Network shares backup
The Network Shares data source lets you back up data from a local network. At the moment the feature is available on all Windows devices.
Solutions for Mac and GNU/Linux
If you want to back up shared network drives on a Macintosh or Linux device, you should mount them first (connect to your computer) so the Backup Manager can recognize them as the Files and Folders data source.
Instructions for Mac users are available in this article: Network shares backup on Mac OS X.
There is no common way to mount a network share on Linux, that is why Linux users should follow instructions for their distribution.
Network shares versus Files and folders backup
Backing up data on a shared network drive is almost the same as backing up files and folders on the main computer (the one that the Backup Manager is installed on). There are only two differences:
- Network shares often require user authorization.
- Network shares don't support the backup of open files (because the Volume Shadow Copy Service used for that purpose is unavailable on the network).
Requirements to network shares
- The operating system can be Windows, Mac or Linux.
- The network share must be available during backups. If the network resource goes into the sleep mode or gets disconnected from the local network, it may not be possible to complete the backup.
- If computers in your local network are united into domains, the target network share must belong to the same domain as the main computer (otherwise there may be cross-domain authentication issues on Windows).
There is no limit to the number of network shares you can back up.
Backup settings
- Network share location. A full network path to the root folder of the network share or to a particular directory is required.
- Domain name. If the computer belongs to a Windows network domain, you need to specify that domain (for example, COMPANY.COM). If there's no domain, you can leave the field blank in most cases. On some networks, however, you will need to enter the host name of the target machine (for example, WORKSTATION-PC).
- User account credentials (username and password). In most cases you need an account that has "read" permissions to the directories intended for backup (it will be necessary to scan the file tree and get file content).