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[tfiveash]

I have a scheduled Incremental Backup set for every night at 2:00am. I am backing up one large folder. Initally when I ran it the first time it added all the files correctly.  The problem is when I check the backup folders any new files that I added during the day are not added to the backup.  Also, when I execute the backup manually it will run between 5 and 7 minutes and I am backing up almost 100gb and the files are not added then either.  The help file says the following:

Incremental Backup
This type of backup, if used, will compare files of identical names on both the source and destination folders. If the source file was modified later than the destination file, the source file will overwrite the existing (old) destination file. If the source file is the same as the destination file, no action will be taken.

Does this mean it just checks the directory for file changes or does it do the file compare.  Also, why is it not adding any new files that are added to the source. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Terry

[JoeSchmuck]

Which backup software are you using (Name, version, etc...).  What drive(s) are you backing up and to where are they being backed up?  If you're backing up to the NAS, is it a mapped drive letter or just the network path?  I don't want to make any assumption, people here can testify I tend to do that.

Provide any additional information you think could be of help.

-Joe

[tfiveash]

I am using the NAS built in backup software.  I am backing up another network drive to the NAS.  I have checked the URL to make sure that it is valid and the software says that it is OK.  I have it set to execute at 2:00 am.  When I first set it up and did my first backup it worked.  Since then I have no way to know if it executes since the NAS does not give a log.

All I know is that when I go to look at files that were added to the network drive are not added to the NAS backup.  When I go into the NAS scheduler and execute the backup (incremental) it says that the file is downloading.  Then after about 6 to 8 minutes I get the X which says that the backup failed.  I know that it worked the first time because I have the first copy on the NAS.

Any ideas why the backup would stop working?

Terry

[gunrunnerjohn]

FWIW, given the limited capability of the built-in backup, why not just use a backup application on your machine to do the backups, that's what I do.

[JoeSchmuck]

I understand wanting to have the backup operate from the NAS so you are not forced to run a computer to conduct the backup.  With that in mind, I have not used the NAS backup program.

Something to try, move your original incremental backup to a different location on your NAS and try to run another diff backup.  I'm curious if it's failing because one diff backup already exists.

-Joe

[tfiveash]

At your suggestion last night I did the same backup but specified a different directory.  I worked like it was suppose to and backed up everything.  It looks like the problem is if files are already there.  But I thought that is why you specify a incremental so you don't have to back up everything. It would be nice to backup files without any computer there. It has to be faster than sending the files down the line to a computer then back up the line to the DNS-321.

Anybody with any ideas?  Mr. Moderator do you have any suggestions?

Terry

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'm not sure why you think it should necessarily be faster than using a computer to transfer the files, they still have to be read off one NAS and written to the other.  When I run a similar backup each week to do a full backup of my primary NAS to the secondary, it runs at the full bandwidth I expect, around 15mbytes/sec.

[tfiveash]

I wish I could get 15.  I am only getting about 7 or 8.  My thinking, and maybe I am wrong, is that each item the data goes through causes it to slow down. Granted each slowdown is small but I am thinking they add up.  Example, network drive to switch, switch to computer, computer incoming and processing, computer output to switch, switch to DNS-321.

To me the biggest bottleneck is the computer incoming, processing and output.  Therefore, my feeling is try get rid of as much of the bottleneck as you can.  If you are transferring a lot of data those small delays add up.

Since I have not actually done the actual comparison this is all theory.  When I get a chance I will do a real comparison and see.

Thanks GR for you honest opinion.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Truthfully, I don't think any modern computer is going to be the bottleneck, and it certainly isn't here.  For these devices, the bottleneck is still in the NAS.

I can copy between two other computers on my network and hit over 30mbytes/sec, which is the same operation as we're talking about, but not between NAS units.  Obviously, if the combination of those three machines can hit 30MB/sec, the potential exists for the same operation to do it with the NAS if they were capable of those speeds.

[JoeSchmuck]

Terry,
  I'm glad you tried what I suggested.  I believe the file is locked or made as write protected so it can't be overwritten.

  I have a solution for you but haven't sat down to tell you how to do it but it's very possible if you can run a batch file.

You can set your computer to run a batch file each day and have it move the diff file to another directory and overwrite it if one exists.  The key is to move, not copy the file.  Moving just changes the directory entries, copy actually creates another copy.  You could copy then delete but that's not ideal.

I would be cusious to see if chmod 777 filename would fix it.  Can you telnet into the NAS?  Fun plug has that capability.  Maybe I'll try it this weekend.  I'm slowly and poorly learning Unix since I now have that at work.  Not fun at all.

I'm attempting to get the source code so I can see if I can fix these problems.  I have no problems giving my work to D-Link so they could test and distribute.

-Joe

-Joe