Unofficial ReadyNAS Guides

Rsync is arguably my favourite protocol for backups. Whilst it is slow for full backups. It’s a great protocol for incremental backups. It compares files on the source and destination and only makes incremental changes to files. So if you have a 1GB file and add 1MB only 1MB needs to be backed up. The time taken to do the necessary calculations can make Rsync appear deceptively slower than it really is. There are some great guides for backing up a ReadyNAS to another ReadyNAS using Rsync e.g. Using Rsync for NAS-to-NAS Backups and Setting up Rsync over SSH but you can also use Rsync when backing up to a USB disk attached to the ReadyNAS!

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The ReadyNAS is a great product line and there comes a time when you want to move to a newer, better model. Then comes the question: what to do with the old one?

Do you use it to backup your new ReadyNAS, use it as a NAS to develop cool add-ons, use it as a NAS to test beta firmware to give back to the community, give it to a family member, give it to a friend or do you sell it?

Well that choice is up to you, but if you decide to sell it or give it away then there are some steps you should take: Continue reading »

Some Internet Service Providers block the internal email provider used by the ReadyNAS. A solution to work around this is to specify the SMTP settings for an email account e.g. Gmail (or Google Apps). Continue reading »

This guide is available in my Store

What is this guide for?

You cannot migrate disks from a Sparc ReadyNAS to a x86 ReadyNAS as they are on different platforms. Normally, one of the great features of the ReadyNAS line is that when you want to move to a newer ReadyNAS you can make sure your array is redundant (i.e there are no dead or missing disks) then migrate to a newer ReadyNAS. See this FAQ entry on the ReadyNAS forum.

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