Configuring Backup Programs

Configuring Backup Programs

Note: This article applies generally to any programs that do background scanning (including file indexers, malware scanners, and cloud storage services, e.g. OneDrive, DropBox, and Google Drive Backup and Sync).

Backup programs should work with FuzeDrive like any other disk.  If you are creating a full-disk clone, you want to clone the FuzeDrive virtual disk, not the underlying physical disks.  Note that a clone of a FuzeDrive will not itself be a FuzeDrive, and will not require the FuzeDrive driver to access it.

Whether you're cloning or backing up volume data, note that because the FuzeDrive driver operates below the filesystem, it only sees raw I/O's and doesn't have an awareness of what Windows is actually doing with user data.  As a result, with the default settings, a full system backup can cause many promotes to occur.

If you are currently experiencing this issue, simply reboot and your statistics will be reset.  Alternatively, you can open an Administrator PowerShell or Administrator command prompt and enter:
ecmd --reset stats t=0

The best way to alleviate this issue proactively is to disable stats collection prior to doing a full backup.

Using Macrium Reflect as an example, this could be accomplished using the following method.


1. If you have the paid version of Reflect, you can use the Generate an MS-DOS Batch File option and enter the commands listed at step #7.

     ---

2. Otherwise, if you have the free version, open Windows Explorer, and find a folder to put your batch file, e.g.:
    %userprofile%\Documents\Reflect
3. Right-click and choose New > Text Document.  Give it a name with a .bat extension, e.g.:
    "Backup.bat"
4. Right-click your new file, and choose Edit.  Leave the file blank for the moment.
5. Click the Start menu, type task, then click to open the Task Scheduler app.




6. Click the Actions tab, and double-click the action.



























7. Enter the following:
ecmd --stats off t=0
"C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe" -e -w "%userprofile%\Documents\Reflect\My Backup.xml"
ecmd --stats on t=0
The second line is constructed by copying the contents of the Program/script field (be sure to add quotes around it), followed by a space and the contents of the Add arguments (optional) field.

8. Change the Program/script field to the full path of your batch file (e.g., %userprofile%\Documents\Reflect\Backup.bat) [note you can hold down Shift, right-click on the file, and choose Copy as path to copy the full path to the clipboard, then right-click on the Program/script field and choose Paste].  Delete the contents of the Add arguments field entirely.  Your configuration should now be complete!

     ---

9. If you are not using Macrium, and your backup program returns execution immediately from the command line rather than waiting for the backup to complete, you would need a slightly more complicated batch file than the one in step #7.

The following batch file waits until the backup program is no longer running before re-enabling statistics:
@echo off
ecmd --stats off t=0
"C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\reflect.exe" -e -w "%userprofile%\Documents\Reflect\My Backup.xml"

:retry
tasklist.exe /fi "imagename eq reflect.exe" | find "No tasks"
if %errorlevel%==0 goto end
timeout.exe /t 10 > NUL
goto retry

:end
ecmd --stats on t=0
The third line would need to be replaced with the appropriate command line, as well as the name of the .exe file in line 6.

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