Unfortunately no one can be told what fun_plug is - you have to see it for yourself.
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Hello, this is my first post here. I'm afraid that I'll vilify myself right off by saying that I'm looking to avoid doing everything that people here like to do! I have too many projects going now though - it's a matter of sheer necessity to avoid taking on more.
I have a DNS-323, firmware version 1.0.6. I recently changed the configuration from RAID 1 to Standard because I only bought the NAS to back up my data, and I now want to keep the drives separate, sync Drive 1 to Drive 2 and keep the deleted items in a bucket.
From the research I've done so far, Rsync seems to be the only way to do this without constant intervention on my part - or without leaving a computer running.
Is there any alternative to this? From what I read, to install and set up Rsync you must install a fun_plug (preferably the fonz fun_plug) and that means more learning curve than I have time for - unless there is absolutely no other way.
Thank you,
Mike
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What you suggested is the road most traveled. This means that there will be plenty of people who could help you if things go south.
Although knowing what you're doing is a plus, plenty of other folks here just follow instructions and set things up without much (any?) Linux know-how.
I don't see why that shouldn't work for you as well.
There's the Wiki with it's how-to's for setting ffp and rsync.
I wrote a rsync script myself (which I use, obviously) with a few more bells and whistles. You can find it here: http://dns323.kood.org/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=46915.
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Note I have not tried this, I use rsync, but you can try it.
When you go to the web page for the DNS-323 you will see a button "Applications" (at least it is there in version 1.10)
If you select that you are taking to Scheduling.
From there you can choose to select the Type as folder, select local and select Volume_1
And the the To can be selected a Volume_2
You can select when to do the backup, if it should repeat and if it should be incremental.
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Thank you both for very different answers.
scaramanga, I read fonz's Readme file. Early on he makes it sound as though all I would do to install ffp is copy fun_plug and fun_plug.tgz to Volume 1 and reboot, and it would unpack itself. Would that mean a standard Windows copy/paste? I didn't think it was that simple to get even that far. I thought I had read all kinds of things about having to ftp the files into the NAS (or several other daunting alternatives).
So for starters, is it possible to simply copy/paste the files into Volume_1 and reboot to have ffp installed? That would at least begin to warm me to some experimenting.
And what do you think of chriso's suggestion? Too bad the emulators available on the Dlink website are only for the current models! I might be willing to flash to version 1.10 but I seem to recall reading about people losing some functionality when they upgraded (I think past 1.0.6 which is what I have). I can't remember what they lost...
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MikeDSM wrote:
Thank you both for very different answers.
scaramanga, I read fonz's Readme file. Early on he makes it sound as though all I would do to install ffp is copy fun_plug and fun_plug.tgz to Volume 1 and reboot, and it would unpack itself. Would that mean a standard Windows copy/paste? I didn't think it was that simple to get even that far. I thought I had read all kinds of things about having to ftp the files into the NAS (or several other daunting alternatives).
So for starters, is it possible to simply copy/paste the files into Volume_1 and reboot to have ffp installed? That would at least begin to warm me to some experimenting.
Pretty much, yes. Just need to make sure that the fun_plug script has execute permissions, otherwise it wont run at the next reboot and unpack. I can't remember how I did that, it was a few years back. worst case if that doesn't work is either fix it via ftp and reboot or just delete those files and forget about it.
MikeDSM wrote:
And what do you think of chriso's suggestion? Too bad the emulators available on the Dlink website are only for the current models! I might be willing to flash to version 1.10 but I seem to recall reading about people losing some functionality when they upgraded (I think past 1.0.6 which is what I have). I can't remember what they lost...
I never used the built-in backup feature, so I can't comment on well that works, bet I bet that it's pretty basic. Again, it's so easy to set up you can give it a try and see for yourself how well addresses your needs.
btw, I'm running 1.10 and I didn't notice any features lost. At least consider upgrading to 1.08.
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OK I think for the sake of speed I'll try v. 1.10 first to see if it can suit me. My needs are really pretty simple, I plan to back up a laptop to the NAS via other means (I'm moving from Win 7 Backup to FreeFileSync). Then I only want to back up Volume_1 to Volume_2 by some means. So I'll move to firmware v. 1.10 and check it out. If it poses some surprise problem that I can't live with, I'll move to Plan B (ffp/rsync*).
BTW: I found the small mention of "loss of functionality" to potentially be encountered by moving above 1.0.6 and it's really nothing. Apparently I had read it early on, and seeing nothing in later versions to compel me to upgrade, I had made a small mental note that there was potentially something to lose.
It's on the wiki, under Known Issues (and it really is no cause for concern):
Adding a disk causes FFP to stop working
http://dns323.kood.org/information:known_issues
It will take me several days to find time to flash the new firmware and play with the software. I'll report back for the sake of all concerned.
Thanks,
Mike
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btw, I remember seeing some complaints about this built in scheduler. It does not keep file's last modification time.
Hope that's not an issue for you.
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Um, hmm...I just downloaded FW v. 1.10 and also v. 1.06 as a backup, and noticed that 1.10 is nearly 1 MB SMALLER than 1.06.
I wonder why a package with increased functionality would be smaller than the code it replaced? Surely streamlining the code can't account for that kind of difference!
Although I'm at a terminal at work and I can't unzip anything yet. Maybe it's just a more efficient compression.
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Well I have downloaded three versions of firmware: 1.06, 1.09 and 1.10. I downloaded 1.09 because I had read some posts about 1.10 being the exact same code as when it was 1.10 Beta and so people figured it may be less stable than 1.09.
