I am running Vista and have a My Book World Edition 1 TB drive on my network. I am keeping all of my media files and other docs there so I can access them easily from anywhere on my network. Now I realized I need to be backing up this drive since it is my primary data source.
I picked up a new 2 TB USB drive (My Book Essential) and would like to run a backup from the NAS to the USB drive. All the drives are visibile on “Computer”. My issue is I am not given the My Book World Edition as an option for source when doing a backup. This includes WD Anywhere backup which came with the MB WE. I can back up to, but not from the NAS.
Any suggestions out there? I tried downloading a few other backup software tools and none give me the option to backup the network drive so far.
Normally you would hold original files on your PC/Laptop and backup to a central server or NAS, so that all files can then be seen across you network, no matter where the original resides. WD Anywhere backup will handle this OK. Vista and Windows 7 also has network sharing which I find too picky to bother with, so I also use Allway Sync to sync key data and Outlook files between my PC and Laptop, and other stuff to MBWE outside of the backups running in WD Anywhere. Allway Sync provides a limited free addition for personal use or you can buy a Pro edition for a nominal fee. It has lots of flexibility and automated backup facilities. What you appear to wish to do is create a backup of your backup from one server to another server which is probably not possible directly as neither will have a “windows operating system” to run a backup programme, so you would have to do it in two stages linking them back though your PC. That is backup from Server 1 to PC, then from PC to Server 2.
Thanks for the response. My desired solution is to have a software package on PC doing the work. I don’t expect the NAS to backup to the USB by iteself. The problem is any software I use so far does not see my MBWE as a source. I will check out the tool you suggested.
FYI, I use the MBWE as my primary source because 1. My PC is 4 years old and don’t want to trust it with data 2. The PC HD is not large enough for all of my media, 3. I want everything shared and available on my network drive right away.
I have exactly the same situation where I want the NAS to be a central storage device for my home network. I think there would be problems having my desktop PC having the source that is then copied to the NAS, because then if I access the files from my laptop, I’m not accessing the originals, so I can’t edit them.
I have asked WD support about this and have received the following reply:
Unfortunately, the Copy Manager is not designed to have scheduled copy date and time. Also, the Copy Manager is not automatic. The WD Anywhere Backup is designed to automatically backup a computer to the My Book world. The backup software is not designed to backup a shared folder form the Book world to a USB drive.
I recommend that you research third party Enterprise backup software that can backup a shared folder to a USB drive.
So it seems you can’t do what I bought the drive to do without spending more money on backup software!
My next step was going to be contacting WD support, so THANK YOU for saving me that step! At least now, I confirmed what I expected. I understand WD sells a 2 bay version of this so you can have some fault tolerance. However, since I believe the whole point of this device is to be cetnral storage for your network (hence holding the live data), I find it amazing that they do not have a solution to back up the device, even with buying another one of their USB external drives to do so. It seems like such a simple add on to the WD Anywhere Backup software. I guess “Anywhere” is a poor name.
Thanks again Phil. I checked out Allway Sync and that looks like to be an adequate solution for backup. it has a good deal of flexibility and customization. I can copy from the network drive to the USB drive and it does allow for plenty of automated options.
The feature I like is- when syncing, if it finds that files have been deleted, you can identify a target location for the files to be moved to on the destination side rather than deleting them right off. It is a nice safety net because once you delete a file on a network drive, it is gone (no recycle bin). That is what got me into this mess. I somehow inadvertantly deleted a bunch of personal files and could not recover. This should do well for ensuring I don’t lose data again!
I use a My Book World Edition as file storage for my office and employees. I’ve set it up behind a VPN router so that we can remotely access and work. I’d like to run a daily batch backup so that if my MB WE fails, we would be able to quickly begin working again and only lose a days worth of work. Did you find an acceptable solution to this? Thanks - David
