Hi all,

I`m a newbe to unraid and just installed 5.0rc12a successfull. I would like setup a backup function for one of my user shares to an external USB-hard drive which starts every morning 3pm (more a sync between the share and the USB drive, the user share should be the master) . I didn`t found any older posts in this forum with this topic, but I think I`m not the only person which need USB-Backup. Does anybody has a easy to implemet advice how I can implemet this.

Many Thanks in advance.

Dieter

Just do this on one of your client PCs => set up an automated sync using any of the free Windows sync utilieis [syncToy, SyncBack, PTReplicator, etc.] to backup from \\Tower\YourShare to the appropriate folder on your backup drive.

 

Many Thanks,

but the backup drive is directly connected to the unraid system USB-port, therefor I`m looking for an backup solution in the unraid system itself. Without using any external WIndows computer

 

Regards

Dieter

It really is easier (and very likely faster) to do this on another PC. If your reasoning behind hooking it up directly to the unraid box is backup speed, you are very likely to be disappointed. I seem to remember in the back of my mind somewhere about USB speeds not being optimized in the unraid driver setup.

 

Another reason NOT to have the backup directly connected to the unraid box is this... if there is some physical event (power or otherwise) that effects the unraid server, it will very likely effect the backup as well. Best backups are offsite, preferably as far as you can manage.

Even if the USB driver isn't an issue, the simple fact is that a Gb LAN will transfer data faster than USB can, so there's no disadvantage to using another PC.

 

I'm not a Linux person, so I don't know how to even do this on the UnRAID PC, although there are several free Linux sync utilities, so I suppose it's possible with an appropriate script.  Perhaps a Linux guru will chime in with the "how to" -- assuming the shares are accessible directly from a Linux script (I assume they are, but do not know for sure).

 

the simple fact is that a Gb LAN will transfer data faster than USB can

True of USB 2.0, but USB 3.0 is theoretically faster. HOWEVER... I think unraid will only initialize at USB 2.0 speeds, even if both ends of the USB hardware support 3.0. That was the driver issue I was referring to.

You can use rsync and cron. You just have to mount the usb drive and it can be done easily via the go script.

 

This should get you started with the backup:

http://www.jveweb.net/en/archives/2011/02/using-rsync-and-cron-to-automate-incremental-backups.html

 

This should help you with mounting the usb and have i linked to a guide that helps you mount using the partition name instead of /dev/sdx which should future proof your go script:

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/rhel-centos-debian-fedora-mount-partition-label/