I have to say that Dlink doesn't inspire any confidence AT ALL when tryng to use their website. First off, when you search Support for DNS-323 it gives only two possible models, one came with a 1TB drive, but BOTH are hardware revision A. I have revision B. Their same page states that "Downloads can vary across product revisions" and has a link right there to "Find my revision". But clicking it does nothing more than tell you where to find the sticker on the NAS! Duh!
So nowhere on their website can I find my hardware revision mentioned. I unzipped firmware v. 1.09 and read the release notes, and they don't mention hardware their either!
How do I know I won't brick my unit?
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MikeDSM wrote:
How do I know I won't brick my unit?
You might, if something goes terribly wrong (like a black out) during the firmware update.
Other than that, I don't think you've got something to worry about. Otherwise, the forum (and D-Link's) would've been filled with complaints.
1.09 didn't add anything besides some 3rd party cloud backup thing.
1.10 (which I've been using for months now) adds support for AFT drives - a feature which I didn't use, since I bought my unit before this firmware was out, and aligned HDDs' partitions manually.
If you're not comfortable with 1.10 and don't intend to use that 3rd party's cloud backup go with 1.08.
You can grab it straight off their ftp site. See my sig.
Last edited by scaramanga (2012-09-06 18:00:59)
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Well I did it! I used version 1.09 just because I already had it, although I'll have to say after looking at the 3rd party cloud backup that it's not something I would value enough to pay the minimum $4.99/month for. I use Dropbox now, and get up to 2GB free.
Incredibly, I came really close to bricking NOT my DNS-323 but another Dlink product I have: my DIR-615 wireless router! I have logged into both devices recently, and the firmware (written by the same people of course) looks very similar! So I accidentally logged into the router, went to the firmware page, and got a little too close to "upgrading" when I looked up and saw "Firmware version 3.11NA" at the top of the page. WTF?!!??!! Until I realized I was logged into the wrong unit! LOL!!! At least I'm laughing now...
After getting used to the fact that they set up two separate logins in version 1.09, and you have to log in to Applications to use the Scheduler, I have set up a backup and run it once - success!
An interesting little tool, that scheduler. It is essentially treating the path to Volume_1 as any other URL, and "downloading" whatever you specify there to a location of your choice, which in my case is Volume_2. You certainly couldn't get complicated with it, as you can with a backup or a good sync program, picking and choosing which files and folders to back up, etc. but for a simple "copy all" I think it will work.
Now what was that problem you mentioned of file's last modification time? I searched the forum, but didn't really hit anything too revealing. Is it a problem any time a file is copied to the NAS or is it only when the scheduler does the copying?
Last edited by MikeDSM (2012-09-06 22:41:38)
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The problem I dug up is that the scheduler doesn't maintain file's and folder's modification time: http://dns323.kood.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6203
Compare the original's and backup's dates.
I wonder if it's clever enough to skip files that are already there, and by what criteria. If it doesn't preserve the date, then it's just comparing file sizes? that's not very robust, is it?
If I were you, I'd see if on the next scheduled copy all the file's dates are updated - that might mean that it's just copying files for no reason.
If that's how it works then it won't scale well with size.
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You're right! For crying out loud! Yes, it changed all the file dates! Like the person in the post said, it makes the app useless! The last thing I want is to lose all the dates on my files. I'll tell you, between the poor attention to detail on their support website - and I mean more than the haphazard stuff I mentioned earlier; on the same page they state that the "latest firmware revision" is 1.07 - and their absolutely half-a**ed attempts at writing software, I'm going to think very hard before I ever buy another D-Link product! I'm beginning to think it's an absolute miracle their NAS works at all!
Why on earth would a company bother to produce something that ends up with that result? What a waste of their time and ours!
Well now that I'm done ranting (I think) I'll give you the good news: I managed to get FreeFileSync and Windows Task Scheduler to work together and have successfully run a complete laptop to NAS backup followed by a Volume_1 to Volume_2 backup!
Somewhere after my disappointment in D-Link's lame app it dawned on me that If I could get FreeFileSync to do the job, AND I could get Task Scheduler to wake the computer to run it, then I would have my "no constant intervention" solution.
It took some work and experimenting to get it set up. FreeFileSync made their part really easy! Although there was a little that was not completely intuitive, but they made up for it: after you create and save a particular backup arrangement, you can turn it into a batch file with a few clicks! And they give instructions on how to then set up Task Scheduler to run the batch file - hallelujah!
Microsoft made the "wake" part of the job VERY difficult, as usual burying the critical options in obscure places, worst of all giving you an option here and an option there so you keep failing in early attempts only to dig deeper and find: "But wait! There's more!"
But in the end it is doable, and easy compared to the learning curve I feared I might face otherwise.
I will run things a few more days to be certain of no surprises, and then promptly go donate to the developers of FreeFileSync!
Thanks for the advice,
Mike
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If I understand correctly, what you're doing is backing-up Volume_1 to Volume_2 over the network. It's not a very efficient way of doing it.
I don't know how much data you're copying-over, but I think you "should" give ffp/rsync a try when you've got the time.
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scaramanga wrote:
I don't know how much data you're copying-over...
That was part of what dawned on me along the way: after the initial copy, very little. Synchronizing on a daily basis, the data to copy should be tiny.
But I agree with you that it's not as eloquent as (I presume) the Rsync solution.
Also, as I began to study some basic Linux tutorials on the web, I was reminded of how I have been computing since 1993 and still don't know how to create a (DOS) batch file - even though I have seen the advantage to using them many times. So after I catch up some, I will continue to learn some basic Linux and play with what I've learned on the NAS with a fun_plug.
For the moment though, I engaged in a new business activity in 2011 and haven't filed my taxes still! Due Oct. 15th and I have far to go!
Mike
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