Online Backup - How to choose the right supplier - part 9

Exclude / Include Filters

Filters are really a sub topic of File Selection. Exclude filters enable users to specify which files they don’t want backed up even if they would have normally been selected automatically in a folder.

You can save vast amounts of space using exclude filters by automatically excluding files of a particular type (eg. all “.tmp” files). This feature is important as it will save you money. Other common files excluded are mp3 files and some of the spurious “~*.*” files produced by windows.

Include filters perform the opposite function. They can be used to specify, for example, all *.doc and *.xls files to include all word and Excel files respectively.

Some prominent online backup providers who typically scoop up the low end of the market don't offer this critical feature. With such providers, the only way to exclude a file from a folder is to deselect it.

However, by deselecting the file the rest of the folder is negatively impacted in that new files created in the folder won't be automatically included for backup up. This could lead to you not being able to restore files you thought you had backed up.....

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