Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro - a must have tool for techs

[fabs]

A question that just appeared somewhere in the cerebral cortex is this: I presume at the moment you back up files from the Library path found in the registry and restore to the Library path found in the registry. The paths don't have to be the same. It doesn't matter. However, in the scenario where the source Library has multiple paths, how would you handle the restore?

1) Would you attempt to recreate the paths and restore to multiple paths so that the original Library configuration is restored? What if the restore target system doesn't have a D: drive (or whatever), ie not possible to recreate a path?

2) Or maybe just restore everything to the new "Save Location"

3) Pop up option dialog, "User libraries have multiple paths. Do you want to recreate the paths or merge into one path?"

I know the idea of popups in the middle of a restore is contentious so maybe something like this. This will attempt to recreate the library paths but if that can't be done then the paths are merged.

rem restore library pseudo code
for each library

for each path in library

if the path is the old save path

change to new save path​

else

attempt to create the path
if creation fails

change path to new save path​

if path is writable

restore files​

next path​

next library

In fact, there is no ideal scenario for restore. The less bad is first to attempt to restore to original path then create let's say a D subfolder in "My Music" folder if D is not writable. The problem would be that if the tech is using an external drive that has the D letter on the new system: the files will be restored straight to the tech's drive... Another pain to solve here

 

[Computer Bloke]

Another pain to solve here

Maybe, maybe not.

As with the long-running saga of locating data stored in non-standard places, this is enough of an edge case that it might not be worth providing a complete solution at all. It might be enough to identify the problem and then notify the technician that the libraries need to be created manually using the technician's best judgement of what the new computer should look like instead of blindly following the horrific mess on the original machine.

Most of us using Autobackup treat it as a tool to help with the heavy-lifting part of a data migration not as a substitute for our own abilities, and it's not a big deal for us to do some of this process by hand once in a while. I'd much prefer that to trusting a program to make the right decisions for me when the right decisions could be different for two identical situations.

 

[fabs]

Maybe, maybe not.

As with the long-running saga of locating data stored in non-standard places, this is enough of an edge case that it might not be worth providing a complete solution at all. It might be enough to identify the problem and then notify the technician that the libraries need to be created manually using the technician's best judgement of what the new computer should look like instead of blindly following the horrific mess on the original machine.

Most of us using Autobackup treat it as a tool to help with the heavy-lifting part of a data migration not as a substitute for our own abilities, and it's not a big deal for us to do some of this process by hand once in a while. I'd much prefer that to trusting a program to make the right decisions for me when the right decisions could be different for two identical situations.

I must agree with this one. Creating the same mess is probably not the best way to educate people on how to use their machine properly. If the second location is on the same drive then, I could keep the original path and add the it to the new library. If the drive is different, then create a sub folder in the usual folder restore the content here and adding a notification in the restore log. At least, the content will be restored to the customer's computer and not mixed with something else.

 

[glennd]

I must agree with this one. Creating the same mess is probably not the best way to educate people on how to use their machine properly. If the second location is on the same drive then, I could keep the original path and add the it to the new library. If the drive is different, then create a sub folder in the usual folder restore the content here and adding a notification in the restore log. At least, the content will be restored to the customer's computer and not mixed with something else.

agreed.

 

[fabs]

Multiple locations libraries support is on a good way. So far, the development version is able to scan the "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Documents.libray-ms" file, get the different folder paths in it and check if they are public or private save locations or not... The backup part is working fine with the Documents library. Now, I have to do it for Music, Pictures and Videos. After that, the trickiest parts are coming with restore and the worst one, the transfer part. I need more coffee ! LOL

 

[fabs]

I definitely need more coffee. I had to release an emergency update for both Pro and consumer versions: Playing with "public" stuff to make the global behavior smoother made me totally break the restore feature when such public profile was involved in the job. I am feeling really silly on this.
However, a fixed version has been made and released as soon as I heard about that issue.

Fab's AutoBackup 7 Pro V7.0.4.32756 has just been released.

Change log:
Fixed:
- Restore feature was broken when a public profile was involved.
- Pro only: there was a useless extra PUBLIC\archive couple of folders created on the last backup location when performing a transfer job.

Grab it from your orders history's details on the shop's website at https://store.fpnet.fr/account.php?language=en or using the bundled updater tool (click the "Download Fab's AutoBackup 7.X" link within the program and get the updated files).


This one is still not ready for multiple locations libraries as I had to stop everything about that to address this restore huge issue. I have not seen any other odd thing so far, so, this version should be fine.
Let's go back to work now!

 

[glennd]

Multiple locations libraries support is on a good way. So far, the development version is able to scan the "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Documents.libray-ms" file, get the different folder paths in it and check if they are public or private save locations or not... The backup part is working fine with the Documents library. Now, I have to do it for Music, Pictures and Videos. After that, the trickiest parts are coming with restore and the worst one, the transfer part. I need more coffee ! LOL

Fantastic! From there it should be one small step to go from the four "known" libraries to just iterating the contents of "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries" to capture all user libraries, known and unknown.

