Full-System Backup Windows Machine w/ 2 Local & 2 External Drives

1st Official Post

    Hi OMV,


    I'm looking for a NAS solution to drop on my home network. I have a small studio running on a Win-11 based laptop w/ 2 Local & 2 External Drives. I want to move away from Synologies offerings as the price tag seems a touch steep and I have spare comet-lake i5 and Mic-ATX board that I could put to good use. The NAS's primary use will be to do a full-system back up of this Windows 11 device similar to Synologies ABfB and write changes every ¬15 mins. Does anyone know of a solid option to do this? Taking into account the external drives as I don't want "insert plug-in name here" to throw a fit everytime one is ejected.


    This is a project in its early phases of planning so I don't have OMV installed, while I could spin up a to check UrBackup doesn't seem to available from the plugins menu. I''ve also heard restoring from UrBackup is tricky.


    Cheers

    Someone suggested backing up devices on my home network (that are not always on the network) with Syncthing.


    I currently use Syncthing to backup my Windows laptop as well as my Android phone and tablet to OMV.

    Quote from vcruser

    Someone suggested backing up devices on my home network (that are not always on the network) with Syncthing.


    I currently use Syncthing to backup my Windows laptop as well as my Android phone and tablet to OMV.

    Thanks for your reply.


    I think I was overthinking this, I'm going to install TrueNAS Core instead and backup using Veaam/Windows backup. I'll look into syncthing tho

    • Official Post
    Quote from jdsportsbandit

    The NAS's primary use will be to do a full-system back up of this Windows 11 device similar to Synologies ABfB and write changes every ¬15 mins.

    I'm not sure if this approach is correct.


    For so many years now that I don't even remember it, my data has always been on a NAS. The other machines access the NAS to consult and work with that data. There is no data on any computer or tablet.


    Therefore, it makes no sense for me to backup a Windows computer. If one day it stops working I have two options, restore to factory state (it has an automatic function for that) or directly reinstall. I don't lose any files because there is nothing on that machine relevant to me. It's just a tool.


    If you need the files to be physically on the PC to gain execution speed, simply synchronize them in real time with the NAS. You are in the same situation again, the PC does not store anything relevant.


    NAS is Network Attached Storage. That is its main function and what it was designed for. The other functions are complementary.

    • Official Post
    Quote from jdsportsbandit

    while I could spin up a to check UrBackup doesn't seem to available from the plugins menu.

    UrBackup will install, alongside of OMV, as a direct install. There are no conflicts. Or UrBackup is also available as a Docker. Both work fine.

    I've had good experiences with UrBackup over the years, when it counts, when it was necessary to fully restore a client hard drive. While it took awhile to restore a client over the network, they restored without issues in all cases. BTW: I use a separate, dedicated 4TB drive for UrBackup client data.

    Thanks for your reply, I have thought about this and it isn't really a good option for me, I need a full backup as some of the applications I'm running can't just be reinstalled from the internet. Some have taken lots of configuration to get to a state where I'm happy with them.


    Drive 1 stores my OS, Plug-ins & Applications.


    As far as I'm aware using Veaam or Windows Full-Backup would give me the option to restore Drive 1 to the exact same state it was last backed up in case of disaster.


    Drive 2 stores libraries of patches and sound files that work with the applications on Drive 1


    Drive 3 stores Projects and Sound Files


    Drive 4 is personal data resume's, photos etc


    I can backup drives 2 - 4 with file history which would allow basic version control and the ability to restore. I guess I could synchronize them in real time with the NAS, is this built into OMV/TrueNAS Core or is there a Plug-in that would take care of this? However, I don't see the benefit of this opposed to using File History.


    The NAS is acting as a backup server for me, it will have directories for archiving files and a place where plex can pull media from but backing up my data redundantly using RAID or ZFS equilivlant will be its main function. Am I going about this wrong? :)

    • Official Post
    Quote from jdsportsbandit

    it isn't really a good option for me, I need a full backup as some of the applications I'm running can't just be reinstalled from the internet. Some have taken lots of configuration to get to a state where I'm happy with them.

    This is certainly a good reason to back up Windows. It has never been my case so I cannot advise on this, but I suppose that in this sense I would follow the advice of crashtest and macom about urbackup.


    As for units 2 to 4, since they are all data, I disagree. Here I would follow the principle of keeping the data on the NAS.


    To synchronize I have used syncthing and Nextcloud, both work fine. You can sync some or all folders.


    As for versioned backups, there are many possible applications. But I would take advantage of the recent BTRFS integration to take snapshots. It is not a backup as such, but it helps in case of recovery. You would always have to have a real copy, of course.

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