Step-by-Step: Rsync to Local USB

bspachman wrote:
One says that the source should be a 'remote: rsync server' the other says that the destination should be an 'rsync server'. It's not clear if both methods work, or if one is preferred over the other.

Both will work.

bspachman wrote:
I also can find no documentation about the syntax allowed in the 'exclusion list'. Is it only for files and directories? Are wildcards allowed? How are the directories notated?

The exclusion list is passed directly to the rsync command line. Consult the documentation for rsync (not ReadyNAS specific) for details.

bspachman wrote:
* It's unclear to me whether it is a good practice to allow rsync to have 'read-only' access to the source shares, or should it have 'read/write' acess to the source shares. I have currently set my source shares to allow rsync 'read-only' access.

Read-only is fine. If it's the backup source, then rsync will only read from it.

bspachman wrote:
3. Set Rsync permissions on the USB Storage Device(s) you are backing up to (your destination shares). * Again, it's unclear what level of access Rsync should have to the destination shares. Certainly, it will need write access, but does it need read access? I have currently left my destination shares at 'read/write' for rsync.

You only need to do this if you're selecting rsync as the destination protocol. If you're selecting the USB drive share, then there's no need to configure rsync access to it.

bspachman wrote:
4a) Set up the Source: * Source as Rsync Server? * Host: localhost? 127.0.0.1? the name of the ReadyNAS? the IP address of the ReadyNAS? -- all options seem to give me "Error connecting to xxxx"

Any of those should work as long as the path is correct.

bspachman wrote:
* what does 'enable compression' do? is it valuable in these circumstances?

It enabled data compression. It won't help here since you're not trying to push the data over a slow link.

bspachman wrote:
* how does the 'remove deleted files on source' option function?

If your destination is an rsync share, files that no longer exist on the source will be deleted on the destination.

bspachman wrote:
* Note: the hours are when it will begin trying to trigger, and when it will stop trying. This is important if you have multiple jobs scheduled. If Job1 continues past the END TIME of Job2, then Job2 will never trigger.

Not necessarily. If a job is triggered while another is running, it will get queued.

bspachman wrote:
* I don't understand the utility of changing file ownership on the backup, but if you need it, the option is there...

Let's say you backup a remote share, the permissions on the remote share are kept, and these permissions prevent a NAS user from accessing the contents of the share. You would then need this option.