Backup your music files

[GOS]

I sure hope this isn't a duplication of another thread. I realize there are other threads that sort of go off topic into the backup subject.....

So - there has been some chatter about loss of hard drives, and potential loss of music files stored on NAS or any other external drive. As many know, I have a Synology DS416j NAS drive. It has 2 compartments and I purchased twin 4TB drives.

In my lack of knowledge, I simply started dragging all my music onto the NAS. I just checked, and all my music fits (at this time) on Volume 1 (drive 1 of 2 available)
Can I use my Volume 2 (drive 2) as a backup to Volume 1? If yes, how do I do that?

I've been bombing around my NAS and can't seem to find a tutorial for dummies. (me)

Once I get an answer from any of our QQ experts....I may present a series of other questions on this topic. For now, I'll hold off...

 

[Kal Rubinson]

It may be a little late. You need to set up the two volumes in a RAID configuration and I do not know if Synology will let you do that and preserve the data on Volume 1. Don't you have a manual?

 

[Eclectic]

Worst case, you can dump the entire NAS onto an inexpensive portable external hard drive (I recommend the WD Passport), then reinitialize the NAS as a 2-drive Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) volume. It will take a while to copy all the data, but when you're done, you'll have an offsite backup (on the portable drive) which is a very good thing. Leave it at work, or at someone else's house, and then your data will survive a physical catastrophe (or theft of your NAS).

That said, I'm surprised that the Synology didn't set up a redundant volume by default. I recall that mine did.

 

[HomerJAU]

As a rule you should always have a backup copy of your NAS data, especially if you don’t have your disc drives in RAID configuration (or Synology SHR config). A RAID will solve a disc failure (common) but not fire, theft, flood or ‘IBM’ error (Idiot Behind Machine e.g. DEL *.*). Do 1 below now:

1. Buy a new 4TB USB drive and backup (copy) everything off your NAS vol 1 to that USB drive. (Use Robocopy, a Windows program that can be used to only copy changed or new files - so you can stop the copy then start again later, and/or use it to do future backups more easily as it only copies new/changed files). This will be your permanent backup drive. Store it away from you NAS.

If you don’t have your two NAS drives in a RAID (or SHR - basically same thing) then I’d recommend you do the following:

2. Re config the NAS to create a RAID with your two drives (this will automatically ensure the two drives are identical when reading/writing files in future. One can fail and the NAS will still be ok). With two discs you only have half total space as one is a copy of the first. You will have 4TB storage only.

3. If you need more disc space now (or you think you need it soon) then consider buying a new (3rd) NAS drive now and rebuild the RAID with 3 drives. This will double the useable space your NAS will have as files are duplicates across all 3 drives. You can still lose a drive and your NAS will still run ok. You can create 2 4TB volumes across the three drives so you will have 8TB of storage.

Doing 2 or 3 is very fast if you rebuild the NAS from scratch. Just copy the USB backup back to your NAS once the RAID config is completed and you create a new shared volume (or two shared volumes)

 

[Eclectic]

I agree with everything HomerJAU says. The one thing I'd add is, make sure the USB drive is is a USB 3.0 drive, as you're going to be copying a lot of data. Actually I suspect that all 4TB USB drives are USB 3.0, but do make sure that the drive supports USB 3.0 before you buy it. I know that you can get a 4TB USB 3.0 drive that's roughly the size of a deck of playing cards for a hundred bucks from Amazon. This would have been unthinkable a few years ago, and it's a wonderful thing.

 

[HomerJAU]

Robocopy, a Windows program that can be used to only copy changed or new files - so you can stop the copy then start again later, and/or use it to do future backups more easily as it only copies new/changed files (it just skips unchanged/existing files to speed the process)

To use RoboCopy to do the copy:

This is the command line:

ROBYCOPY SOURCE DESTINATION FILESPEC /FLAGS

Example:
robocopy "N:\Music" "F:\ Music" *.* /e /s /FFT

The above copies everything (*.*) in the 'N:\Music' folder to duplicate that folder on another drive's music folder (F:\Music). The destination folder(s) are created if the don’t exist.

FLAGS:
/e include empty folders
/s include sub-folders (recursively)
/FFT one of the discs file system is FAT (if FAT, FAT32 or exFAT formatted) For comparing file last changed time stamp (they vary slightly from NTFS times apparently)

If you save to a ‘.bat’ file you can just run the bat file and not type in the command-line. I have a few USB backup drives for my NAS volume backups. Each has a .bat file with command to backup its source. I just plug each one into to my PC and run the bat. It only copies new/changed data. Easy as.

