Lost data story

[jlsoaz]

I was looking to buy a Synology DS212 and ran across this recent horror story. It made me pause with a Synology device in my cart:

http://www.amazon.com/Synology-Disk...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

"...1.0 out of 5 stars Wiped out all my data, July 16, 2012 ..."
"...Then I got a popup notice to click to update the OS to 4.0 from 3.2. I did ... it went through the process and did the update, but wiped out all my data in the process. ..."

My questions: Is this common? Is this how Synology treats its customers?

 

[travisco_nabisco]

I have done numerous OS updates on Synology devices without problems, that being said, you should NEVER do an update to software on a device that doesn't have 100% of its data backed-up.

My one times contacting Synology tech support, they were very helpful.

 

[stevech]

a) There was no backup to external drive or cloud? Yikes. No matter the vendor, no matter the technology, a backup has to exist on a separate file system and drive. I use a USB3 external drive, and automate this.

b) I've upgraded the OS in my Synology - no issues, including that update to 4.0.

c) The 3 or so times I emailed support with a question, I received a one or two business day response. I did phone their US support line once and got an immediate knowledgeable person who answered my question on a capability of the product.

 

[jlsoaz]

Hi -

Thanks for the responses. This does assuage my concerns, somewhat. Whether enough to buy I don't know.

I guess I don't think it's acceptable to issue an OS or firmware or other update that might wipe out a user's data, even if it's from user misunderstanding of the instructions, - particularly when one of the primary uses of the machine (though not in this instance) is as a backup device.

Granted - this horror story illustrates that we should all make backups, particularly when doing such major things as updating an OS or firmware. That said, there are a lot of folks out there, myself included, who are asking the question - ok, so how do I make regular trouble-free, automated super-reliable backups? I am looking at buying the DS212 and using it solely as my main backup device, not looking to it for anything else really, so backup is very much on my mind, but even if we grant that this story illustrates the importance of backup, it also I think helps us lay out the begging of the question - ok, so what software and hardware do we use for that? Could I commit to using a device as my go-to user-friendly automated energy-saving backup device if there are indications that in a firmware or OS upgrade process all data might be lost?

I guess we see such stories out there for some other competitors. I seem to recall one or two all-data-lost stories in trying to research DROBO, and this was a major turnoff.

 

[claykin]

Have you looked at the Netgear Readynas series? For your use I'd likely recommend an Ultra2 (I suppose you don't need Active Directory support?) Readynas OS is well tested and fairly hardened. That said, it has less extra features than Synology and QNAP. Whether those extra features are important to you, is another question.

In my experience the Readynas built-in backup options are better and more flexible than what's offered by other NAS vendors (excluding cloud options). That said, in most cases when backing up a Windows client you'll want to "push" the backup from the client to the NAS using a backup application.

Synology and QNAP also makes fine devices. Its just that I've had a few negative experiences with them both, so I don't typically use or recommend either. Maybe that will one day change...

Keep in mind that the Amazon user post could have involved other circumstances they are not disclosing. I have heard of Synology NAS products defaulting themselves after a firmware update, but I haven't heard that in the last year+ so I thought Syno had that issue licked. Maybe, maybe not.

 

[stevech]

My most negative experiences as a mere consumer have been with Netgear tech support, and as well in a professional setting. I also got badly burned by Netgear on a prior NAS and would not think about doing that again. Big bureaucracy, bad product. Not at all to say ReadyNAS is not competitive, but NAS-only companies are compelling... do one thing and do it well.

I guess the issue it the "sample size". You'd have to have many episodes with different people and problems to get a meaningful average.
I like not having to hang up or re-email again to try to get to someone who is competent.

 

[travisco_nabisco]

If you are using a NAS, or any device, singularly for backups and do not depend on other features, I would be hesitant to ever update the firmware or OS. We have gotten too used to updating things and feeling like we need to update to the latest version and have forgotten that the process of updating is always a high risk task.

 

[stevech]

I agree, on don't do pointless version upgrades.
For Synology's major update from 3.x to 4.0, I skipped the beta test of course, then waited many weeks post-beta to let the dust settle. Then, because of new features in 4.0 that I wanted, I ensured that my NTFS USB3 drive backup was intact (using my PC), and my SD card in the NAS for VIP files was OK, then I updated to 4.0, and all went painlessly.

If only Microsoft didn't foist upon us bug fixes so often, for their products! But with armies of coders at work, I suppose it's the lesser evil.

 

[jlsoaz]

I'm traveling and so put my backup-hardware buying plans on hold, but at the same time, for the same reasons, backup is on my mind as I would be somewhat out in the cold were I to lose my primary computer out here away from home.

What I'd like:

A close-to-fool-proof, close-to-bullet-proof solution that does not run more than 2 hours a day (i.e.: which does not threaten to double the energy baseline at my house for no reason other than to have lights on and drives spinning). I'd rather not have to figure out a lot about the wisdom of updating or not, the do's and don'ts of raid, etc.

I have the feeling what will happen is that within the next few years I'll lose data again and one or more knowledgeable tech people will look down their noses at me and-or lecture me, but where is the reasonable non-professional's solution? Maybe an Apple Time machine with a backup of that? Can that be done?

 

[stevech]

to avoid data loss, simply enable automatic backups. That's what I do.
To both an internal 2nd drive and volume (non-RAID) and an external USB3 drive.
Unlikely to lose all three at once.

 

[ALBINALI]

I update my synology 2 time without doing backup , thanks god i do not lose data i think i will be greazy