Fastest way to copy files between NASs?

Set up Frontview backup job on either the NV+ to push the data from the NV+ to the Ultra or on the Ultra to pull the data from the NV+. You will need to set up a backup job for each share you want to copy over. When setting up the backup job, you sepcify the source and the destination. Here are the two settings on backing up my NAS1 to my NAS2. Please note these settings are for my regular nightly backup via rsysnc which is an extremely fast synchronization of files between two servers. For the first backup you would want to use Remote: NFS Server where I have Remote: Rsysnc Server. NFS is much faster than rsync for the first pass. You can trigger the backup manually by clicking on the "Go" button. Then switch to rsync and manually trigger the process again. It will only take minutes, not hours on the second pass and it confirms the two data volumes are the same.

You will have to enable the NFS and rsync processes on the share listing page of both units.





The reason this is faster than going through the PC is that the data has to travel from the NAS to the PC be verified and then copied back over the same data path to the other NAS. The bandwidth from the PC to either the switch or router is effectively halved because there is only the one cable. Going from one NAS to the other it has the full data path. If you desire, you can even set it up to do the transfer, especially of the largest share, overnight while you sleep.

This is the way I use to copy my NAS also.

Just wanted to make a minor correction. If you are using a good quality switch and full duplex ethernet, then the bandwidth is not effectively halved when you go through the PC. Each cable can sustain 1 gigabit/second in each direction, and the switch should have enough internal bandwidth to keep up.

There is somewhat less bandwidth available than going NAS to NAS, since the I/O requests and responses are going between the PC and two NAS - but not half. Latency is also improved when you transfer directly. In addition, NFS is more efficient than CIFS for linux systems, especially if you are using one of the older ReadyNAS platforms (which can't saturate a gigabit link).

Great answers, ta.
Thanks a bunch.

Sorry - further to advice, I get an error when enabling RSync "Could not find the masquerade address in DNS". Not sure what to do with this - rtfm shows just a ticky-box to enable.
Ta

Is this on the NV+ or the ultra? What firmware is that NAS running? Do you also have FTP enabled?

Same symptom on both (same setup on both - only the device name/ip different) NV+ firmware 4.1.8, Ultra firmware 4.2.21.
I notice now though that the FTP service was enabled, but each device has the same masquerade name, so have changed this to the individual device names, & seems to allow the setup.
Do I now use the 'other' device name in the 'Hosts' access permissions?

All seems to be going fine :-D
How though do I copy my Home Shares, as I get an error when testing the connection to this.
Thanks for help

stevebower wrote:
I notice now though that the FTP service was enabled, but each device has the same masquerade name, so have changed this to the individual device names, & seems to allow the setup.

That explains it. The same frontview config page for rsync also has the FTP parameters, and it apparently was checking the FTP config. The error sounds like the masquerade name was actually wrong (not found in DNS) as opposed to duplicated. The FTP client I use (filezilla) doesn't need masquerade to be set in order to access FTP from the WAN. You probably will want to sort that issue out after you get the new NAS set up.

I don't use Hosts access permissions for this, though I have everyone access set to read/write.

On the home shares, I think you can use the associated username/password. Note in some cases "test connection" fails but the actual backup succeeds (and vice versa).