Backing up a drive thats 3.3TB

[HMCTech]

Has anyone had any success with doing this? I am trying to use the backup utility to backup to a network share but it always fails and tells me that volumes larger than 2TB cannot be protected and fails. Has anyone got over this?

[3s-gtech]

Have you tried robocopy to back up the same data?

[HMCTech]

I have but the network share on a NAS box just tells me about NTFS issues and access denied as im not sure the NAS supports it

[Vanti]

Have you tried robocopy to back up the same data?

3s-gtech is right, this should work...

 

I have but the network share on a NAS box just tells me about NTFS issues and access denied as im not sure the NAS supports it

If it's not can you give us a bit more detail on what the NAS box is / how it's configured? Also how you're mounting the shares it's exposing. Some detail on the sort of files you're trying to backup would be useful too...

[HMCTech]

I had thought robocopy was working but it works only once and backs up all the data to a share on a Thecus N8800. But when it runs again it just sits there doing nothing but continues to run until cancelled.

 

I can't get Windows Server backup to work it just spends about 4 hours scanning the drive then when it comes to backing up files it goes "The version does not support this version of the file format". Not so helpful as there are not a lot of options so I can tell if its the server or the NAS with the problem.

 

The robocopy script is just copying a folder from the server hard disk to a share on the N8800. When it is run to an empty folder it works, but when the folder has data in the script hangs.

 

I am really struggling to backup this drive using any method.

[BHMS]

Ran into a similar problem myself with robocopy. Since NASs generally arn't NTFS you need to tell robocopy not to copy NTFS security permissions otherwise it fails with some error. Personally I use /E /R:5 /NFL and it works fine for my NAS. I've completely forgotten what commands I used before for NTFS > NTFS backups or what any of those commands do. It's all in the robocopy documentation somewhere.

[sister_annex]

there is also richcopy this may help - doesn't do permissions though if you were looking at moving those too

 

Free Utility: RichCopy, an Advanced Alternative to RoboCopy

 

Mark

[HMCTech]

Yeah thats the problem, it needs to be able to do permissions

[steveg]

Which version of windows are you running?

[HMCTech]

2008 R2

[DMcCoy]

Use the folder selection and run built in backup as two jobs? It's a limitation due to the VHD file used for backup rather than the volume itself.

[HMCTech]

I did dig deeper and select folders but unfortunatly there are hundreds of them all equating to 1.8 TB

[steveg]

Sorry should have read the forum name! Can you not just select half of the folders in 1 go though? and then schedule a second backup to run when the first completes with the other half of the folders in it?

 

Steve

[bossman]

@AlexPilot:

 

I remember reading somewhere about converting your data disks to use GTP instead of MBR which only the OS needs to function. I know it's a little vague but it may help you in the future.

 

In the meantime could you not create 2 x 1.99Tb shares and half the 3.2Tb files into each? you could use robocopy to take the file permissions over with the files.

 

It is not the drive but the volume which is dictating the 2Tb limit but I do know there is a fix somewhere on microsoft site....................now where is it.............................it was here a minute ago.........................................Damn memory where is it?

[bossman]

@AlexPilot:

 

Couple of sites:

Frequently asked questions about the GUID Partitioning Table disk architecture

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx

Reviewing Storage Limits: Local File Systems

Microsoft Storage: Fact and Fiction

 

Hope these are of significance (big word for "help", got me articulate head on today hehe!!)

[bossman]

@AlexPilot:

 

And another one here but you will have to trawl to the near bottom of the page!

Windows 2008 R2 Hard Drive Configuration : Windows 2008 r2, diskpart, raid 5

[DMcCoy]

Must already be using GPT as the issue is the Volume is larger than 2TB which is too much for R2 backup due to the VHD file limit it uses for the disk image.

[HMCTech]

I was abe to create a logical drive larger than 2TB using the HP SmartArray tools.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions but I have come in this morning to find none of them have worked. As the issue revolves around the need for security settings to be copied, a NAS box & a large volume of data I have decided to fire up an old ML 350 and put a lot of discs in that and use it as a backup box. Will report back if this works. Only needs to last out until the summer.