Backup in NTFS to local hard disk

[KW_]

Hello, Im looking at changing to FreeNAS after commercial options out there for home use have frustrated me time after time.

I am new to Open Source NAS alternatives so forgive me if this is a dumb question.
Is it possible for the data to be backed up periodically to a NTFS like partition on another hard drive(if it has has four slots) which can be plugged directly into windows unlike raid arrays?
I have been reading through the manual and online but cant seem to find any mention of this.

 

[Ericloewe]

No, NTFS is just about the worst option for such a thing, as it is very poorly supported and sees little testing.

That said, the ability to connect it to a Windows client is overrated. You can easily attach a ZFS pool to any installation of FreeNAS, FreeBSD, Linux (with ZFS on Linux) and several others - so you can just make your backups to ZFS and benefit from all its features.

 

[KW_]

No, NTFS is just about the worst option for such a thing, as it is very poorly supported and sees little testing.

That said, the ability to connect it to a Windows client is overrated. You can easily attach a ZFS pool to any installation of FreeNAS, FreeBSD, Linux (with ZFS on Linux) and several others - so you can just make your backups to ZFS and benefit from all its features.

What do you mean by "ZFS pool"? You can still plug it in to any other linux based OS and read data off it right?

Aslo in regards to connecting it to a windows client I could see why others would think that it is not as useful. But considering that I am using it for a home server where it is the only linux based computer it would be useful to have that utility and be able archive an old copy that can be easily read by any computer.

 

[Ericloewe]

What do you mean by "ZFS pool"?

I mean "ZFS pool".

server where it is the only linux based computer

FreeNAS is not Linux

 

[Corrodias]

So, backing up locally (on the NAS) to NTFS drives is definitely not advised, and I can see why. As I understand it, there are two automatic mechanisms that can be used for backups that FreeNAS does support:
1) "ZFS replication". This requires a remote device running ZFS, such as another NAS with FreeNAS or a computer with a compatible OS and a ZFS pool.
2) "rsync" jobs, which can synchronize with any remote system that runs an rsync daemon, regardless of its filesystem.
In both cases, you're doing the backup over the network, not locally, and that's probably a good thing, because it doesn't require frequently putting your hands on the NAS. Now, as I understand it, you can run an rsync daemon on a Windows computer, so this might be a route for you if you really want to backup to an NTFS drive while benefiting from a stable NTFS implementation.

(Please forgive me if I made any mistakes here; I'm new to this and just built my first system with FreeNAS last week.)

 

[Ericloewe]

In both cases, you're doing the backup over the network

No, both of them work locally as well.

 

[Corrodias]

Oh, I see. So you can even do ZFS replication to another pool on the local system? It's generally not what I'd want to do for a backup scenario, but it's a neat option.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

Oh, I see. So you can even do ZFS replication to another pool on the local system?

As Ericloewe said. You can use localhost as the remote machine and replicate across pools.

 

[wblock]

But considering that I am using it for a home server where it is the only linux based computer

FreeNAS is based on FreeBSD, not Linux.