Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

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JameeDon
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Re: Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

Post by JameeDon »

Cygwin looks confusing. I rather there now be a big learning curve involved to understand how to use a program to backup/sync my computer.
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pwilson
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Re: Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

Post by pwilson »

JameeDon wrote:Cygwin looks confusing. I rather there now be a big learning curve involved to understand how to use a program to backup/sync my computer.
So lower your requirements, or upgrade your education.

RSync is a command line tool, so I don't understand why you think it is complicated:

From my Linux machine:

Code: Select all

pwilson@pwilsont500:/etc$ rsync --help
rsync  version 3.1.1  protocol version 31
Copyright (C) 1996-2014 by Andrew Tridgell, Wayne Davison, and others.
Web site: http://rsync.samba.org/
Capabilities:
    64-bit files, 64-bit inums, 64-bit timestamps, 64-bit long ints,
    socketpairs, hardlinks, symlinks, IPv6, batchfiles, inplace,
    append, ACLs, xattrs, iconv, symtimes, prealloc

rsync comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  This is free software, and you
are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.  See the GNU
General Public Licence for details.

rsync is a file transfer program capable of efficient remote update
via a fast differencing algorithm.

Usage: rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... DEST
  or   rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST:DEST
  or   rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... [USER@]HOST::DEST
  or   rsync [OPTION]... SRC [SRC]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/DEST
  or   rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST:SRC [DEST]
  or   rsync [OPTION]... [USER@]HOST::SRC [DEST]
  or   rsync [OPTION]... rsync://[USER@]HOST[:PORT]/SRC [DEST]
The ':' usages connect via remote shell, while '::' & 'rsync://' usages connect
to an rsync daemon, and require SRC or DEST to start with a module name.

