RNDU4000, use as external HDD?

StephenB wrote:

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Ahrle wrote:

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The PC, NAS, server and SAN are in my case, all permanently offline. All data that should be saved is moved to the PC's RAID, using an encrypted USB stick. This RAID is what I want the NAS to clone, so the NAS is all that's needed for the server + SAN for also cloning the information. This will make 8 copies on 4 devices at 2 locations, which should protect from everything but town-wide disasters. 

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As I said before, the NAS requires a gigabit ethernet connection.  But it doesn't require being connected to the internet.

 

You could connect the NAS to the server (either through the local network or by directly connecting it to the server's NIC card).  Then you could run any of several utilities on the server to copy the SAN contents to the NAS.  You could also use a NAS backup job on the NAS itself, but that would require sharing the SAN folders on the local network. 

Yes, direct NIC connection is what I use for the PC, and want to use with the server as well (then as you probably suggest, make the SAN clone that NAS synced partition on the server). 

If you leave the NAS in place, this could be run on a schedule, so it could be unattended. You could up the cadence on the backups to daily, which would reduce the loss if the SAN fails.  I suggest that someone verify the backups are actually happening in-person, and periodically look at NAS logs - since there is no way to monitor remotely via email notifications.  If the server is running linux, then you could disable SMB on the NAS, and use rsync - that would give you a bit more protection from malware hitting the local server network somehow.  If it is running Windows, then I'd suggest installing SMB plus on the NAS - then set the minimum protocol to SMB 3 and make encryption mandatory.  Also disallow anonymous connections.

Well as I said, the server + SAN are offline permanently. It will never, ever be connected to any type of network, except direct NIC/serial connection with the NAS and SAN. The reason I purchased a rack server was primarily because it supported a large number of front accessible hard drives. 

The NAS will be primarily at home, so all work that ever need backing up will be instantly mirrored to it. 

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Not sure if disk encryption on the NAS is a requirement or not.  If it is: while you could use volume encryption on the NAS, I'd suggest using Veracrypt instead.  Volume encryption has some significant drawbacks - in particular, you have no way to access the volume if the NAS fails (other than to purchase another ReadyNAS).  If you do use Veracrypt, be sure to disable strict sync on the NAS share holding the Veracrypt container. 

If you don't use veracrypt, you should consider enabling custom snapshots on the NAS - you can use them to get some rollback capability in case files are lost due to user error.  Limit retention, to make sure the snapshots won't result in a full volume on the NAS.  You want to keep the free space on the NAS at 15% or more.

So it is possible to install VeraCrypt on the NAS? Is there an app or something? Tried several apps from https://apps.readynas.com/pages/?page_id=9, however all threw error messages and failed to install. 

I do encrypt the PC's RAID with VeraCrypt, that the ReadyNAS is supposed to clone; so it would be perfect to use VeraCrypt for the NAS as well. The wonder is how to sync them. Tried syncing with AOMEI Backupper (Windows 7, D:\ to Network -> NAS), but only got two invalid filenames like ?!I)¤("()/#(/!%)!#!) before the program considered it completed...

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BTW, you seem to think that I work for Netgear.  I don't (and neither does Sandshark).

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Heh, apologies, it was more an exaggeration toward whatever happened to my replies... Two of them disappeared for a day, but are somehow back again. Using older stuff like the ReadyNAS, sometimes requires a good community and a lot of research, yet frustration can take over, sorry for that. I certainly appreciate both of your time and willingness to help :)