NO errors AND data lost when 2 files of same name backed up
I'm running a Duo v2 running 5.3.5 As I have a number of shares, but only a single backup drive, I wondered what would happen if 2 shares had the same file name. Would both files backup correctly or would I get an error instead? To determine this I ran a few tests. I found out that the the backup does NOT work correctly, data is either lost, or worse written into the wrong file!, and even worse that that there are NO ERRORS produced at all.
What can be done to avoid this situation? Is there already something being actioned to correct this in the next version of firmware so that errors are produced (or will there be)?
For more information, plus to be able to reproduce my results, the tests I conducted and the results are as follows:
The system setup. Original data: ReadyNas Duo v2 with multiple shares (Share-A and Share-B used for the tests). Backup drive: USB drive connected off a Netgear DGN2200 Readyshare Router
Test 1: The test data. Testa.txt, created on Share-A, created 1st Testa.txt, created on Share-B, created 2nd
The test. Backed up Share-B 1st Backed up Share-A 2nd
The results. No errors occured No files were renamed and only 1 Testa.txt appears on the backup drive On looking in the file, Testa.txt shows the correct data from Share-B * Which means that Share-A file has been lost and didn't have an error or warning.
Test2: The test data. Testb.txt, created on Share-A, created 1st testb.txt, created on Share-B, created 2nd
The test. Backed up Share-B 1st Backed up Share-A 2nd
The results. No errors occured No files were renamed Both Testb.txt and testb.txt showing on the backup drive. On looking in both the files I'm even more concerned that Test 1, and BOTH files contained the text from the Share-B * Which means it looks like Share-A data is safe, but is actually lost and has the potential to cause all sorts of havoc if it has to be restored as the dat will be misleading.
Test 3: The test data. I renamed testb.txt on Share-B to Testb.txt (and amended the text inside). Testb.txt and testb.txt remained on the backup drive from Test 2.
The test. Backed up Share-B
The results. No errors occured On the backupdrive Testb.txt is still the original Testb.txt from Test 2 (which contains the wrong data from that test) On the backupdrive testb.txt now contains the new text from the test file, but has not changed the filename * This means the data from Share-A and Share-B is now even more confused and neither can be relied upon to be useable.
Re: NO errors AND data lost when 2 files of same name backed
sphardy wrote:
Have you not thought of just backing up each share to a separate sub folder of your backup drive?
I agree that would prevent the issue arising in the first place, however there isn't an option to be able to select this (unless I'm doing something wrong). (Currently I'm thinking of having every share having a unique folder at root level, but I can't guarantee no-one will decide to save something else there)
The options available to me in Frontview, and my selections are as follows: Type : remote Name : remote:Windows/NAS (Timestamp) Host : READYSHARE Path: : USB_Storage
as you can see the host is the router and the path becomes the USB drive off the back of it. I've tried to add a sub-path to the Path (e.g. USB_Storage\Folder or USB_Storage/Folder) but 'Test Connection' fails.
Re: NO errors AND data lost when 2 files of same name backed
hi rc3675 i use Usb drive to back up my shares all you need to do is create seperate folders on the USB drive, and set the path to that folder. but like sphardy says you will have to create a separate backup job for each share. allso would it not be easier if you plugged the USB drive directly into the back of your duo.
Re: NO errors AND data lost when 2 files of same name backed
HERBIEO wrote:
hi rc3675 i use Usb drive to back up my shares all you need to do is create seperate folders on the USB drive, and set the path to that folder. but like sphardy says you will have to create a separate backup job for each share. allso would it not be easier if you plugged the USB drive directly into the back of your duo.
Hi HERBIEO, I appreciate your time and advice. Please continue to contribute 🙂 (sphardy, I didn't properly thank you for your contribution earlier - I was feeling rather like your avatar when I replied :lol: - hope it didn't come across as rude as I'd appreciate all the assistance I can get)
The 2nd aspect you mention (plugging the USB drive directly into the Duo) may be an option later, however I'm really using the USB drive to test how backup works to another NAS. By connecting the USB drive to the back of the Netgear Router It's basically acting as another NAS drive, and ultimately my back ups will be to my old NAS drive (a NetworkSpace) which I don't want to fiddle with until I have the Duo properly running. Both options have the same pathing issue and when the NetworkSpace becomes my back up I will hence have the same problems.
I'll try and state the problems again, in a different way and hence hopefully make it clearer. I can see 2 seperate issues, both of which think will need software updates, although I do hope that won't be the case. The 1st problem is the inability to add pathing details to the backup, see below. The 2nd problem (error reporting) is compounded by the inibility to add a path, see problem 1, but is also a potentially disastrous* issue as if it happens to anyone, they will not be aware of the problem as there is no error reported and the implications could be huge. This I see as definitely being a Netgear issue which i would appreciate some response to so that i know it will be actioned sometime.
Problem 1) It seems impossible to add a folder into the Path when using a backup type of "remote:Windows/NAS (Timestamp)" as the "Host" option becomes the name (or IP) of the device connecting to, and the "Path" option is actually the Share name, not a path to a folder. If I can get both the Share name AND the folder into the same field then this problem will be sorted and will be my ideal backup strategy. Question for anyone - Is it possible to put both the Share name and Pathing details into the "Path" option? If so how?
Problem 2) Since I cannot send seperate shares to seperate folders, All my backups will be directed to the same device/share and same root folder. As such there is a risk of duplicate file names. I see this as a necessary issue that I will have to accept due to the current limitations of the Frontview software (and hope that it will be updated in the future to be more user friendly). As such it's a risk I'm willing to take. Having said that, I do need to know if a file has not been backed up due to this. Having done some tests I find there is NO error reporting around this, only corruption of data. This I find totally unacceptable as the impact of any errors could be extremely high. Question for Netgear especially - Can we have some error reporting around this so that the impact of any issue is manageable? Perhaps in the next firmware release.