Options
 -v, --verbose               increase verbosity
     --info=FLAGS            fine-grained informational verbosity
     --debug=FLAGS           fine-grained debug verbosity
     --msgs2stderr           special output handling for debugging
 -q, --quiet                 suppress non-error messages
     --no-motd               suppress daemon-mode MOTD (see manpage caveat)
 -c, --checksum              skip based on checksum, not mod-time & size
 -a, --archive               archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
     --no-OPTION             turn off an implied OPTION (e.g. --no-D)
 -r, --recursive             recurse into directories
 -R, --relative              use relative path names
     --no-implied-dirs       don't send implied dirs with --relative
 -b, --backup                make backups (see --suffix & --backup-dir)
     --backup-dir=DIR        make backups into hierarchy based in DIR
     --suffix=SUFFIX         set backup suffix (default ~ w/o --backup-dir)
 -u, --update                skip files that are newer on the receiver
     --inplace               update destination files in-place (SEE MAN PAGE)
     --append                append data onto shorter files
     --append-verify         like --append, but with old data in file checksum
 -d, --dirs                  transfer directories without recursing
 -l, --links                 copy symlinks as symlinks
 -L, --copy-links            transform symlink into referent file/dir
     --copy-unsafe-links     only "unsafe" symlinks are transformed
     --safe-links            ignore symlinks that point outside the source tree
     --munge-links           munge symlinks to make them safer (but unusable)
 -k, --copy-dirlinks         transform symlink to a dir into referent dir
 -K, --keep-dirlinks         treat symlinked dir on receiver as dir
 -H, --hard-links            preserve hard links
 -p, --perms                 preserve permissions
 -E, --executability         preserve the file's executability
     --chmod=CHMOD           affect file and/or directory permissions
 -A, --acls                  preserve ACLs (implies --perms)
 -X, --xattrs                preserve extended attributes
 -o, --owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)
 -g, --group                 preserve group
     --devices               preserve device files (super-user only)
     --specials              preserve special files
 -D                          same as --devices --specials
 -t, --times                 preserve modification times
 -O, --omit-dir-times        omit directories from --times
 -J, --omit-link-times       omit symlinks from --times
     --super                 receiver attempts super-user activities
     --fake-super            store/recover privileged attrs using xattrs
 -S, --sparse                handle sparse files efficiently
     --preallocate           allocate dest files before writing them
 -n, --dry-run               perform a trial run with no changes made
 -W, --whole-file            copy files whole (without delta-xfer algorithm)
 -x, --one-file-system       don't cross filesystem boundaries
 -B, --block-size=SIZE       force a fixed checksum block-size
 -e, --rsh=COMMAND           specify the remote shell to use
     --rsync-path=PROGRAM    specify the rsync to run on the remote machine
     --existing              skip creating new files on receiver
     --ignore-existing       skip updating files that already exist on receiver
     --remove-source-files   sender removes synchronized files (non-dirs)
     --del                   an alias for --delete-during
     --delete                delete extraneous files from destination dirs
     --delete-before         receiver deletes before transfer, not during
     --delete-during         receiver deletes during the transfer
     --delete-delay          find deletions during, delete after
     --delete-after          receiver deletes after transfer, not during
     --delete-excluded       also delete excluded files from destination dirs
     --ignore-missing-args   ignore missing source args without error
     --delete-missing-args   delete missing source args from destination
     --ignore-errors         delete even if there are I/O errors
     --force                 force deletion of directories even if not empty
     --max-delete=NUM        don't delete more than NUM files
     --max-size=SIZE         don't transfer any file larger than SIZE
     --min-size=SIZE         don't transfer any file smaller than SIZE
     --partial               keep partially transferred files
     --partial-dir=DIR       put a partially transferred file into DIR
     --delay-updates         put all updated files into place at transfer's end
 -m, --prune-empty-dirs      prune empty directory chains from the file-list
     --numeric-ids           don't map uid/gid values by user/group name
     --usermap=STRING        custom username mapping
     --groupmap=STRING       custom groupname mapping
     --chown=USER:GROUP      simple username/groupname mapping
     --timeout=SECONDS       set I/O timeout in seconds
     --contimeout=SECONDS    set daemon connection timeout in seconds
 -I, --ignore-times          don't skip files that match in size and mod-time
 -M, --remote-option=OPTION  send OPTION to the remote side only
     --size-only             skip files that match in size
     --modify-window=NUM     compare mod-times with reduced accuracy
 -T, --temp-dir=DIR          create temporary files in directory DIR
 -y, --fuzzy                 find similar file for basis if no dest file
     --compare-dest=DIR      also compare destination files relative to DIR
     --copy-dest=DIR         ... and include copies of unchanged files
     --link-dest=DIR         hardlink to files in DIR when unchanged
 -z, --compress              compress file data during the transfer
     --compress-level=NUM    explicitly set compression level
     --skip-compress=LIST    skip compressing files with a suffix in LIST
 -C, --cvs-exclude           auto-ignore files the same way CVS does
 -f, --filter=RULE           add a file-filtering RULE
 -F                          same as --filter='dir-merge /.rsync-filter'
                             repeated: --filter='- .rsync-filter'
     --exclude=PATTERN       exclude files matching PATTERN
     --exclude-from=FILE     read exclude patterns from FILE
     --include=PATTERN       don't exclude files matching PATTERN
     --include-from=FILE     read include patterns from FILE
     --files-from=FILE       read list of source-file names from FILE
 -0, --from0                 all *-from/filter files are delimited by 0s
 -s, --protect-args          no space-splitting; only wildcard special-chars
     --address=ADDRESS       bind address for outgoing socket to daemon
     --port=PORT             specify double-colon alternate port number
     --sockopts=OPTIONS      specify custom TCP options
     --blocking-io           use blocking I/O for the remote shell
     --stats                 give some file-transfer stats
 -8, --8-bit-output          leave high-bit chars unescaped in output
 -h, --human-readable        output numbers in a human-readable format
     --progress              show progress during transfer
 -P                          same as --partial --progress
 -i, --itemize-changes       output a change-summary for all updates
     --out-format=FORMAT     output updates using the specified FORMAT
     --log-file=FILE         log what we're doing to the specified FILE
     --log-file-format=FMT   log updates using the specified FMT
     --password-file=FILE    read daemon-access password from FILE
     --list-only             list the files instead of copying them
     --bwlimit=RATE          limit socket I/O bandwidth
     --outbuf=N|L|B          set output buffering to None, Line, or Block
     --write-batch=FILE      write a batched update to FILE
     --only-write-batch=FILE like --write-batch but w/o updating destination
     --read-batch=FILE       read a batched update from FILE
     --protocol=NUM          force an older protocol version to be used
     --iconv=CONVERT_SPEC    request charset conversion of filenames
     --checksum-seed=NUM     set block/file checksum seed (advanced)
     --noatime               do not alter atime when opening source files
 -4, --ipv4                  prefer IPv4
 -6, --ipv6                  prefer IPv6
     --version               print version number
(-h) --help                  show this help (-h is --help only if used alone)

