Avamar: How to skip drives, folders, and files using Avtar.cmd file

To skip drives, folder or files during an Avamar file system backup, follow the instructions below.

1. Create an avtar.cmd file under the C:\Program files\avs\var directory on the Windows client using a text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++. IMPORTANT: Confirm that the file extension is saved as a avta.cmd file, not avtar.cmd.txt, which would make it a text file instead of a command file.

2. To skip an entire drive or volume, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file:  

--exclude=D:\**

3. To skip a whole folder, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file:  

--exclude=C:\Users\**

4. To skip a folder which name contains space, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file:  

--exclude="C:\Program Files"

5. To skip a file with a specific extension within a folder and all subfolders, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file: 

--exclude=C:\Windows\debug\**.log

6. To skip a file with a specific extension within a folder without skipping in subfolders, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file:  

--exclude= C:\Windows\Globalization\*.nlt

7. To skip a specific file within all drives, use following syntax to add an entry in the avtar.cmd file: 

--exclude=*\filename

8. To add anything as a comment, use the # in front as follows:

# This drive is excluded as per ticket ABC1234