Sync a remote drive?

[dwf2008]

Suppose Truenas is running on PC2 with a mirrored pool. PC1 has a drive/folder that is copied to PC2 thus providing a backup of PC1. Is it possible to sync the two pc’s so that this backup is done automatically? That is, when changes are made to PC1, they are automatically reflected in the Truenas mirror.

Thanks

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

If both systems are TrueNAS or at least one is TrueNAS and one FreeBSD or Linux or Solaris with ZFS, then this is a standard feature. Look at Periodic Replication Tasks in the UI and the documentation.

 

[dwf2008]

If both systems are TrueNAS or at least one is TrueNAS and one FreeBSD or Linux or Solaris with ZFS, then this is a standard feature. Look at Periodic Replication Tasks in the UI and the documentation.

PC1 is a win10 machine. It is functioning as my plex server. You may ask why not run plex from the truenas pc? The answer is because the trip from truenas to the tv involves a route thru ethernet thru 2 routers and a final leg via wireless. Whereas the win pc is connected directly to the tv. Thus I think it is much faster. Plus I haven’t figured out how to run plex on truenas yet. ( but its coming). Still experimenting.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Why not keep the data on the TrueNAS? Then you can create regular snapshots and replicate to a second system running ZFS ...

 

[dwf2008]

Why not keep the data on the TrueNAS? Then you can create regular snapshots and replicate to a second system running ZFS ...

The second system needs to be running windows because it is used by all the family members who are not going to be savvy with truenas or linux.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Then you need to search for backup software for Windows that can write to an SMB share provided by TrueNAS. I don't use Windows, so I have no idea. Products probably exist

I'd start with the builtin backup if that is still a thing with Windows 10 or 11. I remember it from my Windows 7 days.

Then you can additionally create a snapshot schedule on TrueNAS for that backup share - just in case your Windows PC decides to act strangely or catches some malware and deletes backups on the Windows visible level. Windows cannot get at these TrueNAS/ZFS snapshots so that's an additional level of safety.

 

[CJRoss]

PC1 is a win10 machine. It is functioning as my plex server. You may ask why not run plex from the truenas pc? The answer is because the trip from truenas to the tv involves a route thru ethernet thru 2 routers and a final leg via wireless. Whereas the win pc is connected directly to the tv. Thus I think it is much faster. Plus I haven’t figured out how to run plex on truenas yet. ( but its coming). Still experimenting.

Plex on TrueNAS Core is really simple. Despite saying FreeNAS, this still works, albeit the UI may be worded a little different. https://www.cjross.net/installing-plex-on-freenas-9-3/

Are you using plex-htpc to display things on the tv or just the web client? Are you doing other htpc things with the PC? You might want to swap it out for some sort of set top box like a Roku, Shield, AppleTV, etc.

Then you need to search for backup software for Windows that can write to an SMB share provided by TrueNAS. I don't use Windows, so I have no idea. Products probably exist

I'd start with the builtin backup if that is still a thing with Windows 10 or 11. I remember it from my Windows 7 days.

Then you can additionally create a snapshot schedule on TrueNAS for that backup share - just in case your Windows PC decides to act strangely or catches some malware and deletes backups on the Windows visible level. Windows cannot get at these TrueNAS/ZFS snapshots so that's an additional level of safety.

IIRC you can just mount an SMB share from TrueNAS and then use the built in windows backup functionality.

Personally, I just use SyncThing to do a one way sync of the home/user directory from each of the machines as that's the data I really care about. It does require some tuning to make SyncThing not freak out, but it was easier than trying to get a client for each OS and now everything is in one central location.