Recorded TV and backups

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Bryan

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Recorded TV and backups

#1

Post by Bryan » Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:25 pm

I'm trying to set up backups on my HTPC; specifically using Veeam Endpoint. My HTPC is fairly typical, an SSD for Windows 7 and a 4TB hard drive for recordings. I've found that the Recorded TV folder isn't being backed up at all, regardless of trying a full system backup or volume level. I can move .wtv files elsewhere and they're backed up, so it's not an issue with the file type. Is there anything specific about Recorded TV that would cause this? I wouldn't think copy protection would affect this anyway, but I'm only using OTA so that's not a factor.

coolwhip

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#2

Post by coolwhip » Fri Nov 18, 2016 1:26 am

Are you sure Recorded TV is not in a Veeam Emdpoint Exclude list somewhere?
For example; Windows Home Server backup excludes the Recorded TV folder by default. It also excludes temp folders and other stuff by default.

Bryan

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#3

Post by Bryan » Fri Nov 18, 2016 3:31 am

I haven't submitted a ticket with them, but I'm under the impression they've never tested VEB and Media Center, which if nothing else tells me they aren't (purposely) excluding it. They do skip temp, recycle, and similar as well.

Bryan

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#4

Post by Bryan » Mon Nov 21, 2016 2:55 am

I contacted support, and they pointed me to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot. Sure enough, the Recorded TV path is in there, set by Microsoft.

What is everyone else using to back up recordings?

adam1991

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#5

Post by adam1991 » Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:37 am

I guess I fail to understand (a) why any backup solution inherently honors that, and (b) why any backup solution doesn't let you override its desire to honor that.

Bryan

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#6

Post by Bryan » Mon Nov 21, 2016 12:45 pm

Everything else in it is system files - SoftwareDistribution, System Volume Information, stuff you'd generally not want to include. Recorded TV is the only abnormal entry. Since Veeam is just following the operating system's rules, it makes sense. There's nothing about Recorded TV in FilesNotToBackup, so I'll probably just try VEB with file level instead of volume level. Unfortunately it's a single-job solution so I wouldn't be able to image the C: drive that way. Thinking about it though, I'm only using OTA so as long as recordings are safe I'm not very worried.

seajunk

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#7

Post by seajunk » Mon Nov 21, 2016 6:17 pm

Many third party backup solutions, and the older MS backup utilities, use the old Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). By design this excluded the Recorded TV directory via the registry entry. This is simply because the MS backup was only intended for numerous small files like your documents, pictures etc and not the multi-gigabyte multi media files we have in media center. The consumer doesn't usually know this until its too late however.

For my backups I use Acronis for the system, excluding the media directories, and a simple robocopy for the media.

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