How to Set Up Backup Routine for Folders That Already Exist on NAS?

Question

I have a ReadyNAS 102 that I have recently started using. I want to set up an automated backup for a set of photo and video file folders that I normally keep on a portable external drive and have already backed up manually to the ReadyNAS machine. In setting up an automated backup routine, can I use the backup folders that already exist on the NAS, or will the new backup routine copy the folders all over again in getting the new backup routine started? The folders total about 2TB, so I'm hoping I can use the existing backup folders on the NAS.

Also, does the ReadyNAS backup routine completely re-write the backup files each time the backup is triggered? Or does it just look for incremental changes since the last backup? Wondering about the time that backups will take.

Thanks! Bruce

StephenB · Answer

bruceread&nbsp;wrote:
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Also, does the ReadyNAS backup routine completely re-write the backup files each time the backup is triggered? Or does it just look for incremental changes since the last backup? Wondering about the time that backups will take.
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You can set them to do either, but by default the backups are incremental.&nbsp; You can just use the folders you already have set up.
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bruceread&nbsp;wrote:
&nbsp;I want to set up an automated backup for a set of photo and video file folders that I normally keep on a portable external drive

You have a couple of options here.&nbsp; You can for instance connect the external hard drive to your PC, and use a PC backup utility to do the backup.&nbsp; For instance, FreeFileSync.
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If you want to connect the drive to the NAS, then you could set it up to use rsync (making the destination share "remote", and use the loopback IP address of 127.0.0.1.&nbsp; Then set the backup job to delete files in the destination that are no longer in the source.
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Either way, you can use custom snapshots on the share(s) to give you some retention - letting you recover files accidently deleted.
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How do the files get onto the portable drive in the first place?

bruceread · Answer

Thanks, Stephen. The image files are copied onto the external drive as they are downloaded from SD cards by Adobe Lightroom - they are copied and converted to DNG files in the process. Ideally the external drive would stay attached to the ReadyNAS, so I would not have to attach the external drive to my computer when I am using Lightroom in various places at home. On the road, I would just take the external drive and attach it to a laptop. I have used this setup a bit and it seems to work, although with some latency as Lightroom reads the original files over the network - and, I also wonder if using a networked drive creates some glitches in the way Lightroom operates. Anyway, if the ReadyNAS backup routine will recognize the existing NAS folders and back up the external drive to them I think I'll be all set. I just want to avoid having a couple of days of re-copying the files.

The rsync you mention - would that be preferable to the backup routine I can set up in the Admin backup window?

Thanks! Bruce

StephenB · Answer

bruceread&nbsp;wrote:
The rsync you mention - would that be preferable to the backup routine I can set up in the Admin backup window?
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It is one of the options for backup that is available in the admin web UI.
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bruceread&nbsp;wrote:
The image files are copied onto the external drive as they are downloaded from SD cards by Adobe Lightroom - they are copied and converted to DNG files in the process. Ideally the external drive would stay attached to the ReadyNAS, so I would not have to attach the external drive to my computer when I am using Lightroom in various places at home. On the road, I would just take the external drive and attach it to a laptop.&nbsp;
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Moving the drive back and forth between the NAS and the laptop seems a bit problematic to me.&nbsp; You do need to be careful to eject the USB drive from the NAS with the web interface - it isn't as forgiving as a PC in that respect.&nbsp;
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So personally I'd keep the external drive off the NAS, and use a PC tool like FreeFileSync to update the NAS folder over your network.&nbsp; Those tools do support incremental backup, and they can be scheduled.&nbsp; Then get a dedicated USB drive for the NAS, and use the built-in backup to give you a back-up of the full set of photos on the NAS (doing that with NAS backup job on a schedule).&nbsp;
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It looks like Lightroom itself has some ability to back up catalogs to hard drives, and that should also work with the NAS if you map the backup folder to a PC drive letter.&nbsp; So you might not need another tool on the PC to transfer the data.
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Also, if you have everything saved in the Lightroom cloud, you could also look into updating the NAS directly from the cloud storage, instead of the external hard drive.&nbsp; That might be slower (and maybe not a good idea if you have data caps on your internet service).&nbsp; But it would potentially give you a full backup of the Lightroom cloud.&nbsp; There is no Lightroom integration on the NAS, so you'd again do this on a PC that has the NAS backup folder mapped to a PC drive letter.
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bruceread · Answer

Thanks, Stephen - very helpful thoughts. How does this sound for a setup:&nbsp;- The external hard drive with the image and video files is attached to the computer when adding new files or working with Lightroom or Premiere Pro (video editing). I think the direct connection via USB 3 may be better than through the network/NAS.- The&nbsp;external hard drive's image and video file folders are synchronized to the ReadyNAS, as you suggested. So rather than a backup routine to the NAS, this happens more in real time.- My plan had been to back up the NAS folders to cloud storage, so rather than having another external hard drive for backup attached to the NAS, as you suggested, I think I'll use a service like Backblaze. I don't have any experience with cloud backup yet, so I'll be feeling my way along on that.- Lightroom catalogues and previews now reside on my computer's SSD for speed of program operation. These folders, along with video project files and all my document folders, currently use less than 100GB, and I have them synchronized with my DropBox account. Maybe have these folders backed up periodically to NAS and/or Backblaze for extra safety?- The Adobe cloud storage that comes with my Creative Suite subscription is only 100GB, so it's too limited for backing up the image and video files that total 2TB currently.&nbsp;If all that sounds good, the remaining questions relate to the synchronization/backup utilities:- For synchronization software you mentioned FreeFileSync. That's better than whatever may be available on Windows 10 or on the ReadyNAS? I guess the ReadyNAS is not configured to serve that purpose?- For cloud backup software, I'm guessing I could either use one of the ReadyNAS backup utilities, or a utility that comes with the cloud backup service? I'm not familiar with the various ReadyNAS backup options, but looks like one of the Rsync options can be used for backing up to the cloud.&nbsp;Thank you for all your help on this!&nbsp; Bruce

bruceread · Answer

Thanks, Stephen. So it seems as though this would be a good setup for me:&nbsp;1. Keep the external hard drive for image and video files connected to my computer rather than the NAS.2. Use a synchronization utility to keep the NAS copies of image and video folders up to date.3. Backup the NAS folder regularly - on this step, I think I'll do this with a cloud backup service rather than to an additional external hard drive attached to the NAS. Adobe's cloud storage is too small, so I'm thinking I'll use something like Backblaze.4. The Lightroom catalogue and image previews are currently on my computer's SSD, and synchronized with DropBox cloud storage, along with all my other document folders.&nbsp;Do you have a suggestion for which backup utility to use for NAS-to-Cloud? Would the ReadyNAS utility work, or rely on the cloud storage service?&nbsp;Thanks!&nbsp; Bruce

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How to Set Up Backup Routine for Folders That Already Exist on NAS?

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