Best way to mirror/backup a Windows disk to TrueNAS (SMB + snapshots)

TrueNAS General
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Hi everyone,

I’m fairly new to TrueNAS and backups in general, so apologies in advance if this is a basic question.

I’m looking for recommendations on tools or methods to back up (or ideally mirror) a secondary data disk from my Windows PC to my TrueNAS server. This is not my Windows system disk, just an additional drive where I store files and data.

Currently, I have an SMB share configured on TrueNAS, with snapshots enabled.

What I’d like to achieve is a setup where this Windows data disk is copied or mirrored “as-is” to the SMB share, so that when I browse the share I can immediately see all my files and folders. The idea is to avoid having compressed backup files or needing to wait for a restore process just to access a file.

I’d also like this process to be automatic and run daily or weekly, without manual intervention.

My plan is to rely mainly on TrueNAS snapshots for some level of protection (for example, in case I accidentally delete or modify a file), rather than on traditional backup archives.

Given this goal, what tools or approaches would you recommend on the Windows side? Is this a reasonable use case for SMB + snapshots, or am I missing something important?

Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry again if this is a newbie question.

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Probably using Robocopy in Windows PowerShell with a script. You would have to make a schedule for script to run on the Windows machine.

I use PowerShell and Robocopy to sync a data drive from Windows 11 to a TrueNAS SMB share this way but I don’t have a script. I just run it manually in PowerShell. Just be aware if you make a lot of changes, the snapshots can take up a lot of space. Rearranging the folder structure on the Windows side data and then using Robocopy could cause a lot of space to be used by that snapshot(s)

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Maybe Syncthing ?

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I’ve been using AOMEI Backupper for both file sync (data) and disk imaging (system) for a couple of years.

I started with the free version and ended up buying a license in one of their sales. (e.g. World Backup Day, Black Friday, etc).

I can’t complain so far.

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Also Urbackup Is a valid (and free) option, you can backup nor the entire disk image and files.

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Restic could also be another alternative (cli) or if you are rather prefer using some UI there is a free Veeam Agent for Windows.

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I use windows’ built-in Backup&Restore (old windows 7 version, available from the control panel) for the entire system. It has an integration with explorer’s version history (as expected). Saved me a few times.

Some drawbacks:

  1. It can take a long time to backup. Especially if the “create disk image” option is selected. Mine weekly backup takes about 3-5 hours for 2x 1tb nvme drives.
  2. It’s not very good with cleaning the old backups. I delete the old ones manually 1-2 times a year.
  3. I’ve seen statements that system images cannot be restored for windows 10 and later. I tested full restoration long ago (perhaps with win 7), so can’t be sure whether it works now. But you should be ok, because you won’t need a system restore – just a data restore.

P.s. Perhaps the new built-in backup&restore is better. I’m just too lazy to migrate.

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I am using UrBackup, as well. File backups are surprising fast.

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I was under the impression that OP doesnt want a backup, but a live mirror.

Veeam etc do file level backup of course but not “live”.

That IMO would be achieved with a sync program.

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Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot to all of you for the suggestions, I really appreciate the help. I wanted to give some feedback on what I’ve tested so far and clarify a bit more what I’m looking for.

I first tried the built-in Windows backup (the Windows 7 one), but I didn’t really like it. It’s quite slow, creates a lot of compressed backup files, and restoring data takes a long time, which doesn’t really fit my use case.

I tested UrBackup and I actually liked it a lot. Backups were fast and it worked well, but my TrueNAS server doesn’t have much RAM, and I’d prefer to avoid running an additional backup server on TrueNAS if possible. I’d rather keep everything on the Windows/client side.

I also tried AOMEI Backupper. It looks good, but in the free version I could only do backups, not a real mirror/sync, so that was a limitation for me.

I didn’t try Veeam Agent yet because it requires creating an account just to download it, and I haven’t gone through that step so far.

The last one I tested was EaseUS Todo Backup. It does allow file mirroring and scheduled syncs, which is close to what I want. However, what I didn’t like is that I can’t clearly control the sync direction. My goal is:

  • If I delete a file on my Windows machine, it should be deleted on the SMB share.

  • But if a file is deleted on the SMB share, I do NOT want that deletion to propagate back to my Windows machine.

So I’m basically looking for a strict one-way mirror from Windows → TrueNAS.

I haven’t had time yet to properly test Robocopy with a PowerShell script. From what I understand, I’d need to create a scheduled task on Windows to run it automatically. One thing I’m still unsure about is how Robocopy behaves if the SMB share is temporarily unavailable (for example if the TrueNAS server is down) and how safe it is in that scenario.

Given all this, it seems what I really need is a simple, reliable tool that can do an automatic, daily, one-directional mirror from a Windows data disk to a TrueNAS SMB share, and then rely on TrueNAS snapshots for recovery.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions and explanations, they’ve been very helpful while I’m learning this stuff.

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Syncback free works fine for me. Might be worth a try.

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Maybe FreeFileSync? It comes with RealTimeSync that does exactly what you described.

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In case you need more like a live copy than a backup, syncthing can be a good option. Not sure about that, but syncthing can probably sync two “folders” of the same node. The first being your drive, and the second being the truenas smb share mounted on pc – never tried this approach. Or you can just install syncthing as a docker app on a truenas.

Also, zfs snapshots play nicely with explorer’s file version history (would be accessible for smb share), so that is another pro.

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I use Aomei backup on a schedule to backup windows entirely, and also use NextCloud to sync between Server and 2 Windows PC’s (Workshop and office) this could be a good solution if you use NextCloud on your data drive you will have a live sync and a nightly incremental backup for security. You can use “Previous Versions” for any accidentally deleted files in the day.

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I use Macrium Reflect. It’s perfect for this.

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Second vote for Macrium Reflect. I have been using the free version for almost a year. Planning on getting the subscription version as soon as my free trial ends. Macrium Reflect X is incredibly fast compared to the last free version (7)

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I use Dsynchronize to copy from my windows computer to my truenas. It is easy to setup and can synch both ways so easy to recover any files lost on the windows PC. You can also set up a schedule in the program to copy over any new files automatically. The program will only copy newer files and will delete files removed from the windows PC. If you don’t want to delete the archived files that have been deleted on the windows PC you can set the synch job to not delete any files. I use this program to synch around 8TB data to my nas and also to two other backups.

I’ve tried other softwares but none of them are I.M.H.O. as easy to setup to do the synch or to recover from when a drive fails.

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There is a Macrium Reflect version 8, which is the last free one.

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  • I have used Cobian Reflector (free) for many years for file backup without encryption or compression on my Windows machines. Works like a charm. I also have a 4 machine license for Macrium Reflect ($99 per year) Both of these backup to my Synology and Truenas. Macrium can do a bare metal backup and restore. My one stand alone Linux machine is backup up by Synology Active Backup for Business (supposed to be a full clone, by I never had to restore it). My Linux virtual machines run on Proxmox. They backup weekly to a NAS share on the Truenas. I recently set up a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) on a Lenovo M920Q with a 2TB SSD. I can backup 6 Proxmox 60GB virtual machines daily and hold three backups (raw 1 TB) and use no more than 100GB of space on the PBS. The Proxmox manifest backup system is amazing.
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I have a similar setup using Syncthing. You can set a ‘Folder Type’ to be receive only on the TrueNAS box, so it won’t (in theory!) ever affect data on the Windows machine. Snapshots on TrueNAS take care of the rest.

Install the Syncthing ‘App’ on the TrueNAS machine and the client on the Windows box. Getting Started — Syncthing documentation