Problems with backup process

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Panthercules
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Problems with backup process

Post by Panthercules »

Running a TVS-473 NAS with a TR-004 N7... additional external enclosure. I had previously run a full backup of my approximately 20 TB of video files using HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync a while back, and I am trying to now do basically an incremental backup of sorts to backup all the files added since that previous backup.

First, I tried creating a new backup job in HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync using a rule that would exclude all files with a "date modified" before the date of my previous backup. When I ran that backup job, it seemed to indicate that it was going to include about the right number and total size of files that I expected (about 1.2 TB). I had plenty of room (about 23 TB) left on the storage pool on my external enclosure (storage pool 2), so I told it to put the backup in a new folder on there (I figured I could move it off to an external USB hard drive later). Everything seemed to progress just fine for a few hours, but then the process crashed with an error message about the drive or network not being available for some reason. I checked the alerts and there were a couple to the effect that "storage pool 2 has reached the space alert threshold of '16.00 GB'." and "Set volume 'DataVol2' to read/delete. Storage pool 2 is full.", plus a couple to the effect that "[Hybrid Backup Sync] Failed to complete Backup job 'Backup 2'. File system is set to 'read only' or 'read/delete'.

When I checked in File Station, the only things in the new backup folder were empty folders - no actual files themselves. Any clues as to why that may have happened would be greatly appreciated.

I couldn't figure out where to find the settings (read only or read/delete) those alerts were talking about, and I couldn't figure out why the thing was thinking that storage pool 2 was full when it had 20+ TB free, so I gave up on backing up the video files for the moment and tried to simply copy over the Plex Media Server files (totaling 24.89 GB) from storage pool 1 (on the main NAS) to a new folder on storage pool 2 (on the external enclosure) using File Station. So far that process has been running for over 14 hours, and is still sitting on 28% . Any ideas as to why this process is taking so long?
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dolbyman
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by dolbyman »

So you created a storage pool on the TR for backups?

Bad idea, for backups the TR should operate in external storage mode, as otherwise these backups are useless on NAS failure (cannot be accessed)
Panthercules
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by Panthercules »

dolbyman wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:56 pm So you created a storage pool on the TR for backups?

Bad idea, for backups the TR should operate in external storage mode, as otherwise these backups are useless on NAS failure (cannot be accessed)
No, I didn't create a storage pool on the TR for backups - the storage pool is just to expand normal storage for my media files because the storage pool on the NAS itself was getting pretty full. I simply wanted to put the backup temporarily on the external device's storage pool, thinking that would be faster than trying to put it on a USB-connected external HDD. Once the backup was completed, I could then go back to using my Plex Server on the NAS and could move the backup over to the USB-connected HDD at my leisure. I don't know why that didn't work, but since it didn't I guess I'll try re-running the backup job going straight to the external HDD and see if that works any better.

It seemed like the copying of the Plex Media Server files using File Station stayed stuck on 28% for an inordinately long time, so I canceled it out. Predictably, not all the files were copied over, so I'll have to find another way to do that as well. I don't really understand why these processes that should be quite simple don't seem to work well at all and are way more complicated than they should be.
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dolbyman
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by dolbyman »

The TR is pretty slow anyways, so just backup directly to a USB disk, skip the TR for that
Panthercules
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by Panthercules »

dolbyman wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:10 am The TR is pretty slow anyways, so just backup directly to a USB disk, skip the TR for that
Yeah - that's what I'm doing right now. Trying to back up about 1.2 TB onto an empty 5 TB USB HDD - hopefully it will work this time. Still seems odd that the QNAP NAS and QNAP external enclosure wouldn't be able to communicate faster than using a USB HDD, but if this works then it's all good.

Thanks for the responses.
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dolbyman
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by dolbyman »

Sadly QNAP chose a pretty slow SATA/RAID controller for the TR units. Some people are reporting sub 100MB\s for RAID5 configurations on the TR004
Panthercules
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Re: Problems with backup process

Post by Panthercules »

Well, the incremental backup of the media files to the USB HDD seems to have worked (at least HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync reported it as a success - I haven't had a chance to actually check it fully yet). However, when I tried to use HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync to back up the Plex server files it failed with an error message that just said it couldn't copy everything (it's only about 29 GB, but it's several hundred thousands of little files, so there's no way I know of to determine exactly what copied and didn't copy correctly, so it looks like I'll just have to try again from scratch to get that done). Guess I'll just try copying them with FileStation again and see if I can get that to work this time. If QNAP's tools are going to be this unreliable I guess I'll have to see if I can find some sort of backup solution that will work better. I'm not trying to do anything particularly fancy here - this really shouldn't be this complicated.
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