Heres a much more reliable method.
I didnt want to physically move drives, since the old drives were smaller than the new ones.
I wanted a platform-agnostic method.
I could use [X METHOD] to do the same thing, and youd be right!
Here are the big ones:
rsync is probably already on your NAS.
That means the command lineand rsyncare already installed.
rsync eliminates the middleman.
That creates another point of failure in the transfer, not to mention keeps your main computer unnecessarily busy.
Since rsync is a machine-to-machine copy, it runs whether your gear is on or not.
rsync supports resumed transfers, diffs, and syncing.
rsync minimizes data pipe overhead.
Like we mentioned, rsync is designed for synchronizing files, not just copying them.
You cant just fire up a terminal window and start copying thoughyoull need to do a little initial setup.
First, youll need to verify that SSH access is enabled on both your old NASes.
SSH allows you to get in to your NAS from the command line, using a secure shell.
On my Synology NAS, this was right under Control Panel, labeled Terminal & SNMP.
Now were ready to sign on to our old NAS and push our files to the new one.
How to Use rsync to Transfer Files
Now its time to get down to business.
In Windows, open PuTTY.
Youll be prompted for a username (admin or root) and a password.
Once youre logged in, youll be dropped at the command line for your NAS.
Now its time to run rsync.
The syntax is pretty simple.
You may get a warning about the key the first time you connect, but thats okay.
bang out yes to continue.
Youll be prompted to get in to the new NAS with the admin password.
Go ahead and do that too.
If everything else was successful, as soon as you do, your file sync will begin.
Before we go on, lets talk about those flagsthe -azPyou see in the command above.
The -P flagcombines two other useful flags into one here that youll want to use.
It also allows you to easily resume suspended or interrupted transfers.
Its a pretty powerful combination.
Youll be surprised what youll turn up, and how many people had the same problem you did.
I also had to double-check I logged in as rootlogging in as admin wouldnt cut it.
Luckily,Stefan came to my rescue with this helpful poston the error.
With luck, you’ve got the option to get some cash for it.
Title photo made usingDenis Dubrovin.