Another example:
robocopy "N:\" "F:\" *.* /e /s /FFT

copies every folder and file on one drive (N) to another drive (F)

 

[Robert van Diggele]

Microsoft Synctoy works fine in my set up. As I am not very much at home with command line programs I prefer the interface Synctoy has.

 

[sarasota2k4]

Since 2008, I've been converting ALL my music (CD, DVD-A and SACD) to digital files (FLAC) and backing them up with local drives. However, with over 10TB of audio and video files residing across multiple external 3.0 drives, I also backup these drive offsite using Backblaze. I know there are MANY different cloud backup providers out there, I've found Backblaze the easiest to setup and maintain. I've been using them for nearly 10 years, and their pricing and restoral program is affordable and straightforward. $50/year for "unlimited" backup. If you lose a drive (failure, theft or damage), they will mail you another drive (up to 4TB) for only $189 (sent via Fedex). If you mail them back the HD, they will refund the $189. Again, just my preference to use Backblaze, but if you do decide to use them, they do offer a referral program, which will give you and me a free month of service by clicking through this link: https://secure.backblaze.com/r/00g90o

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Since 2008, I've been converting ALL my music (CD, DVD-A and SACD) to digital files (FLAC) and backing them up with local drives. However, with over 10TB of audio and video files residing across multiple external 3.0 drives, I also backup these drive offsite using Backblaze. I know there are MANY different cloud backup providers out there, I've found Backblaze the easiest to setup and maintain. I've been using them for nearly 10 years, and their pricing and restoral program is affordable and straightforward. $50/year for "unlimited" backup. If you lose a drive (failure, theft or damage), they will mail you another drive (up to 4TB) for only $189 (sent via Fedex). If you mail them back the HD, they will refund the $189. Again, just my preference to use Backblaze, but if you do decide to use them, they do offer a referral program, which will give you and me a free month of service by clicking through this link: https://secure.backblaze.com/r/00g90o

"Unlimited Backup" on the cloud is appealing but the up to 4TB download drive is inadequate for some of us with large collections. What would they do if I needed a 30Tb recovery?

 

[sarasota2k4]

"Unlimited Backup" on the cloud is appealing but the up to 4TB download drive is inadequate for some of us with large collections. What would they do if I needed a 30Tb recovery?

Excellent point; it works for me "right now" because the largest "single" external drive I use is 6TB and has less than 4TB of files on it. The way the backups are done on Backblaze, I'm not sure if they could/would be willing to send "separate" 4TB hard drives via mail that could then be sent back to them once you restored your files. For me, I would have a tough time recovering if ALL my music and videos (original & backups) were stolen or damaged in fire at my home. I've heard of some people keeping a backup off-site in a safe deposit box or their office, but that would be inconvenient for me. Definitely worth contacting Backblaze customer service if cloud-backup is of interest for "large" backups.

 

[kap'n krunch]

WHOA!!!
I must be even dumber than I thought!
When I read most of the the technical info posted (especially by HomerJAU) , all I can hear is my mind is "SXTSXTSXTS..."( WHITE NOISE!)

...And this coming from a former Synclavier operator....

All I know is that , even though they eventually die (well, EVERYTHING does! ) I always burn a disc with my favorite downloaded stuff, and keep an .iso copy in an external drive..curious cause , since I am a "mac" person (well I have BOTH a mac and a PC), my three or four drives are formatted in "MacOS Journaled" mode, which make them unreadable for Windows (yes, I know about the "program" you can get to read them in Windoze, but I think I'll wait til I get a Mac later this year)

I find it frustrating that Flash memory has not taken over most hard drives and it's still prohibitively expensive (the companies are not stupid..even though I've been told that Flash memory also goes to hell in a hand basket , at least we are not dealing with extremely delicate MOVING parts, and I have yet to find a USB drive that has died!)

So my take is that we're SOL and will have to do backups of backups until something revolutionary comes along...

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Excellent point; it works for me "right now" because the largest "single" external drive I use is 6TB and has less than 4TB of files on it. The way the backups are done on Backblaze, I'm not sure if they could/would be willing to send "separate" 4TB hard drives via mail that could then be sent back to them once you restored your files. For me, I would have a tough time recovering if ALL my music and videos (original & backups) were stolen or damaged in fire at my home. I've heard of some people keeping a backup off-site in a safe deposit box or their office, but that would be inconvenient for me. Definitely worth contacting Backblaze customer service if cloud-backup is of interest for "large" backups.

