Beiträge von MartinPC

Adoby:

I've really appreciated your replies but have been super-busy since my original post. When I'm over the crunch, I'm going to try to find out more about rsync snapshots* -- and again, I know next to nothing about rsync -- and will follow up with a reply that isn't too full of extraneous ... uh ... stuff.

*I'm also going to look into Odroid's current offerings.

In the interim, I can say that one thing I like about FreeFileSync/RealTimeSync is that it can be set up to make an age- and/or number-capped archive of time-stamped backups of files that are overwritten or deleted by a sync. The backup is triggered not by the passage of an arbitrary amount of time but rather by the sync itself (which itself is triggered, with a user-configurable delay, by RealTimeSync as soon as it detects that a folder it's monitoring has changed). Accordingly, it allows you to recover from screw-ups on a much more granular basis. Depending on how short a delay you choose for the RealTimeSync-triggered sync, every version of a file you save can be automatically backed up, not just the most recently saved version at the end of each period of x hours. I hope that makes sense and that I have not made a lot of false assumptions about how rsync snapshots work. As I said, I'm going to have to read up on them.

I think FreeFileSync has some (limited?) command-line functionality, but I've never used FFS on the command line and I don't know how or whether RealTimeSync would work.

Is it a big deal to install a lightweight desktop environment in OpenMediaVault?

Can anyone think of a reason I would NOT be able to manually install and run the FreeFileSync/RealTimeSync (FFS/RTS) Linux tarball in OpenMediaVault? My Linux Mint and Kubuntu FTS/RTS installs are both manual -- the only way to get a current FFS/RTS release in those and most other distros. I'm guessing there shouldn't be a problem in any (most?) Debian-based distros, either, but I figure it's better to ask upfront than be disappointed later on.

BTW, I have years of experience with FFS/RTS and none whatsoever with rsync, which is why I ask. Besides, FFS does bidirectional syncing and it's my understanding that rsync doesn't.

NOTE: This category struck me as the best place to ask this question. If it's not, I have no problem with a moderator moving it somewhere else.

I'm planning to cobble together a poor man's NAS using OpenMediaVault running on a 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 2 or 4 ext4-formatted, single-partition USB 3.0 drives as JBOD. I would like to use "big" drives, initially starting with 2 x 8TB external backup drives (which are cheap right now), but ultimately upgrading to bona fide NAS drives in a 2 x or 4 x 12TB configuration (when prices come down). I'm trying to avoid hidden "gotchas," both at the outset and further down the road, so I have some questions:

What are OpenMediaVault's own inherent, real-world storage-addressing limits, on a per-partition, per-drive, per-USB-port, and aggregate basis? (By "real-world," I mean without a significant performance hit.) In other words, within the confines of "reasonable" performance:

* What's the largest ext4 partition I can use?

* What's the largest hard drive I can use?

* What's the largest amount of storage I can address through a single USB 3.0 port and via a hub or dock?

* What's the largest amount of total, aggregate storage I can address through both of the Pi4B's USB 3.0 ports, whether directly or via hubs or docks?

I'm inquiring about the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4 Model B's own storage-addressing limits on Raspberry's forums -- I suspect they will be lower than OpenMediaVault's -- but if anyone knows the answer off the top of their head, I'm all ears. For that matter, I'm open to suggested alternatives to the Raspberry Pi.

Many thanks to anyone who takes the time to think about my questions and ventures at shot at answering them!