Synology backup issues

I think you'll find that the external disk has become disconnected (and I can't re-connect it, the Synology doesn't seem to be able to identify a USB external disk anymore).

Install the latest DSM Update and do a manual reboot.

Thanks Huge. I have tried several hard drives and problem repeats. I run latest DSM and have already done a manual reboot.

What are you backing up into.    Re Huge & USB,  I'm backing up to a WD "My Passport" USB,  my Synology connects perfectly, connecting the USB wakes the NAS & the Hyper Backup just works.   Interestingly I made some significant changes last week that involved combining some albums & deleting the originals ones,  the back up copied the new file list perfectly & deleted the unwanted albums.      

I would be tempted to check to see if the Synology File Station can "see" the back up drive when its connected,  if it can't, then thats the problem,  but even if it can see the backup drive & I would go over the Hyper Backup setup as I suspect something like a /path/link is missing. 

Hi Mike-B I'm also using a WD MyPassport (2TB) drive.

It seems to connect OK and begins the backup. I have mp3, FLAC, movies and photos checked. After about 40 mins I get the failure message but o ly the first folder mp3s has been backed up.

When I only check FLAC it runs for over 8 hrs and I then get the failure message. I have however just noticed that some of the test changes I made yesterday have not been copied.

How do I check the /path/link connection. I was also considering removing my 2 x hard drives and resetting the NAS back to new and starting again?

Hi Pixies,  re "It seems to connect OK and begins the backup",  is this saying you just connect it do nothing else ???   You also need to open Syn's webpage, open Hyper Backup & hit Backup Now.   The path/links are in settings & as usual with Synology are simple check boxes.

Hi Mike, it's a USB Seagate Portable drive, and it remains connected all the time, the NAS used to just send the 'suspend' command (the 'Hibernate' function of the Synology OS) and the drive would power down everything apart from it's interface electronics.  On Hyperbackup starting the USB drive would power back up in a couple of seconds.  Now instead of suspending the Disk, the NAS deletes the partition and 'ejects' the USB disk.  After that it can't reconnect again (not surprising as the disk is no longer logically visible at all) - a 'One Shot Backup' is notably useless.

Hi Pixies, You have a different problem to the one I have.  In my case it's loosing the connection after the backup and then won't reconnect, in your case it looks as though it's disconnecting after a time.

Do you have any power/time management options setup in the NAS?
Do you use the Hibernate function on any drives or do you let the drives manage it themselves (WD Reds have a very sophisticated internal power management system to optimise their operational life).

Huge,  the usual practice with the WD My Passport is to connect it for back up & then disconnect.  Its a small 110 x 80 box & perfect for storing somewhere else;  it's what I understand most peeps do with it & I certainly do.

Mike I have other USB portable drives (2 of them) I use that way for manual backups.

This is a regular 'backup of a backup' for the data on my PC and my music data; it's a second level defence against Windows (PC based) ransomware viruses (I also have a backup of the NAS on the PC to protect against Synolocker!).

Mike/Huge

just as stated, I go in and hit back up now. I connect my external drive as and when I need to back up and have no special options set like hibernate or sleep. I must add that Synology tech support connected remotely and have said they can't replicate the issue. But each communication with them takes several days to a week to get an answer which is frustrating. They also don't seem to have tried to backup multiple folders. I am starting to consider Qnap!

Pixies,  Have you tried using a different USB disk?  It's just possible that it's the disk enclosure's USB controller that's dropping the connection after a time (heat buildup possibly).

....  hmm ????   if Synology can't replicate it,  not sure we will do much better.   I'm not 100% sure what you mean by multiple folders & as thats seems to be the only difference that you have to my set up.   Can you paste a File Station screen shot of the folders tree & same from Hyper Backup.

Huge, yes I have tried alternative hard drives and same issue.

Mike screen shots...

Hopefully these are a bit clearer?

How does the destination drive look?
The Synology incremental backup does take up quite a bit more space than the data in the folders being backed up.

Yes,  lets see the destination drive.   I don't see the problem with those screen shots,  but am still suspecting the problem is in there somewhere & would double check the settings & path/permissions with Hyper Backup.       

I see the Package Centre has some updates that need your attention

OK sorry for late reply, been walking the dog!

Heres my hyperback up task setting:

Here's destination drive showing main folders:

Here's the Diskstation 3 folder showing latest back ups:

Hope this helps?

Pixies, have Synology support asked for your logs? I had a backup issue, and after viewing my log files and me having failed to solve it using their advice, they asked me if they could log in to my NAS directly. I allowed it, they did, and they sorted it.

Hi Gary. Yes they have and they have also remotely logged in but have been unable to replicate the issues. I am waiting to hear back from them after a further email exchange but that was a week ago. Hence the shout out to the forum.

My destination (WD My Passport) folder tree looks much the same/similar,  different names but same/similar paths. 

I advise a follow up e-mail to Synology as they do let things slide IME  (I was talking to Syn @ MK)

OK thanks everyone for suggestions. Will wait for next Synology response and go from there.

Thought I should give an update particularly as I received several constructive suggestions above. 

After several email exchanges with Synology, suspicion was falling on the formatting of my hard drive, which was originally FAT32 (so I could connect to my laptop as well).  As a result I decided to wipe the external drive and reformat it to ext4 .  This seems to have worked as my test backup has been successful. 

Not sure what caused initial failure issues as FAT32 format should be ok with Synology.

As far as I know the backup requires hard links for creating historical backups without multiplying the required space. And I think that fat32 does not support real hard links. So you need the better file system. (I do not know if Microsofts NTFS would work, too. But with extfs you are on the safer side, because the NAS uses Linux as OS.)

As far as I can tell, HyperBackup works fine with external drives formatted NTFS (at least it works fine in my setup).