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Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

I am feeling a bit lost with getting USB drive ready for backups. In the past I just backed up to a RN Duo v1 (my old unit), but it does not have sufficient space anymore.

 

I have a RN NV+ v2, and it seems there is no way to format the USB drive from the Dashboard? OK, I can hook it up to a Mac or Windows PC to format it, that's easy enough.

 

So, I would like guidance on:

  • I have a 5TB Seagate Epansion USB3 drive. What's the best format to use for a backup (NTFS/Ext3/4)?
  • Keeping ownership/permissions
  • I have home video files larger than 4GB (rules out FAT)
  • Directly attach to the RN (preferred by me) or to a Mac/PC - I don't mind just leaving it running to eventually complete
  • Any other pointers

 

Thanks

Model: RND4000v2 (ReadyNAS NV+ v2)|READYNAS NV+ v2 (DISKLESS)|EOL
Message 1 of 15

Accepted Solutions
BrianL2
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi aks,

 

For ReadyNAS 5 or v2 units, it is recommended that you use FAT32 or NTFS file system. For USB backup and permission pointers, check the device software manual and turn to pages 83-85.

 

Hope this helps!
 

 

Kind regards,

 

BrianL
NETGEAR Community Team

 

 

View solution in original post

Message 2 of 15

All Replies
BrianL2
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi aks,

 

For ReadyNAS 5 or v2 units, it is recommended that you use FAT32 or NTFS file system. For USB backup and permission pointers, check the device software manual and turn to pages 83-85.

 

Hope this helps!
 

 

Kind regards,

 

BrianL
NETGEAR Community Team

 

 

Message 2 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for the tips. I'll use NTFS and give it a try.

 

I haven't experimented yet with USB backup yet, but NAS-to-NAS (my NV+ v2 to Duo v1) I could get the ownership permissions across. Actually I set up the Duo to pull because (from memory) the NV+ v2 does not have NFS support. I will try USB later and check whether permissions are maintained.

 

Thanks

Message 3 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

So I formatted the drive as NTFS and tried a backup to USB from my NV+ v2, and all the files in the backup become owned by root. It does not seem possible to save permissions?

Message 4 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Checking the Duo v1, a backup with NFS retains permissions/ownerships.

 

Time to have a dig at the command line via SSH.

Message 5 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

It looks like from ssh:

rsync -v -r -p -o -g /c/test /USB_HDD_3/test

retains ownerships/permissions etc.

Message 6 of 15
BrianL2
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi aks,

 

Did you execute that command and fixed it yourself?

 

 

Kind regards,

 

BrianL

NETGEAR Community Team

 

 

Message 7 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi Brian,

 

I can successfully create backups now to the Seagate Expansion 5TB USB drive, actually I am in the middle of backing up the entire volume which is about 3TB full using a backup job in Dashboard. I noticed it kicked off a "cp -vR --preserve=timestamp . /USB_HDD_2" command from /c/, so that's still running now.

 

After a few experiments, I realised that ownership/permissions are not retained on NTFS formatted drives. Upon initial copy via ssh, files report keeping ownership, but later revert to root. I guess this is expected with NTFS format anyway. For this home use, I can simply set the permissions and ownerships again after restore, but this would be hopeless for any proper organisation. I am not sure if it performs differently with ext3/4 format, but I'll give it a try if I get time later. Talking of restore, that seems to be equally challenging, as in, I'll have to restore files manually/carefully, to locate specific files needed. OK, it's a backup, useful for disaster recovery when you need to restore all files to a fresh NAS, and for that it works fine. For now I'm done.

 

I am looking at newer NASes now to upgrade, as backup and a few other items on the NV+ v2 (and Duo v1) are inadequate for what I want. However, OS6 does not seem much of an improvement in this area, so I will review carefully the way forward. I have installed VirtualBox along with OS6 to give that a good try however.

 

Thanks for the help.

