I have a ReadyNAS OS version 6.10.2. I have a 6TB USB drive attached to the NAS for backups. The drive is now full and no more backups are occurring.
1. Can I somehow delete the data on the USB drive?
2. Is there a setting in the backup section/scheduling that allows the data to be overwritten as needed when the hard drive is full to complete the backups?
3. I tried to create a new backup schedule and I couldn't because the hard drive is full.
You can use rsync as the backup protocol, which has the option to delete files deleted on the source. The rub there, of course, is that accidental deletion will propagate to the backup. But snapshots are typically a better solution for accidental deletion, anyway.
The trick to using rsync for a local share (USB or otherwise) is to specify an external source or destination and then use 127.0.0.1 as the IP address. That address is universally implemented, known as localhost, and points to itself.
Thank you for your suggestion, but I don't think it is the answer to my question. I have a 6TB USB external hard drive connected to the NAS. I use the Backup tab option from the OS to backup the NAS to the USB drive. The external drive is now full. Is there a setting within Backup that allows me to overwrite what's on the USB drive the next time the backup runs? If not, then how do I go about clearing the files off of the USB drive so that I can restart the backup on the NAS?
Thank you for your suggestion, but I don't think it is the answer to my question.
Actually it does answer the question. But maybe not completely enough.
There are two possible reasons that the backup drive might have become full. One is that the NAS data volume is bigger than 6 TB, so the backup drive is simply too small. If that's the case, you need to get another drive.
The second reason is that normally the backup jobs don't delete files when they are deleted from the shares. That's allows you to recover files that were deleted by mistake. But over time, it can result in lots of clutter, and that can fill up the drive.
Assuming the second reason is the actual cause, then you need to delete the clutter on the USB drive.
A simplest way is to eject the backup drive, connect it to a PC, and delete the files from there. That does require you to be able to mount the backup drive and then delete the files. This requires you to format the USB drive as NTFS (assuming a Windows or Mac PC). In the case of a Mac, you'd also need to by some NTFS software (Paragon sells a good package for about $20 USD).
FWIW, this is what I recommend you do first. If you formatted the backup drive as EXT or BTRFS (and don't use Linux), I'd reformat the USB drive as NTFS, and then start over. My thinking here is that a backup that you can't read on another device is essentially worthless.
Another way to deal with that clutter is to
Select the "Options" tab of the backup job
Change the "Schedule first backup" to "Every Time"
Turn on the option to "Remove the contents of the backup destination before full backup".
Then run the backup job. If it completes normally, you can then set the options back to way they are now.
The third option is to switch the backup protocol to rsync (as @Sandshark suggests). That does have an option to delete the clutter every time the backup is run (removing any files on the USB drive that are no longer on the NAS). The downside is that you won't be able to recover accidently deleted files from the backup (though you could potentially get them from snapshots on the NAS). The upside is that clutter won't fill the backup drive.
3. I tried to create a new backup schedule and I couldn't because the hard drive is full.
This is concerning. The backup schedule isn't saved to the hard drive, it is saved in the OS partition of the NAS (e.g. on the internal hard drives). While the backup might fail if you try to run it, you should be able to change the backup options (including the schedule) with no errors. Are you seeing any errors that says the OS partition (sometimes called the root or sysroot) is full? Note this isn't the same as a full data volume. The OS partition is a small 4 GB partition that can't be accessed unless you use ssh.
If you are, then you should contact paid support (my.netgear.com), and have them fix that for you remotely. Ask for per-incident support ($75-$100 USD).
3. I tried to create a new backup schedule and I couldn't because the hard drive is full.
This is concerning. The backup schedule isn't saved to the hard drive, it is saved in the OS partition of the NAS (e.g. on the internal hard drives). While the backup might fail if you try to run it, you should be able to change the backup options (including the schedule) with no errors. Are you seeing any errors that says the OS partition (sometimes called the root or sysroot) is full? Note this isn't the same as a full data volume. The OS partition is a small 4 GB partition that can't be accessed unless you use ssh.
If you are, then you should contact paid support (my.netgear.com), and have them fix that for you remotely. Ask for per-incident support ($75-$100 USD).
I missed this part the first time. I wonder if part of the problem isn't that the USB drive didn't mount properly at some point, so content went to the mount point in the OS partition, not the drive that should have been mounted to it. Unfortunately, most NAS users don't have the skill to fix this problem themselves. There is a post in the Idea Exchange about the need for an automated clean-up process, but it sseems to have been largely ignored by Netgear. I guess they feel that charging people for it is better than providing a true solution.
