Backing up files from computer to unRAID

[DrBobke]

Hi All,

 

I have been searching and came accross duplicati, rclone, Duplicacy, rsync,.. but that seems to be for backing up unraid.

As I am a photographer and have everything on my computer and use Backblaze to backup the data, I was thinking if it would be possible to make a share of my HDD/folder containing images and have unraid periodically backup those files, so I have another backup of the files?

 

I couldn't find something like that on the forum. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[Energen]

You would simply use a Windows version (or Mac, whatever you use) of a backup program to backup your local folders to Unraid.  Or just get in the habit of copying your new files to Unraid.  I've got a Photos share where all my pictures are stored.  When I'm done processing them on PC I move them to Unraid.

 

 

[DrBobke]

Thanks a lot, Energen, but it would be amazing to somehow automate this. I have around 6 TB of personal photos and about the same (on a different HDD) of work-related pictures. I also have (on another NVMe drive), the Lightroom catalogs. I am okay with all being on one share.

But how can I set this up?

 

I am using WIN10 indeed.

[S80_UK]

Two free tools spring to mind...  One is Windows own Backup mechanism - you can configure it to back up to a mapped drive quite easily and to update the backup on a regular schedule.  Just type Backup into the Windows search bar to get started.   Another is to use the software called FreeFileSync which includes a utility called RealTimeSync which can be set to watch specific folders, and you can then use that to back up to a share.  I have been using the manual version of FreeFileSync for some years - it's quite powerful, and allows some filtering to be applied to include / exclude particular file types or folders as needed.   It's my also go-to software for backing up from Windows to removable media.  I even sometime use it to move files between two Unraid servers, although it will not be the fastest method due to the doubling of the network bandwidth at the Windows PC.  FreeFileSync is also well maintained and frequently updated with fixes and enhancements.  

Edited February 28, 2021 by S80_UK

[Hoopster]

41 minutes ago, DrBobke said:

but it would be amazing to somehow automate this.

I use Acronis True Image to backup three PCs automatically to unRAID.  There are free options such as Macrium Reflect, Windows backup and others. 

 

All of them should allow some sort of automated backup schedule.  They will do an initial backup of everything on the specified disks/partitions/folders, etc. and then just do incremental backups of new and modified files.  I have mine set so that every fifth backup is another full backup.

[ptmurphy]

I use a program called Bvckup 2 on all of my computers to backup to the undraid server. It moves only files that have changed (if you wish) and you can schedule the backups from real-time (any time a file change is detected) to once a day, week, month, etc.). It is a very small program, very fast, easy to configure, and I have never had a problem with it. The licensed version is very cheap.