H86 HyperBackup Integrity and Advanced Issues

by
George Morgan
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Page no: H85

Current Backups

via Handybackup

Detailed Logs on: file://C:\ProgramData\Novosoft\Handy Backup 8\Users\admin@ELITEWIN8\Logs

 

Explanation
Video and Pics

Backup Integrity

 

Change Hyper Backup target location

When you are a heavy user of your Synology NAS like me, you might use Hyper Backup to backup your NAS data to an external site in an orderly fashion. My backups run daily for almost three years now to a OwnCloud instance I have at a Dutch hosting provider, via WebDav.At that time I made a choice how to layout my data, but I have come up with a better plan and needed to change the destination folder of the Hyper Backup task. Unfortunately, this is not possible via the web interface of DSM. In this post I will explain how to accomplish this.

Expert users explanation

There are a few simple steps to follow:

  1. The configuration file is located at /usr/syno/etc/ and called synobackup.conf.
  2. Use SSH to access the NAS and change the line called remote_bucket to your desired location with vi.
    (NB nano or vim is not available).
  3. Make sure the name matches the new directory name on the target.
  4. Test the change with the Backup Explorer.
 

No option via the web interface

 

When you create a new backup for the first time, you see above settings form. If you provided the right server address and credentials, a drop down menu is available. You can select an existing folder there, or define your own directory in which the backups must be placed.

 

When you later check your backup settings, you notice only server address and credentials are available. No directory or folder option anymore; which might seem strange at first.

SSH to the rescue

Enable the SSH service on your NAS, if you haven’t done already (mine is turned off by default). You can find this setting in your Control Panel, at the section for Terminal & SNMP. Just enable the SSH service with default settings.

 

Now login your NAS via SSH. Open up a terminal (command prompt under Windows) and enter the following:

Substitute jurian with your own username and nas.local with your NAS address. Now enter your password.

Next, modify the file which contains your backup configuration. Only a basic editorvi is an option in the terminal of Synology, so I’ll guide you through.

sudo vi /usr/syno/etc/synobackup.conf

Enter your password again and search for a line inside a [repo_1] heading (or [repo_2], etc, if you have multiple of these repos). The line starts with remote_bucket and move the arrow keys to place the cursor at the right line.

remote_bucket="My old directory name"

Now press the i key and change between quotes whatever the new name should be. Next, press Esc. Now save the file via a command, press the following key combo :wq.

You should have left the vi editor and you are back in the shell. Type exit to quit the shell. Do not forget to turn off the ssh service again.

 

Change directory at target location and test

You have now changed the backup target location at your NAS, but your target hasn’t been updated yet. So go to your target via a browser (I use OwnCloud, so there is a browser interface for all my data there). Change the folder name on the target exactly how you have entered the name on the NAS.

 

 

 

 

Backup Explorer

As a last step, enter DSM and go to your Hyper Backup application. There is a button called Backup Explorer, shown below:

 

If you enter the explorer, you must be able to browse your files, like below screenshot. If there is any error, you know the location on either your NAS or your target is not set properly and don’t match.

 

 

 

Deduplication

Change of source directoy

Data Layout Changed

 

Hello,
my data layout has changed and I wanted to move the source folder <Source> into a parent folder. <Parent>
Currently the source for my Hyperbackup is <Source>.
A rename of the folder did not work, Hyperbackup complained saying that the source folder is gone.
Same when I moved the existing folder into the parent using synology’s file manager. It did not automatically adjust the paths.

Hence I have to add the <source> again under its new location under <parent>.
To repeat:
OLD path <Source>
NEW path <Parent>/<Source>

Question:
Will Hyperbackup’s deduplication mechanism realize the change, with the consequence that the new backup version is very small.
Or will it create a completely new big backup version, duplicating the files that were in the previous backup version ?

I did a first test.
Step1: I moved the source folder to <Parent>/<Source>, so that Hyperbackup was complained that the source folder was missing.
Step2: I moved it back to <Source>
Step3: I did the backupEssentially nothing has changed.

Result:
a) The backup process was slow, it took some hours for 340 GB.
b) Deduplication worked, because the size did not change.

 

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