Which backup method?

True if the destination and source are both internal disks.  But often one is a USB drive.  I believe that is the case here.  

well I do think he still makes a good case.  yes the USB external drive can go offline without having to be exported and so forth...but in the end I would need to find at the very least another Linux system to plug it into and restore my data should the readynas hardware blow up.  I think USB external is better than nothing and particularly since I also have idrive backup happening, but ideally I'd a dedicated backup server.   No question.  The only reason I'm hesitating a moment on that is because I have itchy hands trying to pull cash out of my pocket to get a new 2025 modern NAS, in which case I'd probably use the 524X as my dedicated backup server rather then the Ultra2Plus.

Also there is the whole ransomware attack argument, if its plugged into the same readynas, then hacker can get to it at the same time they got to the main raid volume.  If I don't expose it as SMB then less likely to get hit by ransomware, however I was also going to backup some Macs and PC's to other SMB shares...so they would be exposed.  Unless I set them up as rsync also I suppose...  But who knows what all weird thing could happen if the readynas were blowing up and did something weird to the USB attached drive.  It's definitely best practice to have it in a different place.  

The only thing mitigating that for me a little is that I am currently backing up to idrive also, which I actually consider my primary backup location because its raided and managed in the cloud by them much better then I do mine hahah.    The local backup is just a convenience to avoid download times from idrive...though I have 1gbit and last night I downloaded 1.2TB overnight, not a big deal.  and I will also start doing a lot of my Mac and pc backups to a backup server also, with snapshots there.

Dewdman42​ - if you are using the local-to-local backup, then it would be better to switch to rsync, and use 127.0.0.1 as the destination.  Now you are using cp. 

Yep copy that.  cp might have some benefits I'm not sure probably a bit faster then rsync in any case, but I'm not sure its incremental?  might be permissions more precise I don't know.  I guess that would be some built in hidden functionality of fvbackup to handle differential backups if at all, so...  whereas with rsync I can be more precise about the options I want to use, including verification.  And whatever I setup will transition to a remote backup server when I have one ready.

 

Personally I think using the old Ultra 2 for backup is better than using a USB drive. 

for sure.  Maybe I'll see if I can find that 2gb memory for the Ultra2Plus.  After all its not much bigger then a typical USB external enclosure.  

But like I said, I am just holding myself back every day looking into 2025 NAS and have my eyes on maybe a high end one, the Minisforum N5Pro, which besides having 5 bays, ECC, ryzen9!, m.2 slots, etc, etc, etc..it can run just about any OS, which means I can just put FreeBSD on there, my preference, or Truenas if I have to.  ZFS probably.  well a machine like that would serve other home server duties for me as well, easily able to handle hypervisor windows VM's and it even has support for AI stuff, which I don't even know if I need, has a decent GPU for plex transcoding and on and on.  Built out with RAM it's gonna be getting close to $1500 without storage though...so I am just kind of putting it off and maybe stretch out Readynas another year or two because truthfully I don't need that much performance, but I do want ECC.  

The NAS landscape is changing very fast and getting kind of exciting now that there are numerous solutions that can be operated without any proprietary software if desired.  Personally I think synology's days are numbered if they don't reset and reposition.  Truthfully I'd rather move to a more simple NAS that just handles NAS duties and then use a mini pc for a home server if I want that.  But these days an awful lot of the lower and mid level NAS don't support ECC memory!  Synology do, but you're locked into their stuff.  power consumption and heat is also a consideration.  So I'd prefer more of a mid level CPU, but with ECC, in 4 bays, 5 would be a bonus.  Don't need 6.  I'm rambling, but the point is this is why I'm kind of putting it off waiting for just exactly the right unit to resonate with me and using my 524x until such time, after which it will become my backup server.  But my next NAS I definitely want to be absolutely sure it's not locked into any proprietary stuff of any kind.  Fully able to boot up windows, linux, freebsd, unraid, truenas or whatever like a good PC and then I will use it for many years to come in some capacity or another.