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Understanding NAS Folder Structure in Regards to Backups
Hi!
I'm trying to better understand the folder structure of the NAS in relation to what I see in Windows Explorer and when it comes to backing up my shares. Below are the questions that I have about it:
1. When I view the NAS shares in Windows Explorer, I see all of my data folders listed, but I also see a /data folder that has all of the same underneath it as well. In the native view in WE, if I right click on the folder and select properties, it shows 0 bytes of data, but when I browse the /data folder, it will tell me folder size. The size of the folders in the /data, the amount of data seems to be inflated, almost double from what the NAS says is stored on it. What am I doing wrong here?
2. In regards to my backup question, I installed iDrive and plan to use that for cloud backup. When I select the folders I want to backup, the total amount of data it wants to backup is nearly 5 TB in size. When I look at total drive space used under the admin page, it only says 1.64 TB of data space is used. I have unselected the backups of local PC's which would be duplicate data, but I think this has something to do with question #1 above, just not sure what.
I hope I explained this good enough for you to understand what I'm talking about? Does anyone have an explanation that will save me some time to figure this out? Your help is appreciated. Thank you!
ThomasMiller wrote:
I've saved the network share credentials, so I should just be able to update my share path to the NASNAME\data folder and be able to view it like it should be.
Create a NAS user account on the accounts page in the NAS web ui. It's fine to call it "user", and it should be in the users group.
Then enter "credential" in the windows search bar, and you'll see the "credential manager" come up. Click it, and you should be able to find the NAS credentials pretty easily. You can then edit them to use your new user credentials. After that, reboot the PC.
ThomasMiller wrote:
As for the backup, I investigated further and within each share, iDrive was also selecting the snapshot folder.
I'm not sure exactly what you changed. Personally I use custom snapshots, because that gives me control over snapshot retention. I uncheck "allow snapshot access" (which solves your issue), but check "allow access to windows previous versions". The second setting allows you to see the older versions when you right click on the file in Windows Explorer and choose "restore previous versions".
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After further investigation, could these folders in the native WE view be the snapshot folders? If so, is there a way to turn them off when viewing in WE and deselect them for the backup?
Thanks again!
ThomasMiller wrote:
After further investigation, could these folders in the native WE view be the snapshot folders?
No, it's simpler than that. Your NAS has a data volume (called data in your case). All the shares are stored on that data volume, but they are also directly accessed via SMB using just their share names.
Your data folder is actually showing you the full data volume. The reason you are seeing it is because you are using NAS admin credentials to access your NAS. If you create a NAS user account, and use its credentials, the data folder will disappear.
So \data\sharename is just another path to the same folder. If you delete stuff in there, it will of course disappear in the \sharename path too (and vice versa).
StephenB, thanks for that information. I've saved the network share credentials, so I should just be able to update my share path to the NASNAME\data folder and be able to view it like it should be. I would have to Google how to change network share credentials unless you know off the top of your head? I do have a local account that I can use, but as long as I understand how the information is being displayed to me, that helps a lot.
As for the backup, I investigated further and within each share, iDrive was also selecting the snapshot folder. I've since unchecked that in the backup selections list and its currently calculating how much data is to be backed up, so I think that resolved this issue.
Thanks again for your time!
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