Using a RN202 for backups on a Windows domain -- trying to decide if I want to use iSCSI so I can configure a hidden drive for use with Windows Server Backup (no judging - I've used it for years in various iterations on hundreds of servers in small networks and it has been easy to use and flawlessly reliable). My question is what happens if my NAS fails AND I need to recover data? How do I recover data from the LUN when I have the drive(s) but the original iSCSI target hardware is unavailable?
You buy a replacement ReadyNAS and put the drives in it. All the configuration data moves with the drives. This will work at least until Netgear makes a major OS update (which they do not appear to be in the process of doing).
While there are other methods for recovering file-based data, I know of no other ones for iSCSI.
... trying to decide if I want to use iSCSI so I can configure a hidden drive for use with Windows Server Backup
An alternative is to create a hidden SMB share on the NAS, and restrict the network access to the share to the Windows Server. Then you'd need to mount the hidden share as a drive letter on the Windows PC.
That would make it easier to recover the files (and make secondary backups), and you could also get some rollback using the snapshot feature.
