1644 - Exclusion of /Volumes on macOS

The content of /Volumes on macOS is unpredictable and may change over time. It may include:

• Mounted external media
• Mounted network shares
• Mounted disk images
• Mounted Time Machine backup contents (while a Time Machine backup is in progress)

This content is usually undesirable for inclusion in backups, and for this reason, /Volumes is excluded from the backup selection. 

However, sometimes it may be necessary to include items from /Volumes in the backup, for example if you need to backup the contents of external media or a network share. This can be done in one of two ways:

• Mount the volume(s) in a different location that is not affected by the exclusion of /Volumes. 
• Override the exclusion of /Volumes. 

When overriding the exclusion of /Volumes, it is important to ensure that the mount points under /Volumes are stable between backups, and that any unwanted volumes are excluded from the backup selection.

To override the exclusion of /Volumes, follow the steps below:

1. Stop the ESE service by running the following command in a terminal:

sudo launchctl stop com.redstor.backuppro.service

2. Edit /Library/Application Support/Redstor Pro ESE/config/a5backup.properties as follows:

• For ESE 26.2 and newer, add the line: macos.include.volumes=true
• For ESE 26.1 and older, add the line: macos.override.system.exclusion.ContentsExcluded=/Volumes

3. Start the ESE service by running the following command in a terminal:
sudo launchctl start com.redstor.backuppro.service

6. Update the backup selection to exclude any unwanted content under /Volumes.