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Exclusionary backup sets are essentially normal backup sets, except they specify files or folders that should not be backed up. Use exclusionary backup sets carefully as they can have significant negative consequences.

To exclude data by file type, you can use wildcards or an Apple Spotlight query to specify a file type to exclude. For example, if you want to exclude all mp3 files, open the Edit Backup Set window and enter *.mp3, or a spotlight query for .mp3 files, in the Spotlight field.

See: Creating Custom Backup Sets

For information on how to create a Spotlight query, see the Spotlight Query Programming Guide ( http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/SpotlightQuery/SpotlightQuery.html ) and the Spotlight Metadata Attributes Reference ( http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Reference/MetadataAttributesRef/MetadataAttrRef.html ).

Consider the following file structure:

• Documents
  
  • Personal
    
    • Critical_Personal_Employment_Data.xls
    • Vacation Plans.doc
    • Family trip.mov
  • Corporate
    
    • Mission Statement.doc
    • Financial Information.xls
    • 2008 Strategy.xls
    • Client Presentation.mov

To back up every file under Documents except for .mov files, you could create these backup set rules :

• Back up everything under Documents.
  
  • This includes all seven documents under that folder.
• Exclude .mov files.
  
  • This excludes the two .mov files, one each in the Personal and Corporate folders, from the back up, resulting in backing up only five files.

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