Use "rsync --daemon --help" to see the daemon-mode command-line options.
Please see the rsync(1) and rsyncd.conf(5) man pages for full documentation.
See http://rsync.samba.org/ for updates, bug reports, and answers
I'm sure Cygwin documents RSync for you.

QNAP wraps their WebUI around "rsync" to obscure you from it, but it is similar on the NAS. You can manage the NAS end by simply using Backup Station. Under Windows you'll need to figure it out. Microsoft doesn't provide RSync with Windows, which is why QNAP wrote NetBak.

RSync has only been around since 1996. Surely Microsoft will provide it eventually.

Check out: rsync Backups for Windows
You can use your NAS, rather than their servers.

Patrick M. Wilson
Victoria, BC Canada
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JameeDon
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Re: Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

Post by JameeDon »

pwilson wrote:So lower your requirements, or upgrade your education.

RSync is a command line tool, so I don't understand why you think it is complicated:
I'm not asking much out of a backup app, apparently just a common feature.

I've never used a command line tool, and I don't want to learn how to use one with a program that preforms such an important task that is so critical that the commands be entered exactly, because if they weren't, then I'd be at risk of losing a lot of data (potentially 3TB of data).

In the code section you posted, it was filled with confusing things, and not just all the different commands but once again there's a bunch of abbreviations in the instructions that I don't know, so I can't even follow the part that is there to help people understand what to do.

What do you want me to say? That I'm stupid? Look, I'm not stupid in any means, it's just that this kind of stuff isn't my thing, and I'm no know-it-all like you are. I came to this forum looking for some help, which I thought was a good idea because I've been to other forums and had a great experience there, but now I'm just getting snarky responses.
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pwilson
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Re: Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

Post by pwilson »

JameeDon wrote:
pwilson wrote:So lower your requirements, or upgrade your education.

RSync is a command line tool, so I don't understand why you think it is complicated:
I'm not asking much out of a backup app, apparently just a common feature.
It is indeed. RSync has only been around since 1996. Surely Microsoft will provide it eventually.

Did you try that last one I suggested? It is documented etc. Looked like a fairly well written set of instructions. Anyway, you've decline every suggestion so far. I'm afraid I'm out of ideas for you.

Patrick M. Wilson
Victoria, BC Canada
QNAP TS-470 Pro w/ 4 * Western Digital WD30EFRX WD Reds (RAID5) - - Single 8.1TB Storage Pool FW: QTS 4.2.0 Build 20151023 - Kali Linux v1.06 (64bit)
Forums: View My Profile - Search My Posts - View My Photo - View My Location - Top Community Posters
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kevinm
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Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:00 am

Re: Can I have a folder on my computer mirrored on my NAS?

Post by kevinm »

JameeDon wrote:I don't have a good understanding of these NAS and all the different apps available, and for that reason I'm probably not posting this in the right forum.

I bought a TS-431 with 4x 3TB drives just to have a lot of storage and backup for all the data coming in from my observatory. I want to have a folder on my hard drive in my computer that has a mirrored version of the folder on my NAS. This folder will be large (like 1.8TB) and it will constantly be changing. So instead of, at the end of each day, replacing the whole backup folder on the NAS with the folder on my computer, is there a way that only the changes in the computer folder will be copied/erased from the backup folder? You'd think that doing something like that would be called syncing the 2 folders, but I looked at the Qsync app and I don't think that is the right tool for the job.

Thanks for any help.
-Jamee

I see that you considered Qsync but don't think it is the right tool. I use Qsync for precisely this type of application. I have it on multiple devices with multiple users. It does exactly what you have described, you may want to take another look.


Kevin
TS-EC1080 Pro, TS-870, TS-870; 4.2.2 Build 20160901
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