What do you use to backup your NAS?

[DQ]

So my NAS runs RAID5 but I still want backups for obvious reasons. My collection is probably like most of y'all's where you mostly add to it from time to time but from week to week the files do not often change.

I was using Acronis to back up my NAS files to another location but when the amount got to big for the backup drive I swapped to using something called Genie Backup Manager Pro. It will basically straight up does a file copy and allows for a list of multiple backup locations.

That worked OK initially but the software seems somewhat unreliable compared to Acronis.

So I am still on the hunt for basically just file copying software that can use multiple locations.

Anyone using something good?

 

[DrXenos]

Mine probably isn't the most efficient method, but it works for me. I just use several USB hard drives and FreeFileSync. The files are also hashed (using a tool I wrote) with multiple digests, so that I know my backups are good.

 

[DQ]

Mine probably isn't the most efficient method, but it works for me. I just use several USB hard drives and FreeFileSync. The files are also hashed (using a tool I wrote) with multiple digests, so that I know my backups are good.

Actually that is exactly what I am after. I ran across that software already but though Genie as a paid product would be better but I might be wrong about that as it has it's weaknesses. I might give FreeFileSync a try. Thanks!

EDIT1- Holy cow that software is pretty nice.

EDIT2- How do you allow it have multiple destinations? Or are you putting certain folders on certain drives manually?

 

[DrXenos]

Yeah, for free software, it does an amazing job. The only thing I don't like is it will constantly nag you to update. I like to update on my own schedule (I hate to perturbate a working system). So, I use a firewall rule to keep it from accessing the internet.

I use to use Microsoft's Sync Toy, but it was garbage. It had a hard time determining what had actually changed and would constantly want to copy stuff it didn't need to. FreeFileSync seems to rarely get confused on changes.

 

[SomeRandoDude]

I don't backup my NAS. a multi-disk RAID is pretty resistant already, however, long term I had planned to purchase a second NAS and sync the two. The second NAS will be "off site", elsewhere. I've only about 10TB of content so I'm just waiting for the point I'm forced to upgrade my array first.

 

[DrXenos]

I don't backup my NAS. a multi-disk RAID is pretty resistant already, however, long term I had planned to purchase a second NAS and sync the two. The second NAS will be "off site", elsewhere. I've only about 10TB of content so I'm just waiting for the point I'm forced to upgrade my array first.

RAID is no replacement for a backup.

 

[DQ]

How do you allow it have multiple destinations? Or are you putting certain folders on certain drives man

RAID is no replacement for a backup.

Amen.

Heck, you don't need a disk failure to lose data. Maybe a config booboo or a bad firmware update and you are hosed.

 

[DrXenos]

How do you allow it have multiple destinations? Or are you putting certain folders on certain drives man

There is what I do:
I have 8 external USB drives (using Vantec enclosures, not those cheap USB drives), all connected through a hub.
Each drive backs up part of the NAS, (i.e., drive X may back up TV Shows A-E, for example).
I use FreeFileSync's filtering mechanism to tell it what to backup for each drive as saved configurations.
When I want to do a backup, I:
1) Turn on all the drives.
2) Update my hashes for all the changes on the NAS (my hash tool automates this).
3) Run each configuration in FreeFileSync (Double clicking on the config. will run the compare, which you can then verify, before telling it to sync.).
4) I shutdown each drive, then turn them off (I have a script that does a shutdown on all the drives, do I don't have to do it manually).

Once in a while, I run my hash tool to verify the backups.

(I told you my method was pretty manual!)

Someday, I may get a 2nd NAS and rsync them.

 

[DrXenos]

Here is an example of the FreeFileSync configuration filters for one of the drives:

\Archive\*
\Config\*
\Media\TV\#\*
\Media\TV\A\*
\Media\TV\B\*
\Media\TV\D\*

Which says to only backup the Archive folder, the Config folder, and TV shows #-D.

