Read USB Copy Backup outside TOS?

[ChrisOfTheOT]

Afternoon boys & girls - after many, many, many problems and hours on Remote Assist, my F2-221 has been diagnosed as dead. (Long story indeed...)

Now, I only have two backup HDD with all the NAS data on them (one cloned from the other). I had thought that USB copy saved the NAS backups as Windows-readable - but I am wrong, apparently. We cannot use a NAS anymore but getting the data is crucial: is there any way to read a backup drive (containing the Shared Folders saved on a TDAS via USB) from Windows? Or anything else, other than TOS? (We can't afford a new NAS, so we have no access to TOS now... which is not a situation I had ever envisaged.)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

[crisisacting]

For the internal drives from the TNAS:

First, RAID mirroring is not a backup.

Windows doesn't natively include the ability to read and write to EXT× & BTRFS file systems; either (purchase &) install a program that can interface with those, install Windows Subsystem for Linux if using a version of Windows with support for the feature (which requires virtualization capabilities to add it), or temporarily boot into a live Linux distribution to access these drives.

For the external drive used with the TNAS:

TOS only supports the following file systems externally:

• EXT3

• EXT4

• NTFS

• FAT32

• HFS+

Since it currently cannot be read in Windows, it's likely not NTFS or FAT32, so try macOS for the very latter (if having access to a Mac), otherwise it's likely formatted as EXT× & requires one of the solutions for the internal drives above to read it.

If at least 3•2•1 was in place, the off-site backup could have been to a cloud service which could likely be able to real-time sync, leaving this as a minimal downtime situation right now if granting temporary access to that is possible.

[ChrisOfTheOT]

...First, RAID mirroring is not a backup...

Morning - many thanks for replying. Yes, I know RAID is not backup. As I said, the drive I'm trying to access is a copy made by USB Copy - which, as you note, is EXT4 file system.

... Windows doesn't natively include the ability to read and write to EXT× & BTRFS file systems; either (purchase &) install a program that can interface with those, install Windows Subsystem for Linux if using a version of Windows with support for the feature (which requires virtualization capabilities to add it), or temporarily boot into a live Linux distribution to access these drives...

Ah, this was what I was wondering: could Linux access the drive? I had wondered about dual-boooting Windows/Linux (if that's possible), but it's a big hassle I can do without, as is 'virtualisation'. I wasn't aware that I could 'install a program that can interface with [EXT4]. But, now that you have enlightened me, I'll look into that: thanks mate!

...If at least 3•2•1 was in place, the off-site backup could have been to a cloud service...

3-2-1 is preferable, but our '1' is 'onsite', and connected via USB - this is the drive I'm working with (or a clone of it).

Thanks again sir (I assume) for helping me out. I'm going to Google the 'program that can interface with EXT4' now. I'll get back here with the results as it's a interesting excersise anyway! Do you have a recomendation? That would be my best place to start.

Thanks again,

Chris

[ChrisOfTheOT]

I've found this (well regarded, as far as I can tell): Linux Reader from DiskInternals (https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/). I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers,

Chris

[ChrisOfTheOT]

We've been using Linux Reader for a few days now: very happy with it (free version).

The graphics in the UI remind me of Win95 a bit, and it's a tad 'clunky' and slow. The free version we're on does not allow saving the drive mounting feature, so you have to mount the drive(s) fresh each time, which enables Windows to 'see' the Linux drive and give it a drive letter. Then you can access the drive from Explorer. But each file has to be saved into Windows before you can edit it, which is a tediously repetative process.

That said, it works well, it's not complicated to use (essential as Anna has to use it!) and it's reasonably intuitive. Oh, and it's free... I love it!

So, as a 'work around', it's a great solution for us.

Cheers,

Chris