How to get CrashPlan to back up to a network drive (NAS)

CrashPlan is a great backup program that has many great features. I won’t go into detail describing them all but I will point out that the one major missing feature is the ability to backup to a network drive (also called Network Attached Storage, or a NAS). After reading through many forum posts and seeing that CrashPlan has no work around for this I was able to piece together a solution.

IMPORTANT: This process involves running CrashPlan as another user and may mess up the integrate of your existing backups on the CrashPlan servers! I have not tested this solution with CrashPlan Central and I take not responsible to fouled up backups! Please read and understand all instructions before starting.

1: Install Crash Plan

Download and install CrashPlan from their website. Once CrashPlan is installed and you make (or log into) a CrashPlan account you should see this screen:

Now you can close CrashPlan

2. Now you have two options:
     A: Install CrashPlan on your NAS and use the ‘Back up to another computer’ or Backup to a friend’ option. If your NAS is simply a Windows/*nix box attached to the network, then I highly recommend this. Backing up to and running archive maintenance on another CrashPlan client over a LAN is much faster then backing up to a shared network folder (option B). If you can’t install CrashPlan to your NAS, then use  option B.

    B: Backup directly to shared network folder. This option has the same speed backups as option A, however backup syncing and maintenance will be extremely slow. If you can’t install CrashPlan to your NAS, then follow these steps you make your backup folder/drive accessible to the CrashPlan service.

A lot of custom made NAS devices have special ways of making their folders available on a network. You should read the help files and guides that can with your NAS on how to do this. The folder/drive you want to backup to should be able to be read and written to (you should be able to make and delete files) by anyone on the network. If it is not then CrashPlan will say “"The backup engine does not have access to the given location." and you wont be able do backup to the folder/drive.

On Windows, to make a folder available on the network that has read and write access for everyone, do the following:

Right click on the drive/folder and select properties. Click on the Security tab and then on the Edit button. Click Add and then type ‘everyone’ without quotes into the box labeled “Enter the object names to select”. Now click on OK. Select Everyone from the group or user name list and then check the box next to Full Control and under Allow. Now click OK and then Ok.

Now the backup folder/drive can be written to and read by everyone accessing the computer. Next you have to make the folder available on the network. To do this right click on the backup folder/drive and click on Properties. Then click on the Sharing tab and click on the Advanced Sharing button. Check the box next to ‘Share this folder’ and then enter the name you want to call the shared folder. Now click on the Permissions button and select Everyone in the new window. Now check the box next to Full Control and under Allow and then click on Ok, then Ok and finally OK.

3: Make a symlink to the shared folder

Now you need to make a symlink on your computer the backup folder on your NAS. If you are using Windows XP or are uncomfortable with the command line then follow the directions over at The How To Geek on how to do this. To create a symlink with Vista or 7 use Windows Explorer to navigate to the back up folder on your NAS. Then right click on the address bar and select “Copy Address as Text”

Now open a command prompt as an administrator and type in this command:

mklink /d “local\directory” “\\server\share”

So for me to make a symlink at the root of my C drive called NAS to the backup folder on my NAS I would have to type this: mklink /d “C:\NAS” “\\HP-NAS\Backups\”

Once the symlink is made you can type “exit” to close the command prompt.

4: Make a CrashPlan user account

Now go the the User Accounts panel in the control panel and click on “Manage another account”. Click on “Create a new account and and then create an account called CrashPlan (the name doesn’t make, you can make it what ever you want) and set the account type to “Administrator”. It has to be an administrator account because otherwise you will net be able to backup files within your user folder.

Click on the “Create Account” button and give the new CrashPlan account a password.

Next you need to click on the Start Orb and then on the little arrow next to the shutdown button and click on “Switch user”.

Next you log into the new CrashPlan account and then once the desktop is up you can log right back out and into your normal account.

5. Make the CrashPlan service run as the CrashPlan user

Now click on the Start Orb and type in “Services” and then click on the result that is called Services. Find the “CrashPlan Backup Service” and double click on it to bring up its properties dialog box. Click on the Log on tab and select the radio next to “This Account”. Now type in the user name and password for the CrashPlan Windows account you just made.

Now click on Apply then go back to the “General” tab and click the “Stop” button and once the service has topped click on the “Start” button. Exit out of the Service window and open up CrashPlan

6. Add Folders and Backup!

In the main CrashPlan Window click on the “Folder” button in the '"Backup Destinations” box. Now click on the “Select” button and select the symlink you made in step 2.

Once you add the symlink click on the “Start Back” button and it should look like this:

Now click on the “Backup” tab on the upper left of the program and click on the “Change” button in the “Files to Back Up” box. Now select the folders you want to back up and then click OK.

If all goes well then CrashPlan should back up with out a hitch.

I have tested the back up and restore and everything worked fine. You can now take advantage of the free 30-day CrashPlan Central online back up.

If this work around for getting CrashPlan to backup to a NAS has worked for you then please let us know by leaving a comment, no log in required! Or you can email us at CaseyTech@GMX.com !