Has anyone backed up a NAS?

It appear as though this is a scheduling issue as a simple backup works with a mapped drive as the source but the mapped drive letter is lost when scheduled.

I've tried to set all Acronis services to run as the main adminstrator account (which has all drived mapped) - this fixed the issue with manual start but as soon as the Acronis scheduler is bought into play all network dirve backup fail.

Also I cannot use a UNC path as the source - it works as the destination (vault) but it will not accept a path - only a mapped drive letter, which is lost by the scheduler.

(using latest build as of yesterday)

For anyone in the same situation. I have been asked to install the latest patch (made available yesterday) but this has not solved my problem.

To be honest we are all completley baffled as to how such a simple task fails every time - EVERY other piece of file copying software we try works first time!

We understand that mapping a network drive is to a username not a machine and we have even run a map drive bat file in an attempt to have the Acronis scheduler map the drive - but still it fails everytime.

This effectivley renders the product useless to us.

Backing up disk images is a doddle (as it was with True Echo) - but we are moving into a NAS world, which unfortunatley Acronis Backup Server 10 for Windows cannot accommodate at the moment.

We have AAP level support

Info:

Windows 2008 Server
Thecus N8800Pro NAS (source)
Thecus N4100Pro MAS (Vault)

Also.. Why can you not use a UNC path as the source, when you can as the Vault - wouldn't this overcome the problem?

Some error messages if they help:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Entry Details
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Error
Date and time: 02/12/2009 13:57:08
Backup plan: DATA1 MANAGERS MIRROR
Task: Level 1 backup
Code: 11,863,304(0xB50508)
Module: 181
Owner: administrator@FASTFLOOR
Message:
Task 'Level 1 backup' failed: 'Error occurred while opening the file.
Additional info:
--------------------
Error code: 7
Module: 4
LineInfo: f35f747b3b21fb14
Fields: function : FindFirstFileW, filename : \\?\Z:\managers\Personnel, $module : C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\mms.exe
Message: Error occurred while opening the file.
--------------------
Error code: 65520
Module: 0
LineInfo: bd28fdbd64edb8bc
Fields: code : 2147942403
Message: The system cannot find the path specified
--------------------'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Entry Details
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Error
Date and time: 02/12/2009 13:56:26
Backup plan: DATA1 MANAGERS MIRROR
Task: Level 1 backup
Code: 11,863,304(0xB50508)
Module: 181
Owner: administrator@FASTFLOOR
Message:
Task 'Level 1 backup' failed: 'The end of the file has been reached.
Additional info:
--------------------
Error code: 2
Module: 4
LineInfo: c1c09b38bafa78c8
Fields: $module : C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\BackupAndRecovery\mms.exe
Message: The end of the file has been reached.
--------------------'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For my understanding you can do only a file-level backup not a drive backup for the nas. I'm using this procedure with a QNAP unit (LINUX based). I'm also able to backup all hidden shares (had to be added manually). Using UNC paths like \\QNAP\sharename. works fine for me so far.
ABR10 with UR

I wonder if enabling UNC paths in the OS might resolve the problem? Just a thought.

Cheers guys, I will have another look. I've got a ticket open at the moment and I'm awaiting some feedback after submitting some system info to Acronis.

I know I cant backup a whole NAS drive - only files on it, but nothing on the drive can be backed up - it fails every time.

I wouldn't know how to enable UNC in the OS, but will look around.

Hello all,

I understand the question and will do everything possible from my side to give you a clear explanation. To resolve the issue please do the following:

On the Create backup plan screen, tick off Advanced view. Click Change next to Access credentials under Where to back up:

Provide username and password for the Linux NAS:

The backup to NAS may fail with an error message similar to the following one:

The selected vault is not available at the moment. Please select a different vault

If you have your NAS joined to a domain or workgroup, avoid using the top level domain extension .local; e.g. If your NAS is set to be joined to mydomain.local, then connect to your NAS and change it to Mydomain.

After changing the NAS setting, please refresh your DNS cache. to do so:

Start-Run -> type in "cmd and press Enter;

In the command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns

Also I would recommend you to set the appropriate permissions  to save to and restore from shared folder on your NAS device. The respective table is available in this article. It describes on how to set the permissions in Windows, the instructions on how to set the permissions for NAS folders are available in the  documentation that comes with the device. 

Please let us know the results, we should be sure that the program runs flawless for you. If the provided information is not clear or if you have any other question do not hesitate to post them and we will be glad to answer.

Thank you.

Hello, I had already tried specifying usernames to access the drives using advanced mode and all of the other thing suggested.

However I've just tried with windows server 2008 r2 and have managed to at least run a successful backup, I now need to see if the scheduler will run the task correctly, which I will do shortly.

The most exciting question is, if you can do a restore. My NAS backups worked all fine. But not the restores!

Hello all!

Thank you for your comments and for keeping us updated!

Ron, we haven't heard from you for a long time regarding this issue, and I would appreciate if you could kindly let us know whether the problem persists - we will be glad to help you!

Johann, thank you for your comment. Could you please kindly give us more details regarding the issue with recovery from NAS? I would like to assist you and resolve it for your complete satisfaction.

Thank you in advance for cooperation, and should you have any further questions or concerns - just leave a message here, and we will definitely help you! Also keep in mind that you can contact support directly for immediate ongoing assistance.

Thank you!

Thank you, Yana, for your interest about my issue (ene though it comes after almost 2 month after my post). I had another post here describing the issue and I was in contach with Acronis support directly - nothing brought any results for months. And the response times were everything else than acceptable. There was no solution for the issue.
In the meantime I solved the issue for me personally by uninstalling ABR 10 from my computer and using other software from another vendor for doing backups. Now I can be sure, that I can restore all my data when necessary.

It also means for me - never more Acronis!
Buggy and unreliable (Backup!!!!!!!) software, absolutely nonexistent support.

Hello Johann,

thank you for the feedback provided.

I entirely understand your concern, and it is highly upsetting to hear that you met this inconvenience with support. I wish we could be aware of this problem earlier so that we could assist you here and speed up the process of handling the case.

I have checked our searching tools, and can see that you have submitted one additional thread and a case regarding the problem. On forum we have requested additional information, but never heard back from you. I have also checked the case and can see that here some misunderstanding occurred: the Support Engineer requested some information from you in addition as well, but the case was closed automatically by our automated follow-up system due to it didn't receive a reply on time. This is our bad - we should have rescheduled the timeframes. Be sure our managers are notified about this issue and should you decide that you would like to work with us further, you case will be paid accurate attention to. We are working on improving the system as well.

I understand that this situation is not acceptable and regret that support didn't meet your expectations. From my end I would be glad to provide you with any assistance required. In case you decide that you need any - just let us know, leave a comment here or contact the Moderator directly - we will definitely help you.

I would also like to ask the Forum Community not to hesitate to report us in case you didn't receive a reply from the support engineer you are working with - we are able to speed up the handle process and make sure you are assisted in a proper way.

Thank you for understanding and your patience.

Yana,
thank you for your effort.
Unfortunately, the fact is, that the support case was closed because the support engineer did not find time or possibility to answer my question about an alternate way to upload diagnostic files. Sending by e-mail wasn't possible due to e-mail size limitations.

The questions in the forum thread came 5 Weeks after opening. At this time I already removed ABR from my system so there was no reason for me to followup.

Because my current recovery concept does not base on any Acronis product no further assistance is needed.

And after this experience I will sure never return to Acronis products.