explained by referring to the What Should You Back Up page on the CrashPlan support pages. Occasionally there will be some files or file locations that are excluded that some users will want to include. In this situation we advise users to employ a local solution to copy or otherwise link files from an excluded location to one that can be included. The exclusion rules that follow can not be waived at the request of a subsection of the user population.
What follows initially is a list of what is excluded. Note the following:
- that unless otherwise stated, all names are case-insensitive; that is the names can appear either in upper or lower case or a mixture.
- the asterisk or star symbolizes any character in any number; that is ‘name*’ could represent ‘nameBLAHblah@?$$$’ or ‘name’ or anything else after ‘name’.
Remember that there is no default inclusion of files or folders using CrashPlan. Users must explicitly select files and folders in order that they are backed-up to the CrashPlan cloud.
Exclusions
Any file anywhere on the system with the following suffix:
.class -journal .bck .bkf .cdt .hdd .hds .icloud .ini .lrprev .manifest .mum .nib .nvram .ost .part .pvm .pvs .rbf .tib .tibx .tmp .upd .avhdx .vdi .vfd .vhd .vhdx .vmc .vmdk .vmem .vmsd .vmsn .vmss .vmtm .vmwarevm .vmx .vmxf .vsv .vud .xva .sparsebundle .sparseimage
Any of the following files found anywhere on the system:
.Win386.SWP PM_HIBER.BIN SAVE2DSK.BIN SYSTEM.DAT TOSHIBER.DAT Thumbs.db USER.DAT memory.dmp Lightroom*Previews.lrdata cookies.sqlite* permissions.sqlite*
Anything in any of the following folders (and subfolders) anywhere on the system:
/Apple*/Installer Cache/ /Cache/ /Cookies/ /Music/Subscription/ /Steam/ /Temp/ /.dropbox.cache/ /.git/ /iPod Photo Cache/ /Plex Media Server/ /node_modules/ /tmp/ /tsm_images/ .Trash .hdd/ .pvm/ .cprestoretmp .nvm .npm /gradle/
The following files are excluded:
pagefile.sys swapfile.sys Config.Msi HIBERFIL.SYS HIBRN8.DAT autoexec.bat boot.ini bootmgr bootnxt bootsect.bak config.sys io.sys msdos.sys ntdetect.com ntldr UsrClass.dat
and any file with the suffix .etl or .mui
The MSOCache file (the name is case-sensitive).
Anything in the following folders (and sub-folders) anywhere on the system:
/I386 /System Volume Information/ /Temporary Internet Files/ /Windows Update Setup Files/ $RECYCLE.BIN/ /NTUSER /Safari/Library/Caches/ /Windows Defender/ /cygwin64/bin/ /cygwin64/dev/ /cygwin64/etc/ /cygwin64/lib/ /cygwin64/sbin/ /cygwin64/tmp/ /cygwin64/var/ /cygwin64/usr/
Note that in the above, cygwin can be substituted for cygwin64
Anything in the following top-level folders (and sub-folders):
/Recovery/ /boot/ /ESD/ /Recycler/ /Dell/ /Intel/ /Oracle/ /PerfLogs/ /Program Files/ /Program Files (x86)/ /ProgramData/ /Users/All Users/ /Users/%username%/AppData/ /Windows/ /Windows.old/ /$WINDOWS.~BT/ /$WINDOWS.~WS/ /$SysReset/ /$GetCurrent/ /_RESTORE/ /_SMSTaskSequence/ /safeboot/ /swsetup/
Anything in the following folders (and sub-folders) anywhere on the system (Note these folder names are case-sensitive):
/Local Settings/Temp/ /Local*/History/ /LocalService/ /NetHood/ /NetworkService/
The following files anywhere on the system (note the file names are case-sensitive)
.fseventsd .hotfiles.btree .DS_Store .plist .strings
And the file .imovielibrary/.lock (this name is not case-sensitive)
Anything in the following folders (and any sub-folders) anywhere on the system are excluded:
/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/ /Network Trash Folder/ /Photos Library*/Thumbnails/ /backups.backupdb/ /iP* Software Updates/ /iPhoto Library*/Thumbnails/ /iPhoto Library/iPod Photo Cache /migratedphotolibrary/Thumbnails/ /.imovielibrary/*/Analysis Files/ /.imovielibrary/*/Render Files/
Anything in the following folders (and sub-folders) anywhere on the system (Note these folder names are case-sensitive):
/Trash/ /.fcpcache/ /MobileBackups/ /bin/ /home/ /sbin/ /cores/ /private/ /var/ .Spotlight-*/
Anything in the following top-level folders (and sub folders):
/usr/ /opt/ /etc/ /var/ /Users/*/Applications/ /Users/Shared/ /dev/ /Library/ /proc/ /Users/*/.vscode/extensions/
Note there is an exception to the exclusion of the Applications folder, if it is located under an XCode folder in the user area. For example anything in a folder /Users/%USERNAME%/Xcode/Applications can be selected for inclusion.
Anything in the following top-level folders (and sub folders) (note the folder names are case-sensitive):
/Applications/ /Desktop DB /Desktop DF /Network/ /Previous Systems /System/ /Users/*/.cisco/vpn/log/ /Users/*/.dropbox/ /Users/*/Library/ /.DocumentRevisions-V100/ /.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware /.adobeTemp/ /.vol/ /afs/ /automount/ /lost+found/ /net/
Anything in the following folders (and sub-folders):
/usr/ /dev/ /home/*/.config/google-chrome/ /home/*/.mozilla/ /sbin/
Except anything under /usr/local/ and sub-folders can be selected for inclusion.
Anything in the following top-level folders (and sub-folders) (note the folder names are case-sensitive):
/cdrom/ /dev/fd/ /devices/ /dvdrom/ /initrd/ /kernel/ /lost+found/ /proc/ /run/ /selinux/ /sys/ /system/ /var/run/ /var/lock/ /var/spool/ /var/tmp/ /var/cache/ /proc/
The file /lib/modules/*/volatile/.mounted
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