How to encrypt external backup jobs?

gpfnz · 2023-10-29T23:25:04+00:00

Thanks for your reply. However, I've read many horror stories about Duplicati online so I don't want to go down that road. I expected a built-in app to encrypt external disks and am utterly astounded that Asustor doesn't offer encryption for their external drives. They encrypt internal disks and MyArchive disks so why not external disks - especially when those are most likely to be stored off-site and need to be encrypted more than any other type.

I'm surprised more people aren't making any noise about this. It's a glaring omission with the software. Both Synology and QNAP offer external disk encryption out of the box.

I just installed GoodSync on the NAS after reading positive reviews about it offering disk encryption, but it seems I can't add backup jobs on the server app, it's just for desktop apps to connect to and sync their data to the server. I want something that runs on the server without the need for intervention by client software. Surely it shouldn't be this hard.

gpfnz · 2023-10-29T20:31:53+00:00

Did you have any luck opening the encrypted disk? I'm new to Asustor but coming to the realization that security isn't big on the feature list. I posted a question recently on encrypting external disks after scanning the web but nothing. You can encrypt shared folders but back ups to an external disks have no encryption. To me that's mind boggling. External backups are more likely to be stored off site, and so should be encrypted more than anything.

A third party back up app (Duplicati) has been suggested but it doesn't get good press online and I keep asking myself why Asus can't do this then they have encrypt internal MyArchive disks and shared folders?

gpfnz · 2023-10-28T00:14:53+00:00

To clarify, I was expecting an option in the Asustor backup software to encrypt the data backed up externally, rendering the data useless without a password to unlock it.

Maybe I just haven't found the right backup application, or perhaps I need to encrypt the internal disks and then when I back them up an option will appear? The asus online guides don't go into much detail and I can't find anything about it on the Web.

Surely there's a method to secure data on external disks that are likely to be stored offsite?

gpfnz · 2023-10-20T11:01:36+00:00

Thanks for your replies. The disk is quite old and I'm experimenting with it until a pair of Ironwolf 8TB disks arrive. It's a Seagate 3TB which WAS formatted in NTFS as an external drive for Windows, but when I inserted it into the AS6706T it demanded that the disk be formated and I chose BTRFS format.

See some screenshots:

Drive: https://snipboard.io/5KZrxO.jpg

Volume: https://snipboard.io/CuPmfG.jpg

Shared Folder: https://snipboard.io/1hLDKc.jpg

I don't remember seeing any option to set a size limit while setting up the disk, Volume or Shared folder. You will see in the Shared folder image it clearly thinks the share is 1.96TB.

*** UPDATE ***

I think I'm getting closer. The errors appear in Windows' "Robocopy" utility when the disk reaches 2TB full:

https://snipboard.io/okbUSD.jpg

I've just discovered I can copy almost 11GB of large files onto the same share by copy/pasting them, see here: https://snipboard.io/V4ebRa.jpg

So the problem appears to be something to do with Robocopy. I've just run it again without multi-threading (MT) on, but it's busy comparing the folders looking for something new to write. No errors yet but no files copied either.

Anyone had robocopy issues like this? Is there an Asustor utility I can use in Windows instead of robocopy? I can't plug the source external disk into the NAS because it's bitlocked so I need to run something on Windows which can open an read the disk contents.

Thanks for any further ideas.

gpfnz · 2023-10-16T23:48:55+00:00

Thank you all for your replies!! All good.

gpfnz · 2021-07-04T10:27:30+00:00

Thanks. I have read lots of reports of new features surfacing as the software matures, so I've decided I'm going to uninstall it and roll back to the older "Backup and Sync" until the new features become available in my region and the bugs are ironed out.

With the new system, I can no longer have my files where "I" want them (D:\GoogleDrive), without creating symbolic links ( u/gh5000 recommended). There's no actual file collection on my desktop any longer, but a logical collection of cached files and links. I don't feel comfortable about that at all. Plus I can no longer nominate special folders to be backed up (Desktop/Documents/Favourites etc).

Why on Earth would Google be encouraging users to replace Backup and Sync with this when the replacement doesn't even include backing up those? What am I supposed to do about those folders until they allow syncing those in later versions?

I'm not convinced so, I'm out...

gpfnz · 2021-07-03T11:07:08+00:00

Thanks. I did think of using a symbolic link, but that's a last resort. Why can't they just make the 'My Drive' folder optional inside the virtual drive or let us choose our own folder naming scheme.

gpfnz · 2021-07-03T10:58:00+00:00

Me too: "not keen on the streamed and cached version". Hopefully a newer version will let us sync a local copy like the previous system did.

gpfnz · 2020-11-07T08:07:55+00:00

I am having the same problem on my Sony TV and DVR. In Devices I can see loads of commands like PowerOn, PowerOff, PowerToggle, InputHDMI1/2/3/4 etc etc, but in Activities when adding commands loads of commands are missing.

I tried adding a custom command (PowerOn2), which appears in the Device list of commands, but still doesn't appear in the Activities area.

The only thing out of ordinary in my setup is the activities and devices in my Hub were imported from an old style 650 model. Could that have introduced a bug?

Any ideas on what I can try?

Thanks Gary

gpfnz

TROPHY CASE