Truenas Backup to older Synology

Computer Hardware & Server Infrastructure Builds
1

So maybe this question is a bit… overkill. But some of you guys are smarter than me and it doesn’t hurt to ask.

I have a drive in my raidz2 array failing. Ordered a replacement but I am reminded of Tom’s shirt (RAID isn’t a backup) and decided it was time to fire up an old synology and re-sync some of my most critical files (done). Once the TN server is done resilvering I want to step back and make a real plan for backups. Might as well use the Syno for it, its an 8 bay and while out of warranty, its a backup server. If it dies, I replace it.

So two fundamental questions:

  1. What raid type do you guys use on your backups? Raid 5, Raid 0, SHR… etc. Ultimately it comes down to risk right? Speed isn’t an issue so I guess it comes down to Raid 5 for some redundancy or Raid 0 for Size.
  2. Which file system? BTRFS or EXT4? Probably over thinking it for a backup server but any strong feelings either way?

From there is just setting up rsync tasks which I am sure will be extra complicated bc Synology but ultimately doable. May even power off the syno when not in use to save electric and wear and tear. Just power it on monthly for a quick Sync.

2

about (2), BTRFS has fancy features, none of which you need for the backup. At the same time BTRFS is not as stable es EXT4 and there are no recovery tools for BTRFS.

I’d stay away from BTRFS for the backup. BTRFS once flipped a filesystem to read-only for me. Major hassle because I needed to copy all files off and after reformat back to it. Not fun with a 18TB drive.

3

Thx! This is why I asked.

4

I would say BTRFS is stable in context of the way Synology implemented it as they don’t have it controlling the disks directly. For your use case EXT4 should be fine.

5

Can’t say anything about BTRFS on Synology, my bad experience came from BTRFS on unRAID.