Message 8 of 15
BrianL2
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi aks,

 

Thanks for your feedback. You may now tag this thread as closed by clicking the "Accept as Solution" button in one of the responses that you received. For the meantime, I could run my own test and give you the results via PM. Lastly, I hope you will still consider using NETGEAR ReadyNAS products in the future.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

BrianL
NETGEAR Community Team

Message 9 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

The thing I find great about Netgear (lately anyway) - the contributions to these forums. Yes, self and peer help is really good, and the guidance here from the few regulars contributors is simply amazing. I've been around since 2010, and there was a period when Netgear deserted it's users (two community contributors stood out and deserve a lot of credit for hanging in and helping people). Dropping the Duo/NV+ v2 products entirely after a short life was a bad mistake too, I observe other vendors keep things going far longer - even if the hardware is not really up to the latest spec. Anyway, I will remain open minded with my next purchase, and the reason is this community. Thank you!

Message 10 of 15
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Glad we can help.

The OS6 VM is x86_64, so it is the OS that runs on our ReadyNAS OS6 units with Intel CPUs. If you were to get a unit with an ARM CPU then it would use the ARM version of the OS. For what you are describing in this thread it should behave the same on both ARM and x86_64 though the performance will vary depending on the hardware used.


The RN204 or RN214 are ARM models which would be quite a step up performance wise compared with your current NAS. The 204 and 214 both come with 2GB RAM.

The NV+ v2 has barely enough RAM (256MB) to run ReadyNAS OS 6 when doing nothing with it. If we provided it for the NV+ v2 and you started using the NAS to do something it would have quickly needed to swap which would mean it would run very slow or even run out of memory. It wouldn't have been a good user experience.

Message 11 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

The OS6 VM is x86_64, so it is the OS that runs on our ReadyNAS OS6 units with Intel CPUs. If you were to get a unit with an ARM CPU then it would use the ARM version of the OS. For what you are describing in this thread it should behave the same on both ARM and x86_64 though the performance will vary depending on the hardware used.

 

Understood - I have preference for an ARM based platform, so RN204/214.

 


The NV+ v2 has barely enough RAM (256MB) to run ReadyNAS OS 6 when doing nothing with it. If we provided it for the NV+ v2 and you started using the NAS to do something it would have quickly needed to swap which would mean it would run very slow or even run out of memory. It wouldn't have been a good user experience.

 

 Yeah, I understand. The thing is, dropping support is bad, saying the hardware you have is going to deliver a poor experience but your mileage may vary is not quite as bad. Anyway, we're drifting off topic, and my backups question is dealt with.

Message 12 of 15
CarlRossi
Aspirant

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Hi,

I also have a 5TB USB drive that I would like to use to backup my NAS but v1 not v2.   I have 4 X 2TB in the NAS.  So ...

 

 I formatted the drive NTFS in a WIN 10 OS and it showed up as 'no file system' in Radiator when attached to the NAS and at only 2TB.

 

then I formatted ext3 within Radiator and it showed attached with FS but with only 2TB.

 

Then I tried formatting with Mac OSX disk utility to exfat full 5TB and attached also showed no FS and 2TB.

 

Question:   Is there a way to get the whole drive usable?  If not, sounds like I need two 2TB USB drives.  ?    !!!!

 

thanks

 

Model: RND4000 (ReadyNAS NV+ v1)|READYNAS NV+ v1 (DISKLESS)|EOL
Message 13 of 15
aks
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

I have a Duo v1 too, and the disk limit is 2TB.

 

On that unit, the USB is very slow which for backups not so much of a problem really. The alternative approach is to connect it to your Mac or PC and back up the NAS via the network. You'll get the full space, but it means you'll have to leave the Mac/PC switched on during the backups. You can still use a backup job from the NV+ v1 to do this and I found the backup job setup on the v1 units to be more comprehensive than the v2 units.

 

I suggest starting a new thread if you have specific questions.

Message 14 of 15
CarlRossi
Aspirant

Re: NV+ v2 backup to USB drive (Seagate 5TB)

Thank you.  I have a server on my network that is always on so that solution works for me.   

Model: RND4000 (ReadyNAS NV+ v1)|READYNAS NV+ v1 (DISKLESS)|EOL
Message 15 of 15
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