 

[DQ]

There is what I do:
I have 8 external USB drives (using Vantec enclosures, not those cheap USB drives), all connected through a hub.
Each drive backs up part of the NAS, (i.e., drive X may back up TV Shows A-E, for example).
I use FreeFileSync's filtering mechanism to tell it what to backup for each drive as saved configurations.
When I want to do a backup, I:
1) Turn on all the drives.
2) Update my hashes for all the changes on the NAS (my hash tool automates this).
3) Run each configuration in FreeFileSync (Double clicking on the config. will run the compare, which you can then verify, before telling it to sync.).
4) I shutdown each drive, then turn them off (I have a script that does a shutdown on all the drives, do I don't have to do it manually).

One in a while, I run my hash tool to verify the backups.

(I told you my method was pretty manual!)

Someday, I may get a 2nd NAS and rsync them.

Holy cr@p man! That IS manual. I would not mind kicking stuff off manually but that is not what I prefer to do. Hmmm, I might stick with Genie. It is decent just slightly unreliable but it does handle multiple drives automatically.

 

[DrXenos]

Holy cr@p man! That IS manual. I would not mind kicking stuff off manually but that is not what I prefer to do. Hmmm, I might stick with Genie. It is decent just slightly unreliable but it does handle multiple drives automatically.

If you want to do all the drives at once, just have Windows mount them to folders instead of Drive #.

I *think* if you can use mount paths to mirror your NAS' folder structure, it's doable...

 

[DQ]

If you want to do all the drives at once, just have Windows mount them to folders instead of Drive #.

I *think* if you can use mount paths to mirror your NAS' folder structure, it's doable...

If I had another large external I could probably pull it off but right now I just have 1 large and a few smalls so I have that challenge.

 

[DrXenos]

If I had another large external I could probably pull it off but right now I just have 1 large and a few smalls so I have that challenge.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[DQ]

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Not at all, you were most helpful. I am going to try to dink with that program and see if I can get better results. Thank you.

 

[DrXenos]

Not at all, you were most helpful. I am going to try to dink with that program and see if I can get better results. Thank you.

If you figure out a way to do multiple drives at once, please let me know.

 

[SomeRandoDude]

RAID is no replacement for a backup.

Didn't say it was. I said it's "pretty resistant already". Backups are a good idea, but no where near as necessary in this scenario as with someone holding their content on a single HDD.

 

[DrXenos]

Didn't say it was. I said it's "pretty resistant already". Backups are a good idea, but no where near as necessary in this scenario as with someone holding their content on a single HDD.

That's not true at all. The whole reason for RAID is because the change of failure is much greater than a single drive. If one drive has a change of failure of X, then with 3, there is a change of failure of 3X. Adding 2 parity drives to make a RAID-6, brings the change of failure back down to X (the same as the single drive). It's basic statistics.

 

[SomeRandoDude]

I understand how parity works. I've worked in the IT industry for 30 something years. I'm a senior engineer at a very large multi-national organization, and I've had a bit of experience in most things either directly attached to networks, or that runs through them. Again, I didn't say RAID is a replacement for backups but to say that RAID doesn't make your data resistant to loss is not being truthful. Its the very reason why the technology was created. In any event, the debate is academic. My comments weren't meant to elicit argument.

 

[DrXenos]

I understand how parity works. I've worked in the IT industry for 30 something years. I'm a senior engineer at a very large multi-national organization, and I've had a bit of experience in most things either directly attached to networks, or that runs through them. Again, I didn't say RAID is a replacement for backups but to say that RAID doesn't make your data resistant to loss is not being truthful. Its the very reason why the technology was created. In any event, the debate is academic. My comments weren't meant to elicit argument.

I realize tone isn't conveyed well in this form of communication, but I'm not trying to argue with you, nor was I questioning your intelligence. My point was simply that RAID often is not more resilient than one drive, simply because having multiple drives seriously increases the change of failure (unless, of course, you're using mirroring).

 

[0x0x0x0x0]

No RAID of any sort just a bunch of hot-pluggable SAS disks (capable of and) formatted with type 2 protection, XFS on top of each SAS disk, SHA-512 of each file, most favourite shows copied to LTO tapes, the rest I can either re-download, wait to re-download, or couldn't care less if they went away. Most of the time, the disks are spun down or out of the box altogether, and "current" stuff is being fed from an SLC SSD that has a crazy number of DWDP.

So far, my failure rate was one episode in over 100TB.