Experiences with File Backup to OneDrive

[Bespoken]

This post is quite long but that is necessary to explain the experiences.

HBS File Backup was scheduled for five different backups of folders on the D: drive. Incremental backups were scheduled for weekly with a full backup to be done after 4 incrementals. The target of the backups is a OneDrive folder on my C: drive. OneDrive automatically duplicates any changes in this folder to the cloud. The plan was to use the Explorer option "Free up space" on the folders to save space on the C: drive and to prevent this data from being included in the System Backup. "Free up space" keeps a small stub of the file/folder on the C: drive with the full version retained in the cloud. The step was applied after the completion of one full backup and two incrementals, not after each backup. Some unexpected results were experienced on the next scheduled run.

HBS did not like the stub versions of the previous backups.
- In four cases a new Full backup was created (an incremental was expected). The backup created was named "File Backup yyyymmddnnnnn_yyyymmdd_Full_V1_1.DBI". The first yyyymmdd was when the first full was performed, and the second is the date of the recent backup. This resulted in two files with the sub name of Full_V1_1. It is now impossible to mount that backup. The workaround was to rename the file to use the next number in the sequence, e.g., Full_v4_1.
- In one case the backup failed, reporting "No backup image was found (0x00B5013000000012)". Trying to manually run an incremental backup on any of the five backup resulted in the same error.
- The Error Log did not show any errors

Some solutions:
- not to use the "Free up space" feature, but then the System Backup will contain those files. Only the paid version of HBS allows a custom filter to be set.
- relocate OneDrive from the C: drive to another drive, but that only solves the System Backup file/folder inclusion

 I had previously used a program called Perfect Backup for backup of the data files. It successfully performed full and incremental backups even with the "Free up space" applied. It was smart enough to know what files were changed or deleted, so that a restore at any incremental point recreated the reality at that time.

Still trying to decide how to proceed, but suspect that going back to Perfect Backup is the solution.

[Froggie]

Anytime you use a OneDrive replicated folder, in any form, you'll be in for many surprises along the way... especially how various applications handle files in those folders.


I have stayed away from using OneDrive at all based on a myriad of experiences of many other users in various Windows Forums on the net.

Expect the unexpected with OneDrive... always.

[n8chavez]

You could still use Onedrive, the service, and not use OneDrive, the software. As @Froggie suggested, the OneDrive application is pretty terrible. I suggest using rclone with OneDrive, and bypassing OneDrive folders.

https://rclone.org/onedrive/

Microsoft OneDrive
Rclone docs for Microsoft OneDrive

[CDC9762]

I use OneDrive for my data files but I wouldn't bother with big image-size files - too slow with my internet connection.

My OneDrive folder is on its own partition so it never gets imaged in a System Backup. I've always kept OS and my personal data files on different partitions to make system imaging quicker and I can replace the OS without concern about losing data files.
My data files are completely present on the PC as well as OneDrive so running my file backup program causes no problems.
Without my data files in my images, I see no benefit in having a cloud (off-site) backup.

Haseleo says it supports OneDrive so you might raise a support ticket with them and see what they recommend.

[Bespoken]

Thanks everyone!!!!

I have been successfully using OneDrive on a few PC's so am comfortable with its application and performance. HBS is the first surprise. Rclone sounds interesting/complicated and does not really seem to address my problems. I have a fast internet connection so performance is not an issue.

Current plan is to move OneDrive folder off the C: drive on the Desktop PC (this was done a long time ago on my laptop). Unfortunately, the HBS handling of the "Free up space" is a problem, so will reinstall and use Perfect Backup.

[admin]

Thanks everyone!!!!

I have been successfully using OneDrive on a few PC's so am comfortable with its application and performance. HBS is the first surprise. Rclone sounds interesting/complicated and does not really seem to address my problems. I have a fast internet connection so performance is not an issue.

Current plan is to move OneDrive folder off the C: drive on the Desktop PC (this was done a long time ago on my laptop). Unfortunately, the HBS handling of the "Free up space" is a problem, so will reinstall and use Perfect Backup.

Before performing an incremental backup, Hasleo Backup Suite (HBS) needs to open and verify its dependent base image. If only part of the base image exists on the disk, HBS will consider the base image corrupted and will create a new full backup instead.

The custom filter is available in the free version. Where did you get the information that it is not available?

HBS currently does not support direct access to cloud storage. This would require integrating the corresponding APIs provided by cloud storage vendors, meaning we would need to write code for different cloud storage services (such as OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, pCloud, etc.). We currently do not have enough human resources to complete these tasks.

[Bespoken]

The custom filter is available in the free version. Where did you get the information that it is not available?

From this when trying to add a filter to a System Backup ( Backup options > Filter > Folder type=Folder path + Folder path=C:\Users, and Add:

[n8chavez]

I believe I came across this issue to, where custom filters were not available on the free version.

[admin]

I'm sorry, I remembered incorrectly. Custom Backup Filters are indeed not available in the free version.

[Bespoken]

New plan based on all the good feedback and suggestions. Thanks everyone!

1. OneDrive folder has been moved off the C: drive, so System Backups will not contain that data and no need for a filter.

3. Will continue trying HBS with OneDrive in the new location. Current Full and Incremental backups will be kept on the drive and "Free up space" will be applied to the older ones.

2. Tried a few methods of having the old backups pointing to the new location, by either changing the target location definition or deleting the job and doing an import task. It is a blur now, but not all worked. In a couple of cases trying a mount or error check did not work and pointed to a different File Backup. Strange. I will track the activities next time so feedback can be given to support.