How to auto-sychonize between Linux and FreeNAS

[Oblio]

Hello Community,

I apologize in advance if this is a totally lame topic that has been covered 12k umpteenth times...in searching g**gle and the FreeNAS forums I came up blank on this topic and i know that in some point in my Linux discovery I came across this topic and likely in my discovery of FreeNAS too... please be gentle...while I have run Linux on and off for over 15 years I finally converted completely a year and a half ago (what took me so long? I don't know...it kills me...trust me.).

Anyway, to my final (real) question...how do I auto synchronize between my PC and my NAS? While there are plenty of clever command line commands that are alluding me currently, is there any plug-in, etc, that when I rip/write/save a file to my main drive that it will just duplicate/replicate/write to my NAS?

My conundrum is that I am currently writing all files to my media drive on my PC and then duplicating what I remember writing though Copy/Paste to my NAS drive...and that sucks. I know Linux offers more and my Wind0Z background has me thinking too inside that box.

Ideas? Suggestions? I would really appreciate any ideas...I know you all have them! I feel like between the power of command line and FreeNAS there should be some way to establish an auto sync. My 4TB drive on my PC has it's hierarchy perfectly replicated on my FreeNAS PC...how can I just write "one file" and have it end up on "both"?

Nothing but love...you all are awesome! Thanks for being gentle!

I did not include Linux distro and FreeNAS versions as I feel this is more general than that but certainly will if needed. Thank you all!

 

[Mlovelace]

You can setup rsync on your linux volume to replicate to freeNAS. Run it on whatever schedule you'd like.

 

[Jailer]

Owncloud

 

[jgreco]

Aside from the typical solutions, you might also want to consider whether it is desirable to use your NAS for primary storage instead of having a giant 4TB liability attached to your PC. This is kind of a mindset thing: PC manufacturers have made it easy and attractive for you to store terabytes of data on an unprotected PC datastore, but in reality I can never figure out why anyone would want more than maybe 40GB of local storage (for the OS and apps) on a desktop PC and then be able to share the rest on the network on a reliable NAS platform.

 

[Oblio]

You can setup on rsync your linux volume to replicate to freeNAS. Run it on whatever schedule you'd like.

I think this is what I was looking for...thank you! For some reason when I looked up rsync earlier it seemed like an application that I would need to install/maintain/update/etc...it may have been a Windows forum since that likely isn't integrated, etc. I'll try this out in the next day or two an let you know how it goes!

Cheers!

 

[Oblio]

Aside from the typical solutions, you might also want to consider whether it is desirable to use your NAS for primary storage instead of having a giant 4TB liability attached to your PC. This is kind of a mindset thing: PC manufacturers have made it easy and attractive for you to store terabytes of data on an unprotected PC datastore, but in reality I can never figure out why anyone would want more than maybe 40GB of local storage (for the OS and apps) on a desktop PC and then be able to share the rest on the network on a reliable NAS platform.

Agreed - however my NAS project more-or-less was born due to having an old P4 system sitting around idle and a bunch of random HDDs. When I do update to a "real" platform for my NAS, I would certainly consider migrating the drive altogether. My other consideration is that my NAS is not always on due to power considerations so having to run two systems just to access files is a bit outside of what I am aiming for.

My newness also is currently preventing me from "putting all of my eggs in one basket". Currently my 4TB drive is cloned on a separate system for redundancy...no matter which drive/raid fails, I should be covered. I would love to learn how to use FreeNAS smarter (the way it is designed to be used!) to have all sorts of drive failure safeguards in place. Your comment will definitely drive me to explore further! Thank you!

As far as "unprotected PC datastore" what are you referring to? I think I know but don't want to assume (you know what they say!). I feel fairly confident in my system due to running Linux and having my NAS for redundancy as far as security goes. Due to my P4 NAS system not supporting plugins very well (32bit...boo...) I am forced to run Plex from my PC and hence my storage conundrum.

Thank you again, as I said, your comment will drive me to further explore FreeNas!

Cheers!

 

[Oblio]

Owncloud

I'll check it out!

Cheers!

 

[cyberjock]

Keep in mind that if you are rsyncing from your desktop to your server and your desktop drive starts to go bad and corrupting files, the corruption *will* be replicated to your server. This is why it's considered backwards to do what you are doing. Run stuff from the server to avoid this problem.

 

[Oblio]

Keep in mind that if you are rsyncing from your desktop to your server and your desktop drive starts to go bad and corrupting files, the corruption *will* be replicated to your server. This is why it's considered backwards to do what you are doing. Run stuff from the server to avoid this problem.

That is crazy! Thank you for making me aware - I had never heard anything like that (I'm guessing you knew that though or you wouldn't have said anything!). I'm working through your wonderful Manual you have created and hope to keep going with my discovery/exploration of FreeNAS. There is a wealth of information out there and I have seen that you are a HUGE contributor - I have been humbled in my newness.

I'll try to check out server side solutions; any solutions for home use to experiment with?

Thank you again!