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NASPro2user's avatar
NASPro2user
Aspirant
Mar 19, 2012

cp: preserving permissions for XXXX operation not supported

I have a ReadyNASPro2, Firmware RAIDiator 4.2.18. I am backing up from the ReadyNAS to an external USB 3.0 Seagate 2TB drive. The backup does seem to work, as it appears all the folders and files are backed up to the Seagate. But I am getting the error "cp: preserving permissions for /XXXX/xxxx operation not supported."

Looking at the web for answers and talking to Netgear support, it seems to come down to problem between Linux and NTFS and is a known problem. According to support, as long as I verify the files are being backed up to the external drive, this error can safely be ignored. I am sort of OK with that. I would prefer not to have any errors.

Is this something that is being addressed, or would a firmware update resolve this?

Thank you.

9 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • Are there preexisting files on the drive prior to using it for backups from the ReadyNAS or is this a freshly formatted USB drive?

    Are you using this for portable access or just for backups from the ReadyNAS?

    Are you currently accessing files through SSH?
  • This was new Seagate external drive. Connected it to the NAS right out of the box. The only files on it are some Seagate files. Did not format and has not been used for anything but NAS.

    Not using it for portable access. It stays connected to the ReadyNAS.

    Backing up after configuring backup jobs using Frontview.

    I am not connecting through SSH. Browse to the drive and folders with Window Explorer.

    Thank you.
  • If you are only using this for the ReadyNAS, I would suggest formatting with the NAS. To perform this go to Volumes > USB. In the drop down menu you will see some formatting options. If you do not plan to use this as portable access for the data, and only for the ReadyNAS, I would honestly suggest using the EXT formatting. You may use FAT as well to have great compatibility if you decide to connect it to a PC to access the files.

    If you have any critical, non-replaceable, data on the USB drive, I would recommend backing it up off of the drive, and then formatting the drive with the ReadyNAS in the fore-mentioned formats.
  • I have some large files bigger than FAT32 allows.

    If I format in EXT3, will I be able to browse to the folder, files, copy, etc, using Windows? What if I want to copy back over one or more backed up files on the USB drive to the ReadyNAS, or even to my desktop. With EXT3 being a Linux format, am I going to be able to do this?
  • Let me re-open this topic, as I have the same probklem with a NetGear ReadyNAS 3100 NAS and a USB disk.

    NASPro2user wrote:
    Looking at the web for answers and talking to Netgear support, it seems to come down to problem between Linux and NTFS and is a known problem. According to support, as long as I verify the files are being backed up to the external drive, this error can safely be ignored. I am sort of OK with that. I would prefer not to have any errors.


    How can you say that "this error can safely be ignored"?
    I think you are right and I see the same number of files on the source folder (being backed up) and on the target (USB) device, but I need to get some more details to say I can ignore an error message...
    Regards
    marius
  • mdgm-ntgr's avatar
    mdgm-ntgr
    NETGEAR Employee Retired
    The NTFS filesystem can't store the Linux file permissions. So the files are copied but the permissions aren't retained.
  • Thank you for your post.
    Given I don't need to take care of Linux permission, can I safely ignore the error?
    Regards
    marius
  • NASPro2user wrote:
    I have some large files bigger than FAT32 allows.

    If I format in EXT3, will I be able to browse to the folder, files, copy, etc, using Windows? What if I want to copy back over one or more backed up files on the USB drive to the ReadyNAS, or even to my desktop. With EXT3 being a Linux format, am I going to be able to do this?

    You could install Ext2 Installable File System for Windows > http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html

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