zfs file system for Windows backups

[silvergoat]

I realize that I probably should have figured this out before completely reconfiguring my computer into a server, but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask now so that I could change things back should anything fail.

As the title states, I created a FreeNAS PC to store my Acronis & Paragon backups of several desktops. The server helps because it is only powered on when I need to backup or if I would need to restore, and I have 2 drives mirrored for redundancy. So I guess I have a zfs format holding compressed ntfs backups- I really don't know. Is that an okay thing to do? I guess it would be like any other file except these can be 50GB or larger and if and when the time comes, I want to be able to stream the backups back to another drive or restore directly from the server if I can figure out how to do that.

I'm probably just worrying about nothing, but if someone knows for sure, it would ease my mind a little bit.

Thanks.

 

[cyberjock]

It should work, but you should DEFINITELY test your backup system to make sure it works. I ditched Acronis back in May because It's not been working properly. I've had problems with it for years and finally decided enough was enough.

But you should put a blank hard drive in one of your computers and use your backup program to make sure it will work. Nothing would suck more than not being able to use a backup file when you need it.

 

[silvergoat]

The newer Acronis software is terrible. I actually should probably test Paragon instead because I like it more, it's faster, I can run it problem free in Windows.....I just haven't had occasion to use a Paragon image to restore from. I guess this would be a good way to test how well it works. I just need to find a computer that I can screw with. Should get a chance by this weekend- I'll post up results just in case it's handy for anyone.

 

[cyberjock]

I ditched Acronis because I couldn't get test recovers to occur and the backups were getting all screwed up and erroring out with completely nonsensical errors. Note that my test recovers were not a problem with FreeNAS but with Acronis' software. Switched to O&O Diskimage and I have no regrets.

 

[silvergoat]

I think I played with 2010 Acronis, and I couldn't get it to start backups on some computers and I don't think it would read my Acronis backups from older versions. They got really glitchy- 2009 was the latest version I used that was good.

Anyways. I remember you helping me in another thread here, and I took a look at your guide. It was a really good beginner guide to understanding the structure. This system really takes a lot of planning to set things the right way. One of the more difficult things so far has been understanding the structure of the permissions and how to set simple example systems with different users and folders for different users. I tried to use SSH and failed epically with that for some reason, but there are a lot of details that I didn't find when I was looking through the full FreeNAS guide I printed out. Of course, I'm not asking for solutions, but if you know where some good beginner information is that gives high level details, I'd love to print out some more reading material so I can get a hang of this more quickly. I have a feeling I'll be using this for a couple of years at least.

 

[cyberjock]

I'm not sure what you are doing wrong with SSH. It's really pretty simple. I always check the box to allow root login and click the start service button. Then you just run a program like putty, type in your IP address and login with your username and password(I always use root).

 

[silvergoat]

It worked fine with a password; I was trying to use a certificate.....pretty sure that's what it's called.

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah, there's a way to use the certificate. I haven't tried it since I don't feel the need to have that level of security behind my pfsense firewall.