Automatic Remove Disk/Device after Backup is done?

    hello,


    i'm looking for a solution to automatically remove the sata disk/device when a backup to an external HD is finished.


    background: i set the external backup to auto-backup and as soon as the external HD gets power (via my homeserver running in the EIB homeautomation installation).
    i set the syslog to send all syslogs via udp to my homeserver which decodes the backup complete message and turns off the power 30 seconds after the backup finished.


    i haven't a good feeling when switching the power off without removing the disk via the button in the admin interface to finish all chached files etc.


    so i wish i had an additional checkbox in the "external storage admin page" to say "remove disk after backup is done".


    of course a patch in any script would also be fine. but i have absolutly no idea where to search. it would be great if anybody could point me into the right direction.


    thanks in advance
    tilo

    Hi tilo,


    you do not really need an Automatic Remove Disk function after the backup is done, because if you plug out the external harddrive the "Linux" fstab / autofs do this job (mount / umount).


    I think you mean the a spindown function for the external drive(s) after the backup is done?
    Normally it's an feature from the external controller from the external HDD Case.
    You can try a manual spindown with hdparm. It's an 50:50 Chance that hdparm works with the external USB Controller.


    1) Login via SSH to your NAS
    2) Then execute:

    Code
    fdisk -l


    3) In the result you see a list with your HDD's. The First HDD's are: sda, sdb, ... Then there is a alphabetical range (example from sdd to sdi) - sdi are in the example the external HDD.
    4) Now execute:

    Code
    hdparm -y /dev/sdi

    (replace sdi by your external HDD)
    if hdparm -y not working try it with:

    Code
    hdparm -S 0 /dev/sdi


    If this spindown your external HDD then we can write an cron script for it otherwise you must change the HDD case for a spindown.


    Greets, David

    hi david,


    thx for the quick response. i tried what you suggested. hdparm -y is seems to run.


    Code
    [~] # hdparm -y /dev/sdz1
/dev/sdz1:
 issuing standby command


    but now the question. how do i advise the qnap backup that this command is called automatically after finishing the backup?


    cheers
    tilo

    Hi tilo,


    you do not need to declare the partition. You can use command without it.
    Example usage:

    Code
    hdparm -y /dev/sdz


    We can not integrate this in the webgui, but we can write our own cron backup script for it.


    Let us call the script:

    Code
    rsync_backup.sh


    (you can rename it) but it's an example. ;)


    In this example script we write a log to see it in the information in the admincp - (WebGUI) from the nas.


    1) First of all let us see where the external disk /dev/sdz is mounted.
    execute:

    Code
    mount


    In the result you have a line with your sdz drive. Now we need the /mnt/... path from it.


    2) Now let us create a folder for our scripts. in this example i use the Public directrory for it. And let us create the rsync_backup.sh and make them executable.

    Code
    mkdir /share/Public/scripts


    Code
    touch /share/Public/scripts/rsync_backup.sh


    Code
    chmod +x /share/Public/scripts/rsync_backup.sh


    3) Edit the script with the vi.

    Code
    vi /share/Public/scripts/rsync_backup.sh


    This is the example script content. You can use it by replacing the line:

    Code
    rsync -avz /share/MD0_DATA/Qmultimedia /mnt/PATHEXTERNALHDD


    Qmultimedia is the share source directory (this you can replace to your share) - and replace the /mnt/PATHEXTERNALHDD with your mountpoint from the mount command (Step 1).


    note: you can specify more than one share. Just copy the rsync line and paste a new under it. ;)
    Note: MD0_DATA == for RAID NAS and HDA_DATA for single drive NAS.


    Bash
    #!/bin/shlog_tool -a "STARTING RSYNC BACKUP JOB" --type 0rsync -avz /share/MD0_DATA/Qmultimedia /mnt/PATHEXTERNALHDDhdparm -y /dev/sdzlog_tool -a "ALL RSYNC BACKUP JOBS DONE" --type 0


    4) That's it. This script make backups from your shares and spindown the external hdd.
    But for example we would like to execute this script daily @ 3 AM.
    Then execute:

    Code
    0 3 * * * /share/Public/scripts/rsync_backup.sh


    Now the script are executed daily @ 3AM and you can check them in the AdminCP (log).


    Greetings, David

    thx for the detailed description. i will try that later this week (have do do some serious work before:)


    one additional thing. right now my backup is triggered when the external HD is powered on. do you have an idea how to do that? i would like to keep that behaviour since the HD power is driven by my automated home installation (eib). i catch the logs and route them via udp to my homeserver which switches the power off as soon as the backup finished.


    thx alot
    tilo