Oh crap!

Nick,

This 2-day business suggests that you are making a full backup each time. You only need to backup changes since the last backup.

For Windows, the free Microsoft SyncToy or the splendid multi-purpose CF ShellToys will save you tens of hours - literally - as well as giving your drives an easier time of it.

Fraser

ah-ha!

Thanks, Fraser, I will look into this. Anything to cushion the lives of those hard-working drives, bless 'em...

Fraser, you are the man - installed MS Synctoy and ran it in under 30 mins (including copying 4 or 5 new ripped CDs from NAS to back-up). Huge thanks...

You should not need a pc or windows involved int he back up process at all, hook the usb drive up to the nas and do it directly.

Garyi,

AFAIK, the NAS doesn't have the 'intelligence' to do an incremental backup, which was what Nick needed. It will certainly do a full backup, but that is a huge time-waster after the first full backup.

Fraser

Thats a shame.

The qnaps have full incremental backups which is very handy!

Garyi,

I might have expressed myself poorly.

My ReadyNAS Duo also has the facility you describe as well, but it is inflexible. It does an initial full backup and then sequential incremental backups at specified intervals. It also offers to refresh the full backup periodically - this kind offer can be declined - but this involves erasing the previous full backup and all the incrementals, thus leaving you, hopefully temporarily, with NO backup until the new one is fully written.

I prefer the SyncToys or ShellToys approach as this just echoes the NAS to the backup drive, preserving the directory structure. When updating, the most recent state is thus preserved. If something goes vilely wrong with the backup, only the newly-added stuff is affected.

If I have overlooked/misconstrued the NAS backup scheme, please say. I am always on the lookout for greater economies of effort.

Fraser

Gary, Fraser,

I think you're both right.

I was doing the backup direct via the NAS (ReadyNAS Duo also) but not incrementally. If I can programme the NAS that way I'll give it another go but for the moment I reckon Fraser's approach is pretty idiot-proof (it must be if I can get it to work).

Nick

Nick,

I decided against the NAS incremental backup option on, inter alia, these grounds:

1. If you delete anything from the NAS, AFAIK the 'incremental backup' scheme can't take account of this.
2. Eventually, your full backup plus however-many incrementals will reach the limit of your backup disc size, forcing you to start anew - with the attendant risk of data loss as the new backup overwrites all your previous hard work - or buy a further backup drive.
3. If the NAS's disc controller fails - as opposed to the hard disc(s) themselves - how do you restore your backup? I guess you would be compelled to buy another NAS of the same type as the failed unit and hope that the backup/restore system had not changed between the original purchase and the new.

Fraser