Backup of UnitiServe-SSD + NAS via USB connection to a portable drive?

Do not connect it to a Uniti Serve!!! The USB port on the back is not designed for that.

Backing up to an external drive is an excellent idea. You can connect it directly to your NAS or to your laptop. I found that with my QNAP the speed of back up was more or less the same.

Thanks Adam,  how do I initiate the backup procedure once it is connected to the NAS?  Sorry, I guess you can tell i've never done anything like this before...

There are two or possibly three ways once the external drive is connected:

1. Initiate a backup from your Synology - cannot help on this one as I don't know that server (I use QNAP)
2. Drag / copy the files to your external drive using the admin app
3. Plug the disk to your laptop and copy the files from your NAS via your laptop

Essentially NAS is a server so it's like copying files from one disk to another.

First create a shared folder on the usb attached drive - login as admin, open file station and click on create, then create new shared folder. For location select the usb drive. Then under main menu in the desktop click on backup & replication and setup the backup task there - should be mostly self-explanatory. Not sure how you would incorporate a backup of the files on the serve but this will get you started with backup of the NAS.

Another option as suggested by Adam is to map network drives to the shared folders on the nas and usb drive and then use a pc or laptop based backup or file-sync program to backup across the network.

Thanks John and Adam, your help and patience is much appreciated and I do feel like I am making progress.   I know that the Serve is Windows based so would assume the NAS is too.  With that it mind, should the USB drive be formatted in NTFS or FAT 32?  My home desktop is a Mac but I would assume that this shouldn't make a difference as long as it is connected to the NAS?

Fat 32.

I also use a Mac. You can mount you NAS permanently in your Finder and thus access it content easily.

if you then connect the USB drive to your Mac, you can simply drag the content of the NAS to your drive. This is what I do, rather than automated backups. Transfer time will vary depending on your router speed and the amount of data. With my new TimeCapsule and close to 900 GB of music, full back up took around 7 hours.

Aah OK!  My NAS is already mounted in my finder and I can see all my music files - Naim Music, HD Music & Music.  So basically I just connect the USB drive to my Mac and drag an drop?  

I guess as this is a manual procedure it isn't possible to do a differential back up so i'll need to remember what has been added to the NAS since last back up and just copy those files. 

Your WD drive will have come with its own backup software (Smartware). Just use that to backup your mapped drive and it will look after incrementals just fine.

You can also do a simple drag-and-drop and tell yoru Mac to ignore the files already on the external drive. So it it should only then copy new ones

I plug the drive into the back of the Synology and then let the Synology backup program take care of it. It does a weekly incremental backup all by itself, with no need to fire up the computer. 

+1 to HH's solution.  I do the same.

If the backup (external) drive isn't shared to the network, the NAS can still access it but viruses on the computer can't, so this provides an extra level of security as well.

Wow, I've got something right! 

Where / how do I find the Synology back up software? All I see on the NAS are the music folders 

My suggestion would be to use a seperate NAS for backup over the LAN. They nearly all support automation and are so cheap these days. I have a little Netgear wake up once a week in the middle of the night, do an incremental backup with history of my main NAS, send an email confirmation of success or otherwise, and go to sleep again.

incremental back ups with history make you largely immune from corruption, viruses and errors. The email gives peace of mind for when you are thousands of miles away it's still doing its thing.

I have used such a system for about three years without issue, and used it once to recover an artist sub directory I accidentally deleted... nice....

Simon

King Size posted:

Where / how do I find the Synology back up software? All I see on the NAS are the music folders 

If you open its control panel, you will find backup and replication. You have to go into the nas via its interface to do this.

Ok, my dealer set my NAS up so I have no idea where to find the NAS interface. Have been doing some internet searching though and it looks like it is accessed using Safari and the  IP address of the NAS.

That is generally true - that is how I log on to my QNAP (cannot help you with Synology as I don't know it at all).

King Size posted:

Ok, my dealer set my NAS up so I have no idea where to find the NAS interface. Have been doing some internet searching though and it looks like it is accessed using Safari and the  IP address of the NAS.

Yes, find its IP address (put Fing on your iPad if needs be) then type it into the browser - 192.168.1.???  Your user name will be admin (unless it's been changed) and there will be a password. This may be the default - I'm not sure what that is - or the dealer may have changed it - but would have told you. Once in, you can rummage around and find the backup. Make sure you set the backup destination as the USB drive, and then decide how often you want it to do its thing. 

Ok thanks all. Will give it a bash this weekend.

For a Synology NAS, you download the Synology Assistant software from their website.  It searches your local network for Synology devices and when you select a device, it launches the default browser using the devices IP, port 5000.

(The page is [DeviceIP]:5000/webman/index.cgi)

Thanks All, Have downloaded Synology Assistant and can now see all the relevant tools.  I just want to double check Adam's suggestion that the back drive be FAT32 formatted.  

My understanding is that FAT 32 had a maximum drive size of 2TB but my drives are 3 TB's which would mean I would need two separate partitions.  Plus according to the drive info I can see using Synology DSM, the file system being used on my NAS is ext4.  So i'm confused as to whether I should keep the current NTFS formatting or re-format as FAT32 or ext4. 

When I got my USB drive I just plugged it in, set the Synology to back up and it just happened. I didn't format anything or change any settings - it just worked. Sometimes one can overthink things. I'm getting another drive today so that I can keep a second backup, just in case!

King Size posted:

Thanks All, Have downloaded Synology Assistant and can now see all the relevant tools.  I just want to double check Adam's suggestion that the back drive be FAT32 formatted.  

My understanding is that FAT 32 had a maximum drive size of 2TB but my drives are 3 TB's which would mean I would need two separate partitions.  Plus according to the drive info I can see using Synology DSM, the file system being used on my NAS is ext4.  So i'm confused as to whether I should keep the current NTFS formatting or re-format as FAT32 or ext4. 

 

In that case just leave it as it came out of the box. Just plug it in and let the back up tool do its thing. It will work perfectly.

Hungryhalibut posted:

Sometimes one can overthink things.

Ha ha, yes that thought did cross my mind.