Files excluded from backup by default in CrashPlan

Updated

The CrashPlan app is designed to protect your personal and business files, rather than operating systems or applications. To optimize backup performance, CrashPlan automatically excludes certain temporary files, operating system directories, and application caches.

This article details the default exclusions currently applied to new CrashPlan environments. The default global exclusions are updated regularly, and an existing CrashPlan environment does not pick up those updates on its own. Update your global exclusions describes how to apply the current list in an existing environment.

To learn how to customize your own exclusion settings, see Include and exclude files for backup from CrashPlan.

Types of files excluded

CrashPlan's default exclusions cover system, temporary, and easily replaceable files. They divide into a general set that applies to every operating system, and a set for each of Windows, macOS, and Linux.

General exclusions

Across all operating systems, CrashPlan excludes items including:

  • Temporary and cache files: Items such as browser caches, cookies, application temporary files (.tmp), and system working files.
  • Virtual machines and disk images: Large, dynamic files used for VMs and backups, such as .vmdk, .vdi, .vhdx, .iso, and .pkg.
  • Development and sync folders: Local development environments and caches, including .git folders, node_modules, and .dropbox.cache.
  • System logs and databases: Files like memory dumps (memory.dmp), database lock files (.db, -wal, -lock), and system logs.

Windows exclusions

On Windows devices, CrashPlan skips over core system components and recovery files, including:

  • Operating system folders: Directories such as Windows, Program Files, and ProgramData.
  • System and boot files: Core infrastructure files like pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, boot.ini, and bootmgr.
  • Hidden and system directories: Folders like $RECYCLE.BIN, System Volume Information, and Windows Update Setup Files.
  • Temporary web data: Locations such as the Temporary Internet Files folder.

macOS exclusions

On Macs, CrashPlan avoids backing up the operating system itself, Apple-specific caches, and redundant backups, including:

  • Operating system folders: Directories such as /System, /Applications, /Library, /bin, and /sbin.
  • Redundant backups: Locations like Time Machine backups (backups.backupdb) and the .Trash folder.
  • Media caches: Easily regenerated media files, such as Photos and iPhoto thumbnails, iTunes Album Artwork caches, and iMovie render files.
  • Apple system files: Items like Spotlight indexes, .DS_Store files, and .fseventsd.

Linux exclusions

For Linux machines, CrashPlan excludes root-level system directories and mount points, including:

  • System directories: Essential operating system folders like /usr, /opt, /etc, and /sbin, together with the working subdirectories of /var, such as /var/cache, /var/tmp, and /var/spool.
  • Hardware and process data: Directories that represent hardware or running processes, such as /dev, /proc, /sys, and /run.
  • Mounts and media: Temporary mounts or media drives like /cdrom, /dvdrom, and lost+found.
  • Browser profiles: The Chrome and Firefox profile directories in each user's home folder, ~/.config/google-chrome and ~/.mozilla.

Default global exclusions list

The default global exclusions are the exclusions set in a new CrashPlan environment, and CrashPlan maintains them for best backup performance. They are published as a single list of regular expressions (regex), one per line. An entry prefixed win:, mac:, or linux: applies to that operating system only, and an entry with no prefix applies to all of them.

The default global exclusions are displayed from the CrashPlan Labs GitHub repository. If the list does not appear, open the source file on GitHub to copy it.

Update your global exclusions

Global exclusions are set when a CrashPlan environment is created, from the default exclusion list current at that time. Later revisions to the default exclusion list do not affect existing environments. Administrators can manually update their global exclusions in the CrashPlan console to bring them in line with the current defaults.

An organization that inherits its configuration from a parent organization inherits that parent's global exclusions, so updating the parent updates every organization that still inherits from it. An organization configured separately from its parent holds its own global exclusions and needs its own update.

Files that are already backed up and match a new exclusion are permanently pruned from the archive at the next Archive maintenance run. Check what the new exclusions match before you import them and, if necessary, inform affected users before you apply the change.

Importing a new exclusion list replaces the current list rather than adding to it, so export your current exclusions before you import.

Legal hold: Global exclusions also apply to every legal hold preservation policy. Where a preservation policy has to retain files that the default list excludes, add those exclusions under Filename Exclusions on the Backup tab, which applies to the backup set it is defined in and leaves preservation policies alone. Best practices for file exclusions and preservation policies describes that approach.

  1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console.
  2. Select Administration > Environment > Organizations.
  3. Select an organization on the Active tab.
  4. From the action menu in the upper right, select Device Backup Defaults.
  5. Select the General tab, then go to Global exclusions.
  6. Recommended: Select Export and copy the current exclusions into a text file. Export returns every exclusion with its operating system prefix.
  7. Copy the default global exclusions list into a separate text file.
  8. If your organization has exclusions of its own that you want to keep, add those lines to the copied text, keeping their operating system prefixes.
  9. Select Import, paste the list into the window, then select OK. Import applies every exclusion in the pasted text, and the prefixes place each one under the operating system it belongs to.
  10. Select the Lock icon. Locking replaces the exclusions on devices that are already deployed with the imported list, and prevents users from changing them for their devices. Pushing without locking adds the imported exclusions to those devices and leaves the exclusions they already hold in place.
  11. Optional: Select the Lock icon again to unlock the setting if you wish to allow users to change them for their devices. Devices keep the imported exclusions.
  12. Select Save to close Device Backup Defaults.
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