Edit: I should point out a possible spanner in the works. I was just experimenting with the libraries and created one of my own and included a sub folder from the Documents folder and that works really well. However, if the new AutoBackup were to back up the libraries, it would capture that one folder twice, the first time as part of the Documents library and the second time as part of my new, special library.

Now I know what you're thinking, "You can't account for stupid!" and I would agree but I thought it worth pointing this out, you might find a way to deal with it.

 

[fabs]

Fantastic! From there it should be one small step to go from the four "known" libraries to just iterating the contents of "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries" to capture all user libraries, known and unknown.

I will just take care of those for now. To be honest I just do not know how I would sort all this unknown stuff in the GUI

 

[glennd]

I will just take care of those for now. To be honest I just do not know how I would sort all this unknown stuff in the GUI

Fair enough!

 

[fincoder]

As with the long-running saga of locating data stored in non-standard places, this is enough of an edge case that it might not be worth providing a complete solution at all.

I agree, as per my post here on Wednesday:

Maybe Fabs could discover other library folders, and then simply select these folders in the 'Other Folders' feature that's being planned. This would eliminate the potentially difficult process of restoring the custom library configuration itself, treating the other library folders as just 'Other Folders' to help prevent missing the data.

 

[GTP]

Not sure I like the "new" Fabs Autobackup. It used to be a simple program, now it's becoming overly complicated.
The "Downloads" folder was not backed up even though it was selected in both the User data and Public data tabs?

 

[sapphirescales]

Not sure I like the "new" Fabs Autobackup. It used to be a simple program, now it's becoming overly complicated.
The "Downloads" folder was not backed up even though it was selected in both the User data and Public data tabs?

I have to concur. How often have you come across someone that had multiple locations for a standard folder? If they knew how to do that, they probably wouldn't be coming to you for computer repair and could probably back up their own data.

Using Fabs is NOT a replacement for due diligence, any more than using anti-virus software is an excuse to click on every shady link you come across. NO software is perfect because software is STUPID! It has no intelligence! You need to use YOUR brain. The software doesn't have a brain!

I do NOT trust ANY software to do my work for me! I check and DOUBLE check everything my software does and make sure everything was done CORRECTLY! If you're not doing this, then you're not doing your job! One of the reasons I don't use Fabs very much is because it makes verifying a proper backup was done more difficult than other software I use. Fabs is #3 on my list of preferred backup software because I like having more control and manual verification than Fabs provides.

 

[GTP]

Hmmm... It seems that even after manually selecting folders in Extra Files and Folders tab they don't get backed up?
At least - I dont seem to be able to find them on the backup drive? I've looked everywhere and can't locate them?
Fabs went through the motions and said it was backing them up but they seem to be MIA?

I think I'll stick with an older version 7 for now.

 

[glennd]

Hmmm... It seems that even after manually selecting folders in Extra Files and Folders tab they don't get backed up?
At least - I dont seem to be able to find them on the backup drive? I've looked everywhere and can't locate them?
Fabs went through the motions and said it was backing them up but they seem to be MIA?

I think I'll stick with an older version 7 for now.

did you report it to @fabs as a potential bug?

 

[GTP]

did you report it to @fabs as a potential bug?

He monitors this thread so he will see it. Not sure it is a bug or a "feature."

 

[fabs]

Not sure I like the "new" Fabs Autobackup. It used to be a simple program, now it's becoming overly complicated.
The "Downloads" folder was not backed up even though it was selected in both the User data and Public data tabs?

There have been no change on this item recently and the first test I have done on my development machine ran fine.
Can you tell me more about this job? How was the set up ?

 

[fabs]

He monitors this thread so he will see it. Not sure it is a bug or a "feature."

Same thing here. First attempt, data copied, so, I need details now.
By the way, all this stuff goes to the public backup folder.

 

[fabs]

One more thing:
I have not added code to include "odd files" in the version officially released since I have preferred to work on a duplicated code, so, the official one does not get weird stuff that could introduce such "features" (oops, bugs!).
Now that I see the path all of this polemic is going, I think I will just drop that and stick to my first thought : Fab's AutoBackup has not to be the tech and this does not take so long to just check if there is not something weird on C or the user profile that should be backed up. The Fab's AutoBackup purpose is to be helpful, not to shut down the tech's brain

 

[fabs]

I like having more control and manual verification than Fabs provides.

What could I add for this?

 

[fabs]

Not sure I like the "new" Fabs Autobackup. It used to be a simple program, now it's becoming overly complicated.
The "Downloads" folder was not backed up even though it was selected in both the User data and Public data tabs?

Are there any news on this? Like I said, downloads were properly backed up on my development machine.
Something like running the job in the same conditions but only with these download folders (public and private) in debug mode would provide me some information about this system and I could provide some answers to you. To enable the debug mode, right-click the program's title bar and select "[ ] Debug Mode". Then, perform the job as usual. Can you do that please? When you will close the program, you will get a debug feedback form to fill. This will send me some diagnostic files. This way, I will have some clues about what is going on.