[bakufu]

i use backblaze to automatically back up the contents of my mac, but that method won't extend to backing up the internal SSD on my streamplayer, which is where my music lives.  i do regularly copy that data to an external drive using rsync (thanks again jim!), but since that drive is EX-FAT rather than mac format neither backblaze nor the mac itself will recogmize it.  and of course even though the streamplayer is visible to the mac, backblaze gives me no option to back it up directly from my mac.  so i'm curious what method/service other people use to back up their internal streamplayer drives.

[newzooreview]

A Mac can read and format ExFAT drives. For example, below is a screenshot from Disk Utility showing an ExFAT drive that I formatted on my Mac and that is mounted with read and write access in Finder. The Mac is running the current OS 12.1, but the Mac has handled ExFAT disks for years.

I don't doubt that the disk won't mount for some reason, but being in ExFAT seems like it wouldn't be the issue.

[bakufu]

> won't mount

that makes perfect sense.  i'll have to investigate.

[newzooreview]

I hope the ExFat issue isn't a red herring, but it seems that if the disk will mount on the Mac then Backblaze will back it up. I haven't used Backblaze, but I did look into it and it seemed that their personal plan would backup anything directly connected to the Mac (e.g., not NAS drive accessed over the network but drives mounted internally or via USB directly connected to the computer).

The Mac has rsync built in (executable via the Terminal App). So one option might be to format the USB drive on the Mac, mount the SalkStream volume on the Mac, and run rsync from Terminal to backup the SalkStream volume to the USB drive connected to the Mac.

I'm not sure how you are running rsync now, so this suggestion may not be helpful.

[newzooreview]

[Duplicate text posted for some reason. Removed not to clog the thread.]

[bakufu]

it turns out that this is not an unknown problem with mac and EX-FAT disks.  there are quite a few threads on the subject, e.g.

https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/680500

disk utility can see the drive, but not mount it.  dire warnings ensue after efforts to repair it.

i should note that formating the drive as EX-FAT was not my first choice, but i couldn't get the streamplayer to write to any of the mac formats.  perhaps i was missing something. 

[bakufu]

> The Mac has rsync built in (executable via the Terminal App). So one option might be to format the USB drive on the Mac, mount the SalkStream volume on the Mac, and run rsync from Terminal to backup the SalkStream volume to the USB drive connected to the Mac.

that was my first choice, but even though the streamplayer shows up in Locations on the mac, it's not clear to me how to mount it.

[newzooreview]

Got it.

The issue with not ejecting an ExFat disk and having a problem because of that is not something I've run into in years of using ExFat disks to move media files between systems, but apparently it can happen.

Regarding the Mac mounting the SalkStream disk containing the music files, I'm not sure what Mac OS version you are using, but in the Finder there is a "Network" item in the "Go" menu that should list devices visible to the Mac on the network (see below). If you open Network you can just double click on an item and see if it has a volume (or more than one volume) that can be mounted on the Mac.

If the SalkStream is visible there but double clicking just gives you no result or "connection failed" then possibly there is something that can be done in the Linux OS on the SalkStream to make the volume mountable. That would be something Jim or someone familiar with that Linux installation could help with.

In principle the SalkStream is running Linux and is a device on the local network so it would be reasonable to be able to allow a local volume on the SalkStream to be mounted on a computer on the network. That's a very common thing, in general.

[bakufu]

i think i've straightened out the rsync problem i was seeing earlier, but now i wonder whether i can get backblaze to recognize and back up directly from the streamplayer visible to the mac on the network (but not visible to backblaze).  that would, of course, be ideal.

[newzooreview]

Backblaze won't backup a networked drive if you are just using their personal backup plan. They have a whole different cost for backing up networked drives. It's extremely expensive per terabyte because it's designed for business use.

Backblaze will backup a number of hard drives connected directly to the computer by USB.

So to get Backblaze to backup the music files, they would first need to be on a USB drive connected to the computer. It seems pointlessly annoying that they will happily backup that same data via one route but not via another (networked volume).

On the positive side, their personal backup service is reasonably priced, provides excellent peace of mind, and works smoothly.

So, if you can setup a nightly or weekly rsync of your SalkStream files to a USB disk you should be in good shape (even if the extra steps are inconvenient).

[bakufu]

i certainly don't mind backing up to a USB drive - that's what i've been doing for a couple of years.  but that drive (those drives - i have two - i'm a bit paranoid about losing stuff) is EX-FAT, and my efforts to mount it on my mac so i can back it up through backblaze have so far been unsuccessful.

thanks so much for your efforts to assist ..

[newzooreview]

It looks like the SalkStream volume containing the music files is visible and can be mounted on the Mac. So you could just get a cheap USB drive and format it as a Mac disk and mount it on the Mac. Then you could just use the Finder to copy the folder of music files over to that USB drive.

Just a thought. Best of luck with it. 

[jsalk]

i certainly don't mind backing up to a USB drive - that's what i've been doing for a couple of years.  but that drive (those drives - i have two - i'm a bit paranoid about losing stuff) is EX-FAT, and my efforts to mount it on my mac so i can back it up through backblaze have so far been unsuccessful.

thanks so much for your efforts to assist ..

You could try re-formatting the USB drive in FAT32.  It should be readable by Linux, Windows and Macs.  (I don't normally use MACs, so I don't know for sure, but think it should work.)

- Jim