My ReadyNAS is very full up, and I'm trying to copy stuff of it without any success. First, I was having trouble with those stupid DS_Store files, so I decided to compress the files in order to make it easier to move them. It failed the first time, because I had the temerity to include an asterisk in the zip file name. So I got rid of that, and tried again. This time the error was far too vague: "Reason for failure:Error encountered copying data from source path ZIPFILE1 ==> /USB_HDD_1/AUDIO due to unknown reason. Please see log."As that IS the log, AFAICT, what does it mean by "Please see log."? Is there another log I can look at to help figure out why this backup failed? Is it an input or an output problem? If I can't get it to work, I'm going to have to copy this stuff, all nearly 900GB of it, manually, by copying it to the desktop, and then up to the drive I want it on, and that will take days! This USB drive is brand new, I've only had it for a few days, and it hasn't shown any other signs of corruption. Many thanks. [Mac Mini, OS 10.9.5]

Hi colmosiris, What is the file system of the external USB drive connected to your ReadyNAS? Also, tell us which model and Firmware is running on your system. Kind regards, BrianL NETGEAR Community Team

Thanks Brian L. The file system of the USB drive is FAT32. The ReadyNAS firmware is 5.3.8, and it's a 4-bay ReadyNAS nv+ v2. (Apparently I can update it to 5.3.11, but I don't know if that will make any difference to this issue?) Sometimes, it just truncates a file that's bigger than 4.29GB (so this appears to be the limit for this USB drive), and carries on, but at other times, it stops. I haven't figured out what the difference is. What I'd really like to be able to do, and I've no idea if this is possible, is to say to the backup: okay, backup everything you can, and give me a list of the things you couldn't (I imagine because of characters in filenames, or file size), and then I can do them manually later. Also, I've got another USB drive, which I know for a fact has over 600GB spare on it, but when I connect it up to either of my ReadyNASes (I also have a v1, which I'm actually copying this data to, via the USB drive), they say it has no free space. It would be useful if I could use this drive as well in this process. According to Disk Utility, its file system is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". But what would be really, really useful, is if the backup could actually tell me what the error is, rather than just "unknown", and the system log doesn't SEEM to have any more detail. It just says "Please see log."!! Many thanks.

colmosiris wrote: The file system of the USB drive is FAT32. Sometimes, it just truncates a file that's bigger than 4.29GB (so this appears to be the limit for this USB drive), That's not a problem with the USB drive - the problem is the FAT32 formatting. If you used NTFS, then you could write the larger files. colmosiris wrote: ... and carries on, but at other times, it stops. I haven't figured out what the difference is. Have you tested the USB drive? Possibly writes are actually failing.

Thanks Stephen. No, unfortunately I can't use NTFS, because I can't format those on my Mac. Anyway, I can't format this drive as anything other than what it is, as it has data on it. There's nothing wrong with the USB drive, or at least Disk Utility says so, anyway. (It's the same drive I was copying stuff onto from the other NAS box last week.) Any thoughts on the other USB drive with 600+GB available on it? My main question, apart from what use is an 'unknown error', is, is there a way I can make the backup process bypass the errors, and just make a note of them, rather than stopping? It's extremely time-consuming this way! And also, is there a way of copying directly form NAS to NAS, without using an intermediary drive, and without using Rsync, which AFAICT, wants to incrementally backup the whole volume? (Unless that's not true, in which case, how do I do it, please?)

colmosiris wrote: And also, is there a way of copying directly form NAS to NAS, without using an intermediary drive, and without using Rsync, which AFAICT, wants to incrementally backup the whole volume? (Unless that's not true, in which case, how do I do it, please?) You can backup up NAS-to-NAS with NFS, CIFS, or rsync. And you can back up individual shares with any of these protocols. I use incremental rsync to back up each share of my pro-6 daily to various backup ReadyNAS. If the protocols are enabled on the v2, you can configure the backup jobs to run on the v1 (or vice versa, but I am more familar with the v1). What is confusing you on the backup job configuration? colmosiris wrote: Thanks Stephen. No, unfortunately I can't use NTFS, because I can't format those on my Mac. Well, the format is the issue with the file size. There are also character limits with FAT32 that might be getting in your way. There are inexpensive ways to format as NTFS on the mac (paragon being one). If you are willing to get paragon, you could also go with ext formatting, which has faster copying than NTFS (especially on the v1). Or you can copy the data over the network to a USB drive connected to the mac. If you have wired ethernet, that is the fastest way to do it. And you can format the drive to anything the mac supports.

Backup to USB drive fails with unknown error

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BrianL2
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Mar 08, 2016
Hi colmosiris,

What is the file system of the external USB drive connected to your ReadyNAS? Also, tell us which model and Firmware is running on your system.

Kind regards,

BrianL
NETGEAR Community Team
- colmosiris
  Aspirant
  Mar 08, 2016
  Thanks Brian L.
  
  The file system of the USB drive is FAT32. The ReadyNAS firmware is 5.3.8, and it's a 4-bay ReadyNAS nv+ v2. (Apparently I can update it to 5.3.11, but I don't know if that will make any difference to this issue?)
  
  Sometimes, it just truncates a file that's bigger than 4.29GB (so this appears to be the limit for this USB drive), and carries on, but at other times, it stops. I haven't figured out what the difference is.
  
  What I'd really like to be able to do, and I've no idea if this is possible, is to say to the backup: okay, backup everything you can, and give me a list of the things you couldn't (I imagine because of characters in filenames, or file size), and then I can do them manually later.
  
  Also, I've got another USB drive, which I know for a fact has over 600GB spare on it, but when I connect it up to either of my ReadyNASes (I also have a v1, which I'm actually copying this data to, via the USB drive), they say it has no free space. It would be useful if I could use this drive as well in this process. According to Disk Utility, its file system is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
  
  But what would be really, really useful, is if the backup could actually tell me what the error is, rather than just "unknown", and the system log doesn't SEEM to have any more detail. It just says "Please see log."!!
  
  Many thanks.
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    Mar 08, 2016
    colmosiris wrote:
    
    The file system of the USB drive is FAT32.
    
    Sometimes, it just truncates a file that's bigger than 4.29GB (so this appears to be the limit for this USB drive),
    
    That's not a problem with the USB drive - the problem is the FAT32 formatting. If you used NTFS, then you could write the larger files.
    
    colmosiris wrote:
    
    ... and carries on, but at other times, it stops. I haven't figured out what the difference is.
    
    Have you tested the USB drive? Possibly writes are actually failing.

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Backup to USB drive fails with unknown error

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