Is WD MyCloud NAS recognized as a NAS by ATI 2014 (from Win 8.1)?
And is there a list of supported NAS devices anywhere? Am I correct in assuming that any Synology NAS is supported?
Thank you.
This is almost helpful, but, you see, I'm wondering whether buying the MyCloud would be a good idea. Don't have one yet.
I have a MyCloud and it is not recognized as a NAS. This is somewhat a problem for recovery, but not for backup as you can simply backup to a share (mounted or not) in Windows.
For recovery, here is the simple trick: use MyCLoud Safepoints, that copy the content in the MyCloud on a regular USB disk attached to the NAS. In effect it is a backup of the NAS with a mirroring approach. The content is copied "flat", so you can take the external USB disk out of the NAS and plug it in your computer for recoveries that need the recovery CD (disks or partitions). Recoveries of files can be done simply from Windows.
The performance of the NAS over wireless-AC is about 35-40MB/s (mega bytes), so it is better than USB. Over wired connection, you can get as fast as 55-65MB/s.
Thanks for the info, Pat. This probably means I have to use the same procedure you detailed above if I ever have to recover from my (totally-not-recommended by me, because the firmware rots) Seagate 1-Bay (3 TB) Business Storage NAS.
I cannot find a list of truly supported NAS devices anywhere on the Acronis site. Do you know if one exists?
I cannot answer the question about the list of supported NAS.
So you are saying the WD My Cloud NAS is not a true "Stand-alone" backup and recovery unit with ATI ?
On my test machine I'm using True Image 2013 Build 6514, Windows 7 Pro x 64. Two days ago I installed a 4 TB My Cloud unit on my network. Reason for doing so: previously was using a 2TB My Passport USB drive for backups and shuttling this between various PCs. Pain! My Cloud seemed like the ideal solution. Indeed full system backups work great but trying to restore the system backups resulted in: "File is corrupted-Error code 0x0004000D". The error notice provided a link to the Acronis error database which when clicked said "Sorry, no information available". Hmmm. Data file restores (excluding the OS) work fine.
Having to plug in a USB drive to the My Cloud and perform another backup in order to recover the original backups defeats the object of having the NAS in the first place, for me at least. Do you have any insight regarding the root cause of this issue. Is it WD or ATI related?
John,
The error code you quote is a runtime error. That doesn't help much as such errors hard to pin down. In general it probably indicates that TI simply could not read the file.
Is your NAS connected using USB 3.0? If so, change to a USB 2.0 port and attempt the restore operation again. Post back your result.
@ John,
I have had the same problem. I could backup to the MyCloud, validate my backups, but when I tried to restore from the recovery CD, it was telling the backup was corrupted. I ended up recovering from the image mirrored through Safepoint on an NAS attached USB disk. It is actually pretty convenient to get the USB speed for recovery. Plus, in my case, I am using a wireless adapter that the recovery CD doesn't recognize.
Reporting back as requested.
Wasted another few hours this afternoon but nothing worked. USB 2 or USB 3; no difference. Direct system restore from My Cloud with TI2013 always resulted in: "File is corrupt" and: "Media may be damaged". I had the thought maybe I could reformat the unit as NTFS and use it as a simple disk. A little research this evening turned up the following:
1) On the WD knowledge base: "My Cloud" uses a proprietary file format and cannot be reformatted".
Well I think it can but the NTFS file system, for example, is proprietary Microsoft technology and not permissible (unless licensed) in third party NAS applications because it would compete with Windows Server variants.
2) Typically and certainly with "My Cloud", NAS vendors use a Unix/Linux hybrid file system. Perhaps this explains why direct restore from "My Cloud" (ext3/ext4/whatever) to PC (NTFS) is not possible. Wow! That was not apparent in the sales and marketing crap.
So I'm at the proverbial "end-of-the-road". Too many hours wasted on this. The "Safepoint" option is not my preferred solution so I will keep looking. Thanks to all for your comments.
I meant that you have to disconnect the USB disk from the NAS (where you have stored your safepoints) and plug it in your computer to recover. Here what I do: I use the NAS shares to store my backups of several computers (I could use the share of the USB directly, but I know the USB interface at the back of the NAS is slower than the internal disk from the network). I can backup and validate from Windows. But I cannot restore from a recovery CD trying to recover a backup stored on the NAS Share because it is declared corrupt.
I use safepoint, so all the NAS content is copied to the USB disk.
When I need to restore, I eject the USB disk (important) from the NAS interface, plug it in the computer and restore from there. That works perfectly.
"But I cannot restore from a recovery CD trying to recover a backup stored on the NAS Share because it is declared corrupt."
So we agree?
"I meant that you have to disconnect the USB disk from the NAS (where you have stored your safepoints) and plug it in your computer to recover."
I know that; but let's put this back into context.
Currently I use TI2013 to backup complete systems on my five laptops. A WD My Passport drive is "shuttled" between the laptops to achieve system backups. The My Passport drive has a max. capacity of 2TB. Soon, this will be insufficient for my needs. However this is a one-step approach which provided trouble-free system and data file backups and restores, for several years.
Now I have a 4TB WD My Cloud unit which, with TI2013, performs and validates backups incredibly fast. Problem is the My Cloud unit will not restore my Windows operating systems, directly, from TI2013 backups. Having to use "Safepoint" to achieve a system restore is an unacceptable extra step which was not apparent in the sales and marketing "blurb" prior to my purchase of the unit and significantly increases the risk of file corruption. Now I have a two-step system to replace a one-step system? Alternatively I could use "Safepoints" as my new "Universal" backup process but I have several years of TI archives so "Safepoints" is not an appropriate solution.
"...I eject the USB disk (important) from the NAS interface, plug it in the computer and restore from there."
Actually, I can drag-and-drop backup files from My Cloud to a local USB drive but again, it's an extra step.
Supposing there was no USB or external media available to copy backups from My Cloud. How could the system be restored? My Cloud is not a simple, "Stand Alone" backup solution with TI2013. That was my point and disappointment.
I agree. One thing you could consider as a workaround is to backup to the share of the USB disk directly. You get the benefit of a centralized, always son backup destination, although you will have to unplug the USB disk to restore.
So frustrated with the WD My Cloud I tried another approach. Purchased an Asus RT-AC68U router and attached an old USB drive to the router (which has two USB ports). Router set up was simple and took about ten minutes. All PCs were plugged into the router and TI2013 produced and validated system backups to the attached USB drive, for all PCs.
The system drive on one PC was wiped and the system restored directly from the USB drive attached to the router. The process took 50 minutes, for a 30GB system backup, wipe disk and restore. Perhaps this was a fluke? So the process was repeated on a second PC. Similar metrics.
Happy to say TI2013 performed flawlessly and My Cloud has been retired.
Thanks again to all for your interest and comments.
Addendum to my previous missive.
Finished testing today. Operating system backups and restores were successful for the following:
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x64
Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64
Windows 8.1