Backup/copy open files from network share on a NAS device

Question

We have several network shares mapped via DFS (Windows Server 2008 R2) on external NAS. That NAS is simple and doesn't support snapshots. We are making backup from the NAS via robocopy but from time to time some files fail to backup because they are open.

We avoid this problem when copying local files by using Volume Shadow Copy.

Is there a way/tool to backup/copy open files from NAS?

As described in the FAQ, product recommendations are explicitly off topic. — John Gardeniers, Oct 16 '12 at 07:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 16 '12 at 07:34

1

Ignoring the fact that Robocopy, like any other basic file copying program, is an extremely poor choice for making backups, by using a suitable combination of retries and waits (/r and /w) most open files will be copied when the file handle is closed. However, I suggest looking into proper backup software.

answered Oct 16 '12 at 07:34

John Gardeniers

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Thanks for your answer John, do you know if it is possible to copy a file exclusively open by someone on network share? Thanks – I don't know. Oct 16 '12 at 08:12
An open file is an open file. How or why it's open really makes no difference. There are software techniques for getting around that, usually by taking a snapshot, which incidentally is how Volume Shadow Copy works, but I'm not personally familiar with a program that works that way on a NAS. – John Gardeniers Oct 16 '12 at 12:21

Backup/copy open files from network share on a NAS device

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