Comments on Casey Tech: How to get CrashPlan to back up to a network drive...

Worked for me with Windows 7 and a DLINK NAS. Than...

2012-01-05T05:22:29.043-05:00

Worked for me with Windows 7 and a DLINK NAS. Thanks

I follwed the method described here, but have Cras...

2011-12-21T11:46:05.200-05:00

I follwed the method described here, but have Crashplan running with my Username credentials, with the backup share also only being open to my Username (which has Administrator level rights, by the way) and it works perfectly. I used the iSCSI method before (makes the backup drive appear as a local drive to CP), but had a lot of corrupted files on the backup drive appearing over time. The Symbolic Link method seems to be working way better, but one can only hope that CP does incorporate UNC soon!

fiddled with a number of the methods to map folder...

2011-11-30T09:07:53.202-05:00

fiddled with a number of the methods to map folders to my NAS drive. crashplan would see the folders, but nothing in them. I tried the netdrive method over ftp and it worked immediately on my xp and windows7 machines. thanks for the info.

Thanks! You're super awesome! :)

2011-11-04T22:59:44.022-04:00

Thanks! You're super awesome! :)

dkohn, You make life easy, it works great. Thanx ...

2011-11-04T10:44:13.145-04:00

dkohn,
You make life easy, it works great.

Thanx a lot :)

PERFECT! Many thanks :)

2011-09-06T18:19:25.625-04:00

PERFECT! Many thanks :)

To Sextronix: Whatever user you set to run the se...

2011-07-19T12:45:30.084-04:00

To Sextronix:

Whatever user you set to run the service as doesn't have authority to those files. Change the user in services to an admin and you'll be gtg.

Thanks. This worked perfectly!

2011-07-18T11:55:35.607-04:00

Thanks. This worked perfectly!

excellent tutorial, Casey. I linked to it on my F...

2011-06-22T16:09:28.015-04:00

excellent tutorial, Casey. I linked to it on my Facebook page.

This link is -great- for those people wanting to use Crashplan to backup to their NAS. You'll have found out that Crashplan for Windows doesn't allow connections to network shares, there is a technical reason for this, and crashplan developers are trying to get UNC paths working (\\computer\share) but it isn't due anytime soon.

Folks, like most of you I have had a difficult tim...

2011-06-07T13:00:26.077-04:00

Folks, like most of you I have had a difficult time getting this idea and the solution from crash plan to work on an XP Pro box with a Buffalo TerraStation. After looking at the posts I noted the need to map a drive at the system level which led me to test running a command line "net use" from within a .bat file at start-up at computer level using GroupPolicy snapin.

My bat file is: net use S: "\\192.168.1.2\users". Note I used the IP address and complete path in quotes to avoid any addressing issues to the Buffalo NAS.

To use the GroupPolicy snapin from the "run" menu type gpedit.msc.

In GroupPolicy select Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Startup.

In Starup select Add and browse to where your script is. I placed my script in a directory in the root called Scripts rather than using the default which is buried in Windows\Group Policy\Login\Scipts

After making these settings reboot which allows the NAS drive to be mapped at the system level. Once booted one simply goes into Crash Plan and selects "folder" as destination and the mapped drive will be present.

I trust this is helpful and works for you as well.

Has anyone else had an issue with only SOME files ...

2011-05-06T16:47:10.764-04:00

Has anyone else had an issue with only SOME files being selected on their NAS? I have 916 GB of data and only 106 GB is selected for backup. I've checked all the excludes and can see no reason for this. NAS is QNAP TS-410.

There is a MUCH easier way: 1) Get NetDrive (http:...

2011-03-10T17:33:59.658-05:00

There is a MUCH easier way:
1) Get NetDrive (http://www.netdrive.net -- it's free for non-commercial use).

2) Disconnect any mapped drives you have for your NAS (actually you might not have to -- try it out)

3) Create a a new site in NetDrive
a) The IP is the local IP for your NAS
b) leave the port as 21
c) Leave server type as FTP
d) Select a drive letter
e) For account and password, enter the user name and password you use to connect to your NAS
f) check the boxes to autologin when system starts

In 'Options' uncheck the Launch windows explorer when connected to server

Now test your connection. If it works, you'll have a new, regular drive showing up in explorer as if it was internal to your computer. CrashPlan will see it the same way and you'll be able to select it for backup.

Firewall considerations: NetDrive uses a reverse authorization which comes in on another port that escapes me, like 113 or something. If you can't sucessfully connect, first make syre that the user name and password you're trying work for your NAS. Also make sure that you enabled FTP on your NAS. If you can't connect after this, the issue will be with your firewall. In Norton I simply added a rule allowing all traffic to and from the particular computer I have crashplan installed on which originates from within my LAN and that allowed the connection to work.

CrashPlan sees the new drive no different than my OS drive (C:) and I can back the whole thing up.

The article has been updated with a possible solut...

2010-08-01T20:31:07.391-04:00

The article has been updated with a possible solution to the "the backup engine does not have access to the given location" problem. This is step 2a and 2b. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused but please understand that I have had my NAS set up for a while before I tried CrashPlan and I didn't remember all of the settings that I had changed on the backup drive.

Make sure that when you created the CrashPlan user...

2010-07-24T16:24:55.156-04:00

Make sure that when you created the CrashPlan user account that it was an administrator account and that it has a password. Log into the Crashplan account so the account can be initialized and then log out of it. Then double check to make sure that you are running the CrashPlan back up service as the CrashPlan user account.

I have tried this on a few different Vista and 7 computers and, when following all steps carefully, have had no problems.

I'm also getting the "the backup engine d...

2010-07-23T04:08:31.779-04:00

I'm also getting the "the backup engine does not have access to the given location"-error. Have added "everyone" to the folder permissions. Still doesn't work :-(

Leeroy, all of the steps in the article are to be ...

2010-07-06T13:51:46.997-04:00

Leeroy, all of the steps in the article are to be done on the computer to be backed up. You do not have to do any of these steps on your NAS. Make sure the account you created is an Administrator account and make sure that your user account is also an Administrator account. If this still doesn't work then you may want to try adding "Everyone" to the folder permissions.

Done everything you suggest but I get the error &q...

2010-07-03T20:05:45.833-04:00

Done everything you suggest but I get the error "the backup engine does not have access to the given location"

I have created the user in windows, logged on (then off) and setup the user on my qnap NAS with full read/write access. If I log on as the crashplan user I can create/delete files....any ideas?

I have posted a link in the update at the beginnin...

2010-06-30T21:29:21.146-04:00

I have posted a link in the update at the beginning of the article which will show you an easy way to make symlinks in XP.

Perhaps you should point out which versions of Win...

2010-06-27T23:04:16.059-04:00

Perhaps you should point out which versions of Windows this works for.. On XP mklink gives me error so is this just for Vista & Win7?