Yup. It is necessary but not too difficult to maintain physical back-ups off site. Just a bit tedious.

 

[DuncanS]

I have just ordered a Startech SDOCK2U33V USB3.0 Dual-Bay SATA HDD/SDD Docking Station to have a look to see if the HDD have been damaged by the PSU failure of my NAS Box, it allows you to read and/or clone the HDDs (& SSDs) and is allegedly OS independent (so should get round the Windows 10 USAP issue which I have seen reported with some devices which use the JMicro chip-set, it uses an ASMedia - ASM1153E). I was going to get one some time ago, but never got round to it!
https://www.startech.com/uk/HDD/Docking/dual-sata-hdd-dock~SDOCK2U33V
or Americas
https://www.startech.com/HDD/Docking/dual-sata-hdd-dock~SDOCK2U33V

 

[JonUrban]

I actually have one of these startech deals, and it works great. It's nice to just slap the drive in there and do your tranfers, then quickly remove it. Great for backups and music archiving.

 

[DuncanS]

I actually have one of these startech deals, and it works great. It's nice to just slap the drive in there and do your tranfers, then quickly remove it. Great for backups and music archiving.

That's good to know, thanks.

 

[HomerJAU]

I have just ordered a Startech SDOCK2U33V USB3.0 Dual-Bay SATA HDD/SDD Docking Station to have a look to see if the HDD have been damaged by the PSU failure of my NAS Box, it allows you to read and/or clone the HDDs (& SSDs) and is allegedly OS independent (so should get round the Windows 10 USAP issue which I have seen reported with some devices which use the JMicro chip-set, it uses an ASMedia - ASM1153E). I was going to get one some time ago, but never got round to it!
https://www.startech.com/uk/HDD/Docking/dual-sata-hdd-dock~SDOCK2U33V
or Americas
https://www.startech.com/HDD/Docking/dual-sata-hdd-dock~SDOCK2U33V

Thanks Duncan and Jon. I will buy one of these. All my backup drives are actually internal 3.5” drives and I use a USB cable with SATA plugs which is messy and not too convenient.This looks nice! I have around 16 backup drives stored in my detached garage.

 

[DuncanS]

Thanks Duncan and Jon. I will buy one of these. All my backup drives are actually internal 3.5” drives and I use a USB cable with SATA plugs which is messy and not too convenient.This looks nice! I have around 16 backup drives stored in my detached garage.

Ingram Micro Distribute them in Australia http://au.ingrammicro.com/_layouts/...ls.aspx?id=AU01@@2210@@10@@000000000003970056

 

[quicksrt]

I'm using WD Red NAS drives internally in computer. Two 6TB drives and one 4TB and I am all set for space (for now) with 16TBs. The backups are those older WD Elements USB external drives which used to be my player drives with all these UBS connects next to computer. They actually have blue drives in them I think. the enclosures I mean.

Those Red drives have three yr warranties and are made to tougher standards than about anything else. They have longer warranty, run cooler, quieter. The speed is only 5200 rather than the standard 7200. But they seem to be flying on my systems with 32 and 64 Gs of memory respectively. So yes, a NAS drive used in a standard computer environment is not a bad thing.

 

[HomerJAU]

Ingram Micro Distribute them in Australia http://au.ingrammicro.com/_layouts/...ls.aspx?id=AU01@@2210@@10@@000000000003970056

I ended up with the newer USB 3.1 version. I don't have any 3.1 ports on my current PC but my next motherboard will have US 3.1. (This dock is compatible with USB 3.0 so I can use it now)

https://www.startech.com/au/HDD/Docking/2-bay-usb-3-1-gen-2-sata-dock~SDOCK2U313

Got it for $138 AUD including shipping

 

[OldAsMono]

We're straying a bit from GOS' original question but... I have four (4) of these USB3.0 / eSATA enclosues. Each one accommodates four (4) hard drives with each drive capable of up to 12TB each. That means each enclosure is capable of holding 48TB! It is NOT NAS and these are local to my system. At about $100 per enclosure, I back up every week in duplicate (2 backups) and then go to a 3rd back up every other week. Lastly, I have an external 10TB drive I back up specific items and keep off-site. I use a simple (but effective) program called, "Second Copy" for backup. Using big drives takes forever to initially move/ backup data. Being Windows based I have a system freeze or crash overnight and this software does a scan and picks up right where it left off on the backup. Simple and very low tech but it works for me, "Knock on Wood!"

EDIT: Corrected Link