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[fx1024]

I recently bought a DNS-320L to store my office data. I set it up with 2 x 4TB HDDs on RAID 1.
Along with the NAS I also bought a 4TB external HDD to make backups of the NAS for off-site safe keeping.

While every other aspect of the NAS installation worked fine. I just can't find a simple way to take backups directly from the NAS to the external HDD.

In the DNS-320L itself there is an application for local backups and another one for remote backups. Unfortunately each one has its own limitations making it useless. More specifically:

1. Remote backups.
It seems that it can be used only if you own another NAS with SSH and Rsync enabled, or another Linux machine in your network (also with SSH and Rsync enabled).

2. Local backups.
The LAN Backup option allows network shares to be backed up into the NAS but no the other way around.
The USB backup simply doesn' t work, at least for me. I formated the external HDD as NTFS, as EXT4 but nothing happened. The 320L displayed the HDD's info but showed a blank window when I tried to select a destination folder. I even tried to connect a FAT32 USB pendrive with the same results.

Is anybody here has any idea of how to take backups of this thing without using a PC as the intermediate?

[Manul]

On which firmware version are you? I do incremental backups from my DNS320L to an external USB disk with a simple self-written script running on the NAS itself. You'll need ssh access to the NAS for that, though. I'm using fun_plug, but I read that's disabled in current firmware versions.

[fx1024]

On which firmware version are you? I do incremental backups from my DNS320L to an external USB disk with a simple self-written script running on the NAS itself. You'll need ssh access to the NAS for that, though. I'm using fun_plug, but I read that's disabled in current firmware versions.

Manul thank you for your reply. If I remember right my DNS320L had the 1.06b03 installed when I bought it and after a notification I updated it to 1.07. I thnik that I read somewhere that fun_plug was disabled in 1.06.

[Manul]

I think 1.07 offers ssh access as a new feature - at least there's a thread here somewhere by people who can't get it to work. If you manage to get that running, there might be a possibility to still go the scripted way...

I'm afraid I can't help you much with the builtin backup functions since I don't use them. I seem to remember though that my external (ext4 formatted) drive showed up as a potential backup destination in the USB backup setup page - I can test that at the beginning of April if you're still interested by then (drive is my off-site backup and hence currently, well, off-site).

[fx1024]

@Manul you are very helpful. Between other tests I formated the external drive as EXT4. The HDD info appeared at USB Storage Information. I had the opportunity to select a destination folder (if I remember right) but the local backup function (NAS->USB) didn't work and gave me an error. Using the EXT4 formated drive was the closest I've got so far to take a back up using the USB port. The interesting thing here is that the EXT4 is not officially supported as external storage format. Only FAT32 and NTFS is mentioned in the official documentation.

Regarding the SSH I haven't find any way yet to activate it. When I'm trying to connect I get a "Connection refused" and there is no relative setting in the DNS320L settings.

[Manul]

There's a post in the other thread I mentioned by someone who managed to get ssh access to work - maybe they can tell you where/how to activate it. I'm still on firmware 1.04, so I'm afraid I can't help you there.

I'm a bit astonished that very few people seem to actually use the backup to USB functionality - seems like an essential function to me.

[fx1024]

@Manul I'll follow the instructions and try to enable SSH access. Is it possible to send me the script you mentioned?

[ivan]

One comment here regarding the format of the USB connected drive.

If the external USB drive announces itself as a mass storage device (MSD) the actual format of the drive does not matter because the writing of the data is handled by the USB to SATA converter chip.  The NAS just sends raw data to the USB port (this is just the same as a computer sending data from a NTFS formatted drive to the NAS, assuming a windows OS).

It is only if your USB drive does not appear as a MSD device that you will have problems because, in that case, special drivers are necessary to communicate with it, something the NAS does not have. 

[Manul]

@fx1024: Sure, it's only 13 lines so I'll just post it here:

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
DATE=$(date "+%d-%m-%Y")
BUDISK=/dev/sdc1
BUDIR=/mnt/USB/USB1_c1/backups_platte
BUDEST=$BUDIR/$DATE
BUSOURCE=/mnt/HD/HD_a2

[ -d $BUDIR ] || { echo "Backup-Verzeichnis $BUDIR nicht gefunden, Abbruch!"; exit 1; }
df -h $BUDIR | grep $BUDISK || { echo "Backup-Laufwerk $BUDISK nicht gemountet, Abbruch!"; exit 1; }

rsync -avX --delete --link-dest=$BUDIR/current $BUSOURCE/ $BUDEST/
rm $BUDIR/current
ln -sfT $BUDEST $BUDIR/current
The script uses rsync to do an incremental backup to the USB attached disk, so you'll need rsync on the NAS (don't know whether that's available) or you'll have to modify the script to fit your needs.

@ivan: Are you sure about that? I use an USB to SATA docking station by Sharkoon and my external disk shows up as /dev/sdc and mounts as ext4, so its behaviour is identical to that of the internal disks. I think I even formatted it as ext4 on the NAS itself.

[fx1024]

@Ivan. When I connect the USB HDD to my Win7/64 PC I sees it as "Intenso USB 3.0 device USB Device" with "Location: on USB Mass Storage Device". So according to what you mentioned it must be a MSD.

@Manul. I enabled SSH. I'll try your approach

[Manul]

Good luck and let us know how it goes! Also, don't hesitate to ask if you need any help. I'm away over easter weekend though, so might take a while to answer.

[fx1024]

@Manul. Unfortunately I was unable to connect to the DNS320L through SSH. I activated it but I faced the known "WARNING: Your password has expired" problem.

I contacted the DLink support and I'll keep the thread updated with any useful feedback I may get.

[FurryNutz]

Have you reviewed this? http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=64443.0

[ivan]

Another point that may or may not be relevant.  Your USB drive reports itself as a USB 3 device and the NAS is only a USB 2 device.  While this normally would not matter it can be a problem with USB powered devices (USB 2 does not supply the amount of power that USB 3 can).  You may need to use a powered USB 3 hub to actually get your drive to spin up normally.

We came across this problem with a customer today when his new large capacity USB 3 drive wouldn't work with his laptop USB 2 ports.  We fixed it by making a powered adapter to go between the drive and laptop powered by a 5v @3A power brick.

[fx1024]

@ivan. Ivan thanks for your reply. This HDD has its own power supply. AFAIK it doesn't draw any current from the NAS.

What is interesting here is that the same external 4TB USB 3.0 HDD works just fine when I attach it to the USB port of my router!. Although the USB / NAS functionality of the router is a far fetched feature, it supprisingly works better than the DLINK NAS (which its core function is to be a Network Attached Storage)