i am swapping to new larger drives in my ex2 ultra.
i have a full backup of all the shares, using the USB Backup app available on OS5.
what is faster in terms of restoring the shares back to the nas:
use the USB Backup app and reverse the direction (instead of NAS to USB, create a job for USB to NAS and execute via the USB connection)
or
connect the NAS via ethernet to a computer that is also connected to the backup drive, and manually copy data back to the shares (either using finder or terminal/rsync)
which would provide the faster file transfer rate ?
i’m not sure if the ethernet connection would limit speed over USB or which is the bottleneck: USB 3.0 or ethernet ?
that makes sense … the only bottleneck there is usb 3.0 of the nas. the external backup enclosure supports esata and usb 3.1 gen1 (2 separate ports). esata theoretically caps at slightly faster than usb 3 or 3.1 gen1, which might amount to a little better transfer rates if the connection on the nas accepts the increased throughput (despite the port spec being 3.0).
i was almost willing to ditch the EX2 in favor of a DS920+ or TS-451D2 and reap benefits like RAID 10 as well as more functionality … but for simplicity-sake and keeping share structures/functions the same i am keeping the EX2 for now and relying on external RAID 1 for redundancy.
just not too confident in RAID 0 reliability in the EX2, even though the N300’s installed are incredibly rock-solid and reliable. is RAID implementation in the EX2 hardware or software based ?
thanks. i am using N300’s inside the nas as RAID 0. given their reliability and reputation, i have some confidence in using them for RAID 0 but the array is a risk for primary data storage because one disk failure results in loss of the nas. i’m aware of this, i have an OWC enclosure with hardware RAID 1 using Toshiba MG08’s as the backup USB device …
i know wd has a low reputation around here, though the nas’s i’ve owned from wd have been ok hardware-wise (except of course, for those cheap disks they put in them). the problem is being caused by wd’s software and updates that come in as hot and heavy as aircraft landing at the airport. pretty volatile and almost negligent towards people’s data, imo.
i keep cloud access off and when there is a software update i normally ignore it. it’s not broke, not going to fix it.
as far as the USB backup app, it has been working well for my cases in the past and as long as i left the nas alone to run the jobs, they complete and data seems to be intact. the jobs it runs are rsync jobs, which are reliable enough imo.
i have not run a reverse of the backup job before, so i am not sure if it’s going to recreate the shares on the NAS or i create the shares in the dashboard first before running the restore ?
the older USB backup os3 had a restore selection if you want the same share names and just using a different disk. have use that a few times. ( os5 may work the same with out making extra backup tasks.
good idea to make a second copy before re-load.
I use my spare set of standby external RED raid disk in a hub for temporary second copy.
and I place a small fan to keep the raid disk in the NAS cooler during a reload or a raid rebuild.
and as he said rsync jobs are different in OS5 so I found it best to have the external USB drives use regular Microsoft format and not FAT .
don’t know if a duplicator can duplicate to a target that has larger capacity than the source …
otherwise identical model/rpm/etc. but the source would be a 6TB part of a raid 0 array. if it is possible to duplicate both my N300 6TB RAID 0 drives to the N300 8TB drives and drop them into the my cloud that’s an option i can do. just not sure whether duplicating a RAID 0 configuration to larger disks would be ok to do.
for the copy command, to get everything from the backup back to the nas, and with the shares already created on the nas … would this cp command make sense ?
in the above, the directory on the left is the SOURCE (the USB backup), the directory on the right is the DESTINATION (the NAS). this is the path of the backup when I look it up in ssh:
/mnt/USB/USB1_c2/NAS_BACKUP1
within this folder are the share folders and their contents, verbatim as they are on the NAS.
I want to copy back the contents of the source (only the files and subfolders within the source, without hidden files) so I am using the T option along with the * at the end of the path.
option v is for me to watch the process.
my approach is to establish new shares on the new RAID array on the NAS the same as what I have now, and then go into the backup and copy back the contents of each share.
i did a test of this command in ssh with a source directory that contains files, subfolders and it seems to work, without copying the source directory itself into the destination directory.
not sure ir rsync is faster than cp … any thoughts about which is better suited as a 1-time use to get my backup content from the USB drive to the NAS ? direct USB connection to the EX2 should guarantee I will get USB 3.0 with both end connections @ 3.0 as well as a 3.0 USB-IF certified cable.
