Pro photographer/videographer here and looking for help with my backup strategy.
Current setup:
DAS working drive has projects currently working on in folders with this folder structure (PHOTOS > 2024 > 20241001_StarrFamily)
ChronoSync does a backup every night that sends NEW and UPDATED files/folders to my NAS
It does NOT delete files/folders on the NAS because my DAS is much smaller than my NAS and I can’t mirror them.
When I’m done with a project, I delete its folder from the DAS
My NAS ends up filled with files that I delete from the DAS and duplicates of folders I’ve renamed on the DAS because of this setup
Example: I ingest my raw video footage into a folder called CAPTURE inside a project folder and it backs up to the NAS over night. The following day, I rename the folder to SELECTS. After the backup runs, I will have two folders on my NAS with the same files in them and this is a waste of storage and would make recovery in the future disorganized.
I’m trying to figure out if there is any way I could make ChronoSync match my changes (including deletions/folder renames) on the DAS to the NAS without deleting project folders I delete from my DAS working drive…
I do something similar with Synology Drive (DAS to NAS backup) but it syncs ALL the changes so the folders on both locations are identical. Then when I go to remove the folder from the DAS, I just delete the sync task for that folder before deleting from the DAS.
I know that might not be what you’re looking for but it works for my workflow.
I think a quick fix might be to duplicate the folder on your DAS first.
Duplicate CAPTURE to SELECTS right after ingestion. This won’t take any additional space on the DAS as long as you are using APFS and a modern macOS.
Let both get copied to the NAS. Duplicate space, but assuming you have enough room on the NAS.
At the appropriate time, simply delete the CAPTURE folder from the NAS, but leave the SELECTS as it continues to get backed up nightly and will be up to date.
Backseat driver - I assume you also have a backup mechanism for the NAS content?
+1 on your suggestion. I will add that “the appropriate time” could be anything from daily to never since there is plenty of room on the NAS. To do the clean, delete every folder named CAPTURE on the NAS. Quick and easy, just don’t name anything else CAPTURE!