How do I - Backup from one 'My Book Live' to another

WD Legacy Products My Book Live
1

Hi,

I bought a pair of 3TB ‘My Book Live’ 

Both are running the up to date firmware MyBookLive (MBL) 02.43.03-022 : Core F/W  (and have WD DNLA patch)

The Aim : One unit to be a backup of the other, daily backup of changed files would be perfect but weekly is OK

I downloaded the WD smartware but that only allows directly connected drive not networked drives to be the source drive.

Any ideas? Did I miss something? The sole aim of the purchase was to allow all files to be held in one place with 100% backup on second unit.

In updating the firmware the unit(s) told me to backup data so I hope this is possible,

Any non WD Free software to do the same is fine, personal data mainly photos

Many thanks for any help, Andy.

2

Simple and easy option: Check the safepoints section on the manual.

Advanced users: non-WD software options, but OS level (these machines have Debian Lenny as the OS). If you want to look into these ones, enabling SSH will be needed.

  • rsync

  • ftp

1 Like
3

It would seem as time has gone on that “NEW” owners see the “how to…” or “Download” option on WD TV Live

(The manual is not as instantly obvious, not hidden but not on the pages you are guided to)

So I had gone through all the downloads and read the “how to…” with no mention of the safepoints.

Now I have read and…

Safepoints seem to take a very long time to create, then require a third MBL to restore to (assume first has failed, second is safepoint). Buying the third unit is not an issue (only my local PCworld had 2 left when I bought them), But this seems a very long winded route to get a duplicate set of files. 

VS

WD SmartWare automatically and continuously backs up your data files from your computer to the My Book Live drive. Initially, SmartWare categorizes the different file types on the drive where the original files reside. You can elect to back up all the different file types, or you can choose specific files, folders, or categories to back up. After performing a backup, WD SmartWare protects your files by backing up:

  • New files that are created on or copied to your computer’s hard drive.
  • Existing files that are changed in any way.

Which seems to do exactly what I want but NOT MBL 2 MBL , One reason I bought the units and what the salesperson also thought was possible.

RE advanced users info - That will be beyond me.

Thank you for your input, looking like neither I nor the sales person understood the backup of backup well enough. A search seems to highlight this as a frequent “want” but years on? not incorporated. 

Fairly sure that is so you buy the larger twin/quad drive units - And that does make sense

(I’ve had several 4/8 drive RAID units in the past)

Too good to be true that cheap!

I better get used to save twice

Thanks for the pointers,

Andy.

4

FYI… Raid is NOT backup, it is redundancy, totally different. See if this helps to explain it better.

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-33088_39-57556308/digital-storage-basics-part-3-backup-vs-redundancy/

For the speed: 

The time it takes to create a safepoint varies based on the speed of your network, and the number and size of files you have stored on your My Book Live. For a given amount of total data, fewer larger files replicate quicker than many smaller files. Other factors such as what processes are running on the My Book Live and on the speed and availability of your target NAS have an effect on the speed. 

5

I use the safepoint option to backup my mybooklive to a network attached external hard drive connected to the usb port on  my router.  I set it to update the safepoint daily for additional files.  Can newer mybooklives not do that?

The first time takes a while but then I think it just checks and transfers incremental changes so it doesn’t take barely any time at all after the first time (unless you are always adding tons of files).  For me, it’s literally maybe 15 minutes or less.  And it’s all automatic.  So I don’t even deal with it except for an email it sends me saying my safepoint update was successful (which I can turn off if I want).  My router also automatically spins down/up the backup  hard drive for me.

To “restore” the safepoint, yes I would need a third, new router.  But nothing safepoint backup hard drive is encrypted or anything.  It’s just that there are more subfolders to deal with before you get to the folder that holds your actual files.  So you don’t even need a 3rd mybooklive. 

I think the safepoint option is the easiest by far if you are in network. 

6

This appears to be such a long winded and not inexpensive task.  This is the downside to having only the one drive, cheaper initially but more expensive in the long run.

Given the same scenario again I would definitely have gone for the Duo or similar and set that up in mirror format.  Something with dual drives is certainly the way to go, that way if one fails you can swap it out for another.  Apart from a couple of VM’s all my data gets backed up on my Time Capsule in any event.

One word of advice - never believe anything you are told in a PCW store, even down to what day it is.

7

Safepoint is pretty simple  and easy  to use in my opinion.  But definitely hard to understand what it does without more guidance from manual/forum.

I can see why the duo might have been cheaper for you.  I wouldn’t have felt safe without a backup in a remote location though (in case of a fire in the house).  Or some people just keep one copy on their laptops and one on their wd drive and call that good enough. 

Whatever works for you though.

8

I also keep an off site backup. I was once told you don’t have a backup unless you have three copies of everything.

9

I heard that 3 copies rule too.  You have copies on the devices you own don’t you?  I personally can live with just a copy on the device(s) you’re backing up, one local NAS backup, and one remote backup.

It saves a little money for me.  Duo is more than double the cost!