Best Way To Backup NAS?

[derekn]

Hiya,

As a non-techie I'm operating at my computing limits and would appreciate some advice on my next step .

I've got my Sonos system working fine and have about 70Gb of music ripped in FLAC format onto a Buffalo 300 Gb NAS via Media Monkey. So I reckon it's time to start taking a backup and have bought a 320Gb Maxtor external drive.

I guess that if I connect up the Maxtor then I can drag and drop or copy the "Sonos Folder" over from the Buffalo. If I do this and then rip some more CDs to the Buffalo how can I add these to the Maxtor? Or do I have to delete the original folder on the Maxtor and then copy over the revised folder each time?

A Copy Program came with the Buffalo but it will only backup the PC, not the Buffalo NAs itself!

Sorry if it's a dumb question, but how do you guys back up your NAS?

Thanks,

[lazymatt]

It's a bit agricultural, but I just add the new tracks to both drives at the same time.

You can plug the Maxtor into one of the Buffalo's USB ports and set it for scheduled backups, however, you have to format the USB drive and will not be able to use it elsewhere.

Best just to manually copy across to both external drives from your hard drive.

[derekn]

Originally Posted by lazymatt

It's a bit agricultural, but I just add the new tracks to both drives at the same time.

You can plug the Maxtor into one of the Buffalo's USB ports and set it for scheduled backups, however, you have to format the USB drive and will not be able to use it elsewhere.

Best just to manually copy across to both external drives from your hard drive.

Thanks Matt,

Adding to both drives sounds sensible but I'm not sure it fits with how I'm doing the ripping - straight from CD to NAS. thus I don't have anything on my pc hard drive to copy over.

But if I expand on your idea, should I rip to the Buffalo and then copy the tracks from the Buffalo to the Maxtor? In this case does the Maxtor connect to the PC and not the Buffalo?

The Maxtor is only for music backup so scheduled backups are not out of the question. Are they incremental, ie changes only, or the whole folder as I suspect this might take time?

Thanks again,

[lazymatt]

Never rip straight to NAS. Network latency can cause all sorts of problems. Always rip to your local drive first.

[Autopilot]

I use Robocopy, to make incremental (only whats new) and verified (important) backups. But it involves writing batch scripts so probably not for the non-techie.

There are plenty of decent backup programs around, have a look on www.download.com.

[Ceejayav]

For a user-friendly equivalent to robocopy, try SyncToy - its a free download from Microsoft. I run this manually on an occasional basis to backup my main library to an external drive (which is not plugged in when not actually being backed up - eliminates a few possible sources of disaster).

HTH

[derekn]

Thank you both. I've browsed for backup programs and it seems, naturally enough, that any program that will do incremental (ie additions) backup only will be complicated. I did like the look of the one that can be added to XP and might try this for my PC.

So, unless someone comes up with an alternative, Matt's suggestion seems the best for me. I googled "network latency" and gather it's some function of the distance between my CD drive and NAS (1m) and the speed of light (186000 miles/sec.

I'll rip to my C Drive in future. Plug the Maxtor into one of the USB slots on the PC and copy the files to both.

Thanks Ceejayav - our posts crossed, I'll take a look.

Thanks again,

[Autopilot]

If you would like me to write you (or anyone else) a simple batch script to run incremental backupus using robocopy, let me know.

[lazymatt]

Originally Posted by derekn

I googled "network latency" and gather it's some function of the distance between my CD drive and NAS (1m) and the speed of light (186000 miles/sec.

I wouldn't get too caught up in the technicalities. What I do know is I've had a number of people contact me wanting to know why their MP3's have corrupted, and it's always down to ripping to a NAS. The problem is doing one or two Cd's at a time invariably works fine, and it only seems rear it's head once they've done a batch and only realised on checking after doing hours of ripping. Always the way

[derekn]

Matt - thanks, I wasn't debating your opinion which I accept - merely expressing amazement!

Autopilot - thanks for your kind offer but I think I'd be out of my depth.

Ceejayav - I decided to look at SychToy, was asked to download .NET Framework 2.0.50727 so I downloaded 2.0 but still need more and I guess it's a latest update. Sorry to be dumb, but how would I know if I need update X86, X64, or IA64?

Thanks for your patience.

[Autopilot]

If you have Windows XP 32 bit like most people, you need X86.

[derekn]

Thanks a lot, SyncToy downloaded ok and will have a closer look at it.



Regards,

[lazymatt]

Originally Posted by derekn

Matt - thanks, I wasn't debating your opinion

I didn't think you were, mate