Best way to migrate time machine backups

[giosheringam]

Hello

I think it's time to change disks of my readynas. I have bought two twin disks to enable raid. I would like to migrate all of my content.

The best way is to make a complete backup to an external USB disk attached to the NAS and then restore it to the new disks?

Does the time machine will work from that on the old backup?

Second, I have never been able to sse the time machine sparsebundle in the readynas. Tried accessing via afp://[ip number] but it shows me only my shared folders, which I see also in readynas (afp) in the finder.

Thanks for any advice.

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

---

@giosheringam wrote:

Do I need to switch to Xraid anywhere in the process?  

---

I would.  The steps would be

1. destroy one of the old volumes
2. remove the associated disk for the destroyed volume.
3. switch to XRAID
4. insert the first larger disk
5. wait for resync
6. remove the other old disk
7. insert the second larger disk.

All this can be done with the ReadyNAS running.

It's always wise to update your NAS backup first...

Note that it is often faster to

1. back up,
2. power down and remove the old disks,
3. insert the new disks
4. rebuild the NAS
5. restore the data from back up.  

If the volume is old, that can also improve performance.  The data isn't available during the process (which might be a showstopper for that approach).

Also, if this approach fails, you can shut down, reinstall your original disks, and boot up - so there is a good fall-back. 

---

@giosheringam wrote:

I have always been able to access via SMB in the Mac. Now I can only access as "guest" and it doesn't accept my NAS admin credentials any more- Any suggestion?

I'm not a Mac owner, so I don't have much advice to offer here.

You could try changing the NAS admin password (then change it back if you like) and see if that helps.  Also check that the Mac hasn't saved the NAS admin password somewhere (keychain???).

[jak0lantash]

Replace the disks one by one.

Look at "vertical expansion" in the user manual: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/READYNAS_OS_6_SM_EN.pdf

[giosheringam]

Thanks!

But now I have two different disks, with different things on it. And I don't know in wich one there is the Time Machine backup.

[StephenB]

There should be a hidden .timemachine folder on one of the two volumes.

You can access the data volumes using finder with SMB if you use the NAS admin account credentials.

[giosheringam]

Thanks for the information. I have always been able to access via SMB in the Mac. Now I can only access as "guest" and it doesn't accept my NAS admin credentials any more- Any suggestion?

I would like to try vertical expansion.

1 I am going to change the disk I need less, after making a backup job, with the new one. 

2 The old one which I needed more should sync with the new one right? It says "JBOD" with I understand means "RAID 1" to be converted.

3 Then I will replace also the old one with the twin new one, now I should have a new disk with everything in it and a twin one ready to sync.

Do I need to switch to Xraid anywhere in the process?

(NAS management is a bit tricky).

[StephenB · Accepted solution]

---

@giosheringam wrote:

Do I need to switch to Xraid anywhere in the process?  

---

I would.  The steps would be

1. destroy one of the old volumes
2. remove the associated disk for the destroyed volume.
3. switch to XRAID
4. insert the first larger disk
5. wait for resync
6. remove the other old disk
7. insert the second larger disk.

All this can be done with the ReadyNAS running.

It's always wise to update your NAS backup first...

Note that it is often faster to

1. back up,
2. power down and remove the old disks,
3. insert the new disks
4. rebuild the NAS
5. restore the data from back up.  

If the volume is old, that can also improve performance.  The data isn't available during the process (which might be a showstopper for that approach).

Also, if this approach fails, you can shut down, reinstall your original disks, and boot up - so there is a good fall-back. 

---

@giosheringam wrote:

I have always been able to access via SMB in the Mac. Now I can only access as "guest" and it doesn't accept my NAS admin credentials any more- Any suggestion?

I'm not a Mac owner, so I don't have much advice to offer here.

You could try changing the NAS admin password (then change it back if you like) and see if that helps.  Also check that the Mac hasn't saved the NAS admin password somewhere (keychain???).

[giosheringam]

Thanks!! I have followed your scheme, except for the "destroy" part. 

I have put the new 3 TB disk, formatted it, or I at least I think I have done it. Now it says it is degraded (whaaaat??).

I have waited for the XRaid to finish, and now I have launched a scrub. Hope it will help, the disk is brand new and compatible.

If not, I will have to format it again?

I hope all the lights come green soon.

And I still haven't looked if the Time Machine works properly.

Thank you very much fot the help so far.

[StephenB]

---

@giosheringam wrote:

Thanks!! I have followed your scheme, except for the "destroy" part. 

That wasn't an optional step.  The NAS will remember that volume as "inactive" until you do a factory reset - which of course you have no plans to do. Hopefully that not get in the way later on.

---

@giosheringam wrote:

I have put the new 3 TB disk, formatted it, or I at least I think I have done it. Now it says it is degraded (whaaaat??).

---

It will say degraded until the resync is complete.  Running a scrub in parallel with the resync will slow the resync down.

[giosheringam]

Thanks a lot!

After the sync the NAS seems to work fine, also the time machine works perfectly.

I have